How to help a one month old poop

Symptoms, Treatment and When to Call a Doctor

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Constipation (con-sta-PA-shun) in infants can worry parents. Most of the time, your baby is not really constipated. They may not have developed a routine for pooping yet. Some babies do not develop a bowel movement (BM) pattern for a while.

An infant’s BM pattern can change if their diet changes, like switching from breastmilk to formula, starting solid foods, or drinking less formula than usual. If your baby’s stool (poop) is not soft or easily passed, then they may be constipated.

In rare cases, constipation may be caused by a lack of nerves going to the intestines or by a problem with the way the intestine formed at birth. Your baby can be tested for these conditions if your health care provider feels it is needed.

Signs of Constipation

less stools than their usual pattern
straining more than normal to have a bowel movement
a change in how the stool looks from soft and mushy to:
- small, hard pebbles, or like a large, round golf ball
- loose and watery
abdomen (belly) bloated or swollen with gas
painful cramps

Treatment

If your baby is not eating baby food yet, you may give 1 to 2 ounces of 100% fruit juice (pear, prune, cherry, or apple) once a day. Stop the juice if their stools become too loose.
If they are old enough to eat baby foods, feed them pureed pears, peaches, or prunes instead of giving them juice.
If your baby eats cereal, it may help to give oatmeal, wheat, or barley cereal. Rice cereal can cause constipation in some children.
Sometimes giving your baby a warm bath to relax them or exercising their legs, like riding a bicycle, will help stimulate the bowels to move (Picture 1).
If it has been a few days since your baby has pooped and the juice or pureed food has not worked, then you can try a glycerin suppository. Place your baby on their back. Gently push the suppository into their anus (bottom). Suppositories are meant for occasional use.
Contact your baby’s health care provider before giving them laxatives, baby mineral oil, or enemas to treat constipation.

Medical Therapy

Your child’s health care provider may order the following treatments:

Give your child medication.
Check your child’s temperature using a digital, rectal thermometer. Put a small amount of petroleum jelly (Vaseline®) on its tip before inserting into the rectum. Taking a rectal temperature may stimulate the baby to pass stool.

When to Call the Health Care Provider

Call the health care provider if any of the following occurs:

Your baby is irritable and seems to be having stomach pain. Infants will pull their legs up to their stomach and cry when they are in pain.
Your baby has constipation and develops vomiting, and their belly looks like it is bloated or filled with gas.
You see blood in their stool.
Their constipation does not get better with treatment.

If you have any questions or concerns, call your baby’s health care provider.

Constipation: Infant (PDF), Spanish (PDF), Somali (PDF), Arabic (PDF), Nepali (PDF)

How Can I Tell If My Baby is Constipated?

Ages & Stages

New parents often worry that their babies are not pooping enough. A baby eating formula usually has a bowel movement at least once most days, but may go 1 to 2 days between bowel movements. For breastfed infants it depends on age. During the first month of life, stooling less than once a day might mean your newborn isn’t eating enough. However, breastfed infants may go several days or even a week between bowel movements, using every drop they eat to make more baby, not poop.

Infants normally work really hard to have a bowel movement, so straining at the stool isn’t necessarily alarming, even when the infant cries or gets red in the face. For an infant to have a bowel movement can be a major effort, and it shows. Just imagine trying to poop lying on your back and you’ll get the picture.

If you're concerned your baby may be constipated, ask yourself the following questions:

Is my baby excessively fussy?
Is my baby spitting up more than usual?
Is my baby having dramatically more or fewer bowel movements than before?
Are my baby's stools unusually hard, or do they contain blood related to hard stools?
Does my baby strain for more than 10 minutes without success?

These signs can all suggest actual constipation.

Is there anything I can give my baby for constipation?

Once your baby is at least a month old, if you think they are constipated, you can try giving them a little apple or pear juice. The sugars in these fruit juices aren’t digested very well, so they draw fluid into the intestines and help loosen stool. Although fruit juice is not recommended for babies under a year of age, as a rule of thumb, you can give 1 ounce a day for every month of life up to about 4 months (a 3-month-old baby would get 3 ounces). Once your infant is taking solid foods you can try vegetables and fruits, especially that old standby, prunes. If these dietary changes don’t help, it’s time to call your child's pediatrician.

More information

Baby's First Days: Bowel Movements & Urination
Common Conditions in Newborns
Choosing a Formula
Constipation in Children

Last Updated: 5/12/2022

Source: Adapted from Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (Copyright © American Academy of Pediatrics 2012)

The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

symptoms, causes, diagnosis, how to help a child with constipation

How to solve the problem and help the baby?

Constipation is one of the most common problems in children. According to statistics, in Russia constipation occurs in every fourth child ¹ . And this problem significantly complicates the calm and cheerful life of both the child and and parents, because constipation often causes pain, the child the mood deteriorates, the parents are on their nerves - in general, there is little good.

In order not to miss the problem of constipation in the baby, we armed ourselves
scientific knowledge and talk about how to identify constipation,
why does it occur and what to give a child with constipation?

Causes of constipation in children

There are quite a few of them and almost all of them depend on age child. That is, constipation in infants and schoolchildren cause different reasons. Let's consider them in more detail.

Stress and change routine

These reasons are typical, as a rule, for babies. under the age of one year. In this tender age, coordination muscle contractions of the intestinal wall can be violated ⁵ , which leads to difficulties with defecation. In addition, constipation in infants may occur after switching to artificial mixtures ¹ . In breast milk contains many beneficial intestinal flora substances - dietary fiber, a large amount of fat, proteins in the optimal ratio. All of them contribute normal bowel movements ⁶ .

Stress and change routine

Common causes of constipation are new conditions that break the child's usual daily routine and environment. So, for example, a violation of defecation often appears during potty training, with the start of attending kindergarten or schooling ¹ .

Irritable syndrome intestines

This disorder is noted in an older age group - in children from 4 to 18 years old. In this disease, the child periodically abdominal pain occurs, which may be accompanied by symptoms indigestion and constipation ^1.7 .

How to understand that a child has constipation?

It seems that the answer to this question very simple - child rarely walks "big". However, this is not quite correct figure. Case that the frequency of stool in healthy children can be very different ¹ .

However, if a child's routine of going to the toilet has changed, you should be alert and analyze what is happening. Yes, yes, literally turn into a patient detective and examine the contents of a pot or toilet. This may not be the most pleasant occupation, but the result of research can greatly facilitate both your life and the child's.

So, first of all, you need to evaluate the shape of the stool. This will help to determine with some accuracy whether there is constipation or not ¹ . We will not determine the shape “by eye”, but with the help of the Bristol scale of fecal shapes, developed by doctors. According to this scale, there are seven types of stool. We are only interested in two of them.

Constipation criteria according to the Bristol Stool Scale

³ :

Hard and dry, nut-like lumps (called "sheep" stool)

Sausage-shaped stool with a lumpy texture.

In addition to determining the shape of the stool, you should pay attention to other signs of constipation. For example, a child may begin to push too hard, take uncharacteristic positions, try to poop, and in general, spend much more time on the potty or toilet than usual. ¹

If there is no stool for several days, constipation is considered acute. If the constipation problem persists for 3 months or more, this is regarded by specialists as a “chronic condition” ^2.4 .

Treatment of constipation in a child

So what should you do if your child is constipated?
First of all, you need to make certain changes in the daily routine. All of them are quite simple and effective. Remember.

Maintain regular toileting

Natural urge to defecate usually appears after eating. Therefore, a small child stands in the morning some time after taking put food on a pot or invite him to go to the toilet. You can develop a kind of reflex in a child - for example, "had breakfast - pooped" ¹ .

Comfort

To form a positive perception of going to the toilet in a child, it is also important to provide comfortable conditions for him: for example, to choose a suitable potty so that the child can take a comfortable position ¹⁰ . In addition, it is necessary that during defecation, the baby has some kind of support where you can rest your feet, for example, a low bench that can be placed in the toilet, since an increase in intra-abdominal pressure when straining is important to resolve constipation ¹ .

Correct nutrition

This is a very important step in the treatment of constipation. From the menu you need to remove fats, sweets (yes, we understand how difficult it is with this item) and marinades.
And replace all this splendor with cereals, vegetables and fruits. Plum, peach and apple purees and juices are especially good for constipation ¹ .

Important to understand

Lifestyle changes may not help immediately. Therefore, there are modern remedies for constipation in children, which can contribute to a faster resolution of this problem. One of these is Guttalax®, a local laxative that can stimulate colonic activity, which can lead to soft stools and normal bowel movements ⁸ . However, it is important to remember that prescription drugs in children drugs should only take place after consultation with a doctor. Only a specialist can determine the cause of constipation and help deal with them.

Unlike other laxatives, which can sometimes focus the child's attention on a problem, for example, they do not taste acceptable to everyone ¹¹ , or are administered rectally, which can increase the child's fear and discomfort regarding defecation ¹² , Guttalax® you can let your baby quietly and naturally normalize the bowel rhythm ^8.9 .

Guttalax® - tasteless and odorless drops,

Guttalax® can be added to any food, such as baby food, juice or cottage cheese ⁹ .
To have a laxative effect could show up in the morning can you give him some in the evening, before bed. This helps normalize mode and rhythm of defecation in the morning.

Another important issue that worries mothers is drug tolerance. Guttalax® has a favorable safety profile. It is allowed for nursing mothers, and you can also give Guttalax® to babies ^*.

Drops do not contain glucose, so they can be used in diabetes mellitus ⁸ . In addition, Guttalax® is an original preparation produced in Italy.

How to help a child with constipation? – health articles

06/16/2021

Causes of constipation in children
Symptoms of constipation
Diet
Gymnastics
Benefits of contacting MEDSI

Constipation in a child can occur at various stages of growth and development. According to statistics, every fifth baby suffers from problems with stool. In this case, violations can occur already in infancy. With the start of complementary foods, the stool usually improves, which is associated with the introduction of fiber into the diet and an increase in physical activity. After a year, the number of children suffering from constipation is growing again. This is already due to the transition to solid food, the rejection of breastfeeding and the reduction in liquid in the diet.

It is dangerous to neglect constipation!

In fact, their consequences are quite dangerous and can cause:

baby stress
rectal deformities
anal fissures
general organism intoxication

What to do if the child has constipation?

Find out the cause of the pathological condition together with the doctor
Stick to a diet
Pay attention to moderate physical activity

Important! It is forbidden to self-medicate. Laxative suppositories and other means should not be given, as well as cleansing enemas.

It is forbidden to self-medicate. Laxative suppositories and other means should not be given, as well as cleansing enemas.

Causes of constipation in children

The main factors stimulating stool disorders in children include:

Insufficient fluid intake
Meals with little or no fiber
Lack of physical activity

Symptoms of constipation

A pathological condition can be suspected by the following signs:

the presence of blood (scarlet, fresh) in the stool during the act of defecation and after it in the form of blots (traces) on toilet paper
infrequent visits to the toilet for the purpose of defecation (2 or less times a week)
large large compartments
the need for strong straining during bowel movements
pain in the anus and abdomen

Diet

What can be given to a child for constipation?

This question interests many parents. The fight against the problem should begin not with taking medications, but with changing the diet.

Necessary:

Increase fluid intake
Establish fractional nutrition
Add fiber-rich foods to your diet

You should teach your child to drink plain clean water. For babies over the age of 3, 2-3 glasses of water a day are usually sufficient. Avoid sugary carbonated drinks, coffee and tea. This is due to the fact that they have a pronounced diuretic effect and stimulate constipation and dehydration.

Especially useful is the cool water that children drink in the morning on an empty stomach. Gradually, the temperature of the liquid can be reduced. The following drinks also have a laxative effect:

beet juice
fermented milk (kefir, fermented baked milk, etc.)
chamomile decoctions
dill tea

Important! They should be introduced into the diet gradually, starting with a small amount. Otherwise, you can provoke a breakdown in digestion.

You should teach your child to drink plain clean water. For babies over the age of 3, 2-3 glasses of water a day are usually sufficient.

The treatment of constipation in children also implies the introduction of laxative products into the diet, which include:

legumes
nuts
prunes and dried apricots
plum
beets
dates

They are also included in the diet gradually and under the supervision of a physician. Cereal porridges can be useful: oatmeal, buckwheat, wheat, pearl barley. It is advisable to refuse rice, pears, sweets, muffins, animal fats, flour products. They have a fixing effect.

What else to feed the child so that there is no constipation?

The answer to this question should be given by the pediatrician.

Gymnastics

For the prevention of a pathological condition, walking and running, swimming, exercises to strengthen the abdominal press, squats, bends are useful.

It is believed that mobile, active children are less likely to suffer from constipation. For the prevention of a pathological condition, walking and running, swimming, exercises to strengthen the abdominal press, squats, bends are useful.

If the child is already suffering from stool problems, it is recommended to start the day with simple morning exercises. Massage may also be helpful.

It is important to pay attention to the general change in the behavior of the baby.

The child should be taught to go to the toilet at about the same time, encouraged for observing the daily routine (motivate and praise).

It is also important to create a favorable environment in the toilet. Nothing should distract the child from the act of defecation or scare him in the bathroom.

Benefits of contacting MEDSI

Help from experienced doctors. Pediatric coloproctologists, gastroenterologists and psychologists work with patients. They know exactly how to treat constipation in a child in accordance with the reasons that provoked it
Diagnostic options. The clinic can conduct comprehensive examinations. They allow you to identify the causes of the pathology, find out how and what causes constipation in a child, help him as soon as possible
Comprehensive approach to troubleshooting. Doctors not only recommend diet and gymnastics. If necessary, specialists prescribe laxatives, antispasmodics, as well as agents that stimulate the evacuation of feces (enemas and suppositories). All drugs are selected individually
Prevention of complications. To prevent the undesirable consequences of constipation, check-ups by a coloproctologist are mandatory
Comfort of visiting clinics. We provide timely consultations without queues at a convenient time for patients