What to do if a baby is constipated?

Constipation is a common condition that babies face during infancy. Many first-time mothers feel extremely worried when their baby is constipated. So what is constipation, what to do when a baby is constipated? Let's find out together through this article.

There are many reasons why babies become constipated, it can be due to a change in diet such as being exclusively breastfed to complementary milk, solid foods, or transitioning from pure to solid food. However, that is not the only cause of constipation.

Causes of infant constipation

Constipation in infants is delayed bowel movements, also known as bowel movements. With exclusively breastfed babies, babies can have 2 - 3 bowel movements in a day. There are also children who have fewer bowel movements, even once every few days. For formula-fed babies, they usually have a bowel movement once a day.

Newborns are very prone to constipation, which worries mothers.

However, whether the number of bowel movements is more or less, the stool is still soft and spongy, the child does not have difficulty or discomfort when going to the toilet, the baby's bowel movement is still normal. As for the children who only go outside once every 1-2 days, accompanied by sticky, hard stools, children have to push hard, the mother should immediately think of constipation.

There are many causes of constipation in babies, here are a few main causes of constipation in babies:

• Children suckling less, do not drink enough milk needed for activities, causing the body to lack water. The ideal amount of milk for babies is between 45-88 ml per feed. When the baby is one month old, the amount of milk babies need for each feeding is at least 118ml. When your baby gets used to breastfeeding, your baby will also know how to suck to receive more milk. For babies who do not have enough milk to provide water for the body, they will be constipated.
• Formula-fed babies are more likely to be constipated. In the period of 1 - 6 months of age, the baby's digestive system is still immature, so it is possible that the baby is allergic to a certain ingredient in milk, causing the baby to become constipated. In contrast, breastfed babies rarely get constipated because breast milk is suitable for their digestive system. As a result, children have the ability to digest food almost completely. Moreover, breast milk has a balance between protein and fat, if the baby does not have a bowel movement for a few days, the baby will still have soft stools. 
• The mother's diet can also be the cause of the baby's constipation. Breast milk is the only food source for babies, so the mother's diet also determines a lot to the baby's digestion. When the mother eats a lot of hot spicy food, indigestion, low fiber, lack of nutrition… it can also make the baby constipated. Not only eating, if the mother is not resting properly, stress is also the cause of newborn constipation.
• Newborns are constipated due to illness. Constipation in infants may be due to an underlying medical condition. Due to physical damage to the digestive tract or birth defects such as: Hypothyroidism (Myxoedeme disease), enlarged colon (Hipschsprung disease) also cause constipation in children.

How to recognize constipation in babies

Are babies constipated? No one is immune to constipation, including babies. In order to detect whether a child is constipated, in addition to carefully understanding the cause of the infant's constipation, parents need to closely monitor their eating, sleeping, and bowel movements to be able to detect abnormal signs of the child. Here are a few ways to recognize constipation in babies: 

Children suckling less, do not drink enough milk needed for activities, causing the body to lack water. 

Less frequent bowel movements than usual

For infants under 6 months of age, the normal number of bowel movements in a day is 2-3 times. Exclusively breastfed babies are less likely to be constipated than formula-fed babies. If you notice that your baby has fewer bowel movements than usual, about once every 1-2 days, check your baby's stools, especially those born under 1 month. If the stool is thick or the baby has to push when having a bowel movement, you can think of the case of the baby being constipated.

Hard, lumpy stools

One of the signs that a child is constipated is looking at the shape of the stool. Constipated infant stools are usually small, round, black or gray in color, with dry, moisture-free stools. In particular, if you see blood in the stool, it is a sign that the baby's anus is damaged by constipation, and the mother needs to fix it immediately.

The child is fussy, lazy to eat or refuses to eat

Suddenly, the child becomes fussy for no reason, anorexia and has grimace, discomfort, especially during defecation, is one of the signs to recognize neonatal constipation. Part of the reason why children lose their appetite and stop eating is because the food in the body is not digested, so the intestines are always full, making them not want to eat.

Children with bloating, indigestion

The abdomen of infants with constipation is always distended and hard to the touch. It is a sign that the child is having indigestion and bloating.

Massage the baby's abdomen to stimulate bowel movements, which is beneficial for the child's digestion.

How to cure constipation in babies

Constipation in infants needs to be overcome early and quickly because when children have prolonged constipation, stools are not excreted, some toxins in feces can re-enter and cause harm to health. children's health. 

Besides, if constipation is not treated thoroughly for children, this condition can cause intestinal obstruction, colon enlargement, hemorrhoids ... Therefore, parents of newborns need to monitor and detect early constipation in children and find ways to overcome them, to avoid long-term constipation in babies. 

What to do if a baby is constipated ? Here are some remedies for constipation in babies that mothers can apply: 

• When a child's body is dehydrated or dehydrated, the body will not have enough liquid for the digestive system, so the texture of the stool becomes dry and solid. This will make it difficult for the baby to go outside. At that time, the mother should breastfeed the baby enough to prevent dehydration.
• If your breastfed baby is constipated, there are simple things you can do to make changes to your diet to improve the quality of your breast milk immediately. Mothers need to increase fiber from vegetables and fruits, avoid hot spicy foods, alcohol, drink lots of water...
• For formula-fed babies who are constipated, the mother can change to a different formula but the same age as the baby. Changing formula milk also affects a baby's digestion, so mothers can consult a doctor for more advice.
• Massage the baby's abdomen to stimulate bowel movements, which is beneficial for the child's digestion. How to massage the baby is not too complicated, you pinch 3 fingers, put on the abdomen. Then, gently massage the area around the navel in a clockwise direction with sufficient pressure. This will help the undigested food in the stomach soften and move down the anus. Mother, do this movement every 3 minutes to stimulate the child to go out.

The mother herself also needs to pay attention to the diet so that it is full of nutrition

In the case of infants with long-term constipation lasting more than two weeks or constipation accompanied by fever, bloody stools, vomiting, distended abdomen, weight loss, bloody stools due to anal fissures, father The mother should take the child to the doctor immediately.

Besides, in order to limit what to do in babies with constipation, the mother herself also needs to pay attention to the diet so that it is full of nutrients to improve the child's resistance. Mothers can also add supporting foods containing lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, B vitamins... to help support the immune system. As a result, children's resistance is enhanced, children are less likely to fall ill as well as have fewer digestive problems.