Baby stool, normal and alarming symptoms

Chair color

Norm

Normal baby's stool may be yellow, orange, green or brown!

Peculiarities

The first 2-3 days of life, the color of the original stool, or meconium, is black-green (due to the large amount of bilirubin, also in meconium, intestinal epithelial cells, amniotic fluid, mucus).
On the 3rd day, the stool is called transitional, it contains the remains of meconium, but it is already larger in volume and lighter.
Then the color of the stool of breastfed children becomes yellow-orange, and of bottle-fed children yellow-green.
At 4-6 months, various changes in stool color when vegetables and then fruits are introduced into the baby’s diet

Mothers are very often concerned about the sudden appearance of green stool in both breastfed and bottle-fed babies. With such sudden changes, you need to understand whether the child’s condition has changed, whether there are any complaints or whether he is calm, has a good appetite and is gaining weight well. After all, weight is a very sensitive indicator of the health of such a small child!

Our baby is calm, his appetite is preserved, and he is gaining weight.

Any change in diet changes the color of the stool. This happens if you:

Changed the formula (refrain from changing the formula frequently, this is a big blow to digestion) - if your child tolerates this formula well and grows, just “grow” with it.
Enter anyone! complementary foods, although the brightest colors come from fruits and vegetables in your baby’s diet. The color of the stool in this case depends on the color of the complementary foods - green stool when taking green vegetables (broccoli, peas and green beans), red when taking carotene-rich fruits and vegetables (carrots, pumpkin, peach, apricot), beets give a pink-burgundy tint stool, do not introduce it into the diet too early (before 10 months). There is a relationship between the color of the stool and the diet of a nursing mother, which is maximum when there is a large amount of fruits and vegetables. Therefore, do not panic when you see the green or red contents of the diaper, if there is no mucus or blood, but remember what new has appeared in your baby’s diet over the past day or what culinary experiment you embarked on yesterday.
You give your child medicine (or the mother breastfeeds and takes medicine herself)
Taking some medications changes the color of the stool: black color is associated with taking iron supplements and carbon sorbents; taking antibiotics (even by a nursing mother) often changes both the color of the stool (more green) and its consistency (more liquid).

If there are no other abnormalities besides the greenish color, then you have nothing to worry about.

The child's condition has changed: there is vomiting, no appetite, the stool is loose, contains mucus or even blood, the baby is quickly losing weight.

These are signs of an intestinal infection, its course is dangerous at this age, you should immediately consult a doctor!

Alarming symptoms, you should immediately contact your pediatrician!

The stool of a child in the first month of life is white or very light (the color of “white clay”) - this color of stool, especially in combination with increasing jaundice and dark urine, may indicate a narrowing or underdevelopment of the bile ducts inside the liver, most often of a congenital nature. In this case, urgent consultation with a pediatrician, surgeon and additional examination are necessary. If an apparently healthy, previously older child develops similar symptoms, liver disease is likely, which is also a reason to immediately consult a doctor.

Sign of bleeding in children

Important

If a child eats regular food that does not have the property of coloring the stool, does not take vitamins with iron and preparations with it, and his stool is black, interspersed or throughout the cylinder, one can suspect bleeding from different parts of the digestive tube (melena - black feces from for blood).

Typically, such pathologies are characterized by a general deterioration of the condition and the appearance of certain symptoms. These include the baby's pallor, especially on the face, which has a waxy tint. There may also be abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, sometimes with blood or “coffee grounds” (blood that has coagulated from stomach acid). Danger is the absence of stool for a long time and failure to pass gas, frequent constipation, fever with severe weakness, fainting with dizziness . It is important to describe such symptoms to emergency doctors and also say that the stool was black. Bleeding from the digestive tract can be the result of injury, damage from sharp edges of food (bones, foreign objects), as well as various diseases of both the digestive tract itself (ulcers, diverticula, erosions) and hematopoiesis, systemic pathologies that provoke bleeding.

Stool consistency and frequency

Norm

In infants, stools are more frequent and softer. With the introduction of complementary foods, the frequency and consistency of stools change significantly, becoming denser.

Peculiarities

The consistency and frequency of a baby's stool depends very much on the type of feeding.
A breastfed baby's stool is mushy, homogeneous, and the frequency is equal to feedings. The frequency of stools also decreases in breastfed children with the introduction of complementary foods.
A bottle-fed baby's stool is much denser (pasty), but not yet formed like an adult's. The density of stool is closely related to its frequency. Those who have artificial stools have less frequent stools - perhaps up to once a day, sometimes up to once every two days; they are more often bothered by constipation. The problem of increased stool density requires more attention from the pediatrician, and sometimes nutritional correction.
The stool becomes less frequent and denser with the appearance and increase in the volume of complementary foods and becomes formed in a child who eats from the common table - your baby has grown up!

Important!

Dense, rare (less than 2 times a week), large-diameter stools are diagnostic signs of constipation. Constipation is not always accompanied by pain, and therefore a small part of parents turn to the pediatrician immediately.
The specialist’s recommendations may relate to the nutrition of the child and/or mother, but it is possible to prescribe laxatives in this case - there are children’s medications, you should not be afraid of them.
Try to do without frequent interventions in the “life of the rectum” - therapeutic enemas and suppositories. There is a ready-made complex rectal preparation (a special form for children), it is used in addition to laxatives if their effect is insufficient.

Alarming symptoms, you should immediately contact your pediatrician!

Viral and bacterial infections. Loose and frequent (10 or more times per day) stools. The most common cause of this condition is viral and bacterial intestinal. The danger of loose stool is the very rapid dehydration of a small child. In this case, independent or late treatment is unacceptable!
Lactase deficiency (lack of enzyme in the child’s intestines that digests milk sugar, lactose). In this case, loose stools are a) associated with feeding, b) have a foamy appearance and c) are accompanied by pronounced anxiety of the child. In most cases, the baby will “outgrow” this problem in the first six months of life, and the pediatrician will help cope with temporary difficulties by prescribing lactase medications.
Poisoning, taking medications (usually antibiotics), and other digestive diseases can also cause loose stools, so you shouldn’t figure out the reasons on your own. Time is precious in this case.

Tactics of parents in the presence of black feces

If a child has blackened stools, it is important to initially assess his condition and analyze his diet, as well as any new medications that have appeared in his diet. It is important to carefully evaluate the baby’s condition, especially such manifestations as moodiness, lethargy or weakness, severe drowsiness outside of normal bedtime, and abdominal pain. If the child answers the usual questions normally, is well oriented in space and time, and does not complain about his health, you need to observe him for several hours. If there are repeated episodes of black stool that are not associated with diet and medications, you need to visit a pediatrician and have a stool test (coprogram). The doctor will definitely ask what foods the child ate two days before the visit; it is important to remember all of them in detail.

Important

If abdominal pain or vomiting, nausea occurs, children faint, they are very lethargic and pale, an ambulance must be called immediately and hospitalization in a surgical hospital.

It is important to inform emergency dispatchers of all alarming symptoms so that the ambulance arrives as soon as possible. It is important to note whether the child had any injuries or falls, whether he could have swallowed sharp objects or bones, or nut shells with sharp edges.

Impurities in stool

Norm

A few white lumps in the stool of a breastfed baby are not a pathology. In children receiving dense foods, there are undigested pieces of vegetables and fruits, the skin is also normal.

White lumps in the stool. Of course, even a breastfed baby's stool is not uniform. Most often, mothers are worried about white lumps - these are traces of breast milk; their presence in small quantities is considered normal. If your child's weight is constantly growing, there is no reason to worry. Many white lumps in an infant's stool are a reason for a nursing mother to think about a proper diet with fewer fatty foods in the diet. Such lumps also occur in bottle-fed children - these are the remains of undigested milk formula. With age, as the digestive systems and functions develop, such lumps in the stool are no longer observed.
Small pieces and fibers in the stool. With age, we accustom the child to denser foods - pieces of boiled, and then fresh vegetables and fruits. But your baby will not be able to learn to chew correctly and thoroughly (mechanically process food) right away. And even the intestinal microbiota cannot “finish” large pieces of vegetables and fruits (dietary fiber) - the bacteria of the digestive tract normally process dietary fiber; our body does not have enzymes to digest it.

How is the examination carried out?

If certain digestive diseases or surgical pathologies are suspected, a number of examinations of the child are carried out. These include primarily a general blood test. It evaluates hematocrit (the ratio of plasma to blood cells) and hemoglobin with the level of red blood cells. With blood loss and internal bleeding, they are reduced, and the ESR rate increases. In a biochemical study, the levels of proteins and urea may be changed; blood is also needed for coagulation; its indicators may be changed in certain pathologies of the body that lead to bleeding. It may also be necessary to determine the volume of circulating blood, if technically possible in the clinic.

From instrumental studies, the child undergoes an abdominal x-ray, if necessary with contrast, as well as computed tomography. They can indirectly indicate the source of bleeding in the digestive tract.

EGD is also indicated - examination with a special system with a camera and illumination at the end of the tube, the condition of the mucous membranes of the esophagus, stomach and the initial part of the small intestine for ulcerative and erosive defects, bleeding and injuries. Diagnostic laparoscopy or sigmoidoscopy may also be prescribed.

Depending on the specific diagnosis, the treatment tactics for the child are already determined, right up to surgery.

Alena Paretskaya, pediatrician, medical columnist

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Using a new food

In the first months of life, the child’s intestines are just beginning to adapt to activities and external influences. At this time, the digestive system begins to learn to digest new foods, and therefore the introduced complementary foods do not always go through the full processing cycle. During this period, you can often observe the appearance of black spots in the stool. In addition, food particles that have not been completely digested may be found in the stool.

Why a child’s stool can be black is of interest to many mothers.

Nutritional Features

A child's stool may turn black due to the consumption of certain foods. For example, prunes, blackberries, cherries, currants, beets, pomegranates, apples, kidneys, liver and many other foods that have a high iron content can stain feces. The stool may be completely black or have black spots if the food consumed is not completely digested. In addition, the dark color of the stool may persist for several days.