Constipation in Infants What to Do
About It?
Constipation in infants is more frequent than it is in adults.
After birth, a newborn's first stool should be passed within 24
hours. If 48 hours has passed without producing the first stool,
the condition could be a sign of something more serious than constipation.
A newborn who fails to pass stool within the normal number of
hours should be examined to rule out serious medical conditions
like:
- Hypothyroidism
- Hirschsprung's disease
- Meconium ileus from cystic fibrosis
Constipation in Infants Why Are They Susceptible?
Despite having normal stool thickness, infants have often been
observed to strain excessively when passing stools. This difficulty
is believed to be caused by a delay in the way an infant's stomach
matures in terms of movement, which condition may naturally resolve
itself over time. But a doctor may recommend glycerin suppositories
in some cases.
After passing the first stool, it's difficult to pinpoint what
bowel movement frequency is normal as this differs substantially
across infants.
If your infant has soft stools passed painlessly, even though
bowel movement is infrequent it doesn't indicate constipation.
Constipation in Infants How Is It Detected?
Constipation in infants shows itself as hard stools and/or painful
stooling. Short of the infant crying out in pain while stooling,
it may be difficult to detect constipation because your infant
can't really say anything.
If you do detect constipation, you need not worry as it's usually
treated easily. The most obvious sign of infant constipation is
this: The stool suddenly turns from moist and soft one day, to
dry and hard the next.
Remember, if a single day with dry stool causes you minor irritation
or pain while moving, it may already be constipation in your infant.
Constipation in Infants Top 5 Causes
Watch out for these five causes of infant constipation:
- Lack of water in the diet (Fussiness about drinking water,
even just for a single day, can lead to infant constipation.)
- Lack of fiber in the diet
- Maturity delay in intestinal motility
- Infant is holding in bowels (If the baby experiences painful
stooling one day, he/she may try to hold it in the next!)
- Delaying bowels the previous day (By the third day, the baby
may already be constipated and unable to release stools no matter
how badly he/she wants to go!)
Constipation in Infants How Is It Treated?
First, make sure that your baby isn't delaying bowel movement
because of a mild irritation that has nothing to do with infant
constipation at all!
For example, if a child delays stooling due to discomfort from
a diaper rash, it may easily turn into mild infant constipation
the next day and more severe constipation the day after. If you
don't treat the rash, then the problem may just recur.
Common treatments are:
- Glycerin suppositories
- Stool softeners, given orally as liquid/syrup
- 100%-natural colon cleansers
For babies over 4 months already on a solid diet:
- Spinach
- Apricots
- Dry cereals
- Other foods rich in fiber
Consult with your babies health care professional.
