Normal feces in a baby. Stool in a breastfed baby: when and what to pay attention to

One of the reasons for parents to worry is the stool of newborns. Young parents, having no experience with babies, often mistake the completely normal contents of a diaper for a pathology and unreasonably treat the child for all sorts of ailments.

In fact, in the vast majority of such “sick” children, stools are normal, and their main pathologies can only be diarrhea (in reality, which does not occur very often). So, we will look at what stool can be like in newborns in this article.

What kind of stool should a newborn have?

The stool of children who are breastfed from the very first hours can differ significantly from the stool of children who are formula fed. All this is explained by the fact that the composition breast milk Ideal for your baby and can be almost completely absorbed by him, leaving no waste. Breast milk, passing through the baby’s digestive tract, is quickly and fully digested, almost all of it is absorbed nutritional components, and true problems with stool in infants are very rare.

Stool in breastfed newborns

child on breastfeeding may have a variety of stools and all these are variants of the norm.

• from 10-12 times a day in small volumes, about a teaspoon,
• up to once a week, but immediately in large quantities.

According to consistency, normal options for breastfeeding are:

• the stool is a thin yellow porridge, with some water at the edges of the diaper;
• passing stool when passing gas;
• stool with mucus and white lumps, with greens.

At the same time, the baby looks healthy outwardly, sucks the breast and gains weight, does not worry, gases are actively released. If this is exactly the situation you have, the child does not have any problems with stool; during the newborn period, such variations are quite acceptable.

Important! If there is no long-term absence of stool (no more than 3 days with breastfeeding) and the child’s normal behavior, there is no need to think about constipation and solve the problem with radical, sometimes very dangerous methods.

It is prohibited to use such methods as:

• insertion of a piece of soap into the ass;
• picking the anus with cotton swabs;
• irritation of the anus with a glass thermometer.

Let's explain why.

• Introducing soap into the rectum creates chemical burn mucous membrane, soap is an alkali, it causes burning and irritation of the intestinal walls, it is painful, and only leads to aggravation of the problem, inflammation and cracks of the rectum.
• Mechanical irritation of the anus with chopsticks or a thermometer leads to injury to the mucous membranes and muscles of the sphencter, and can lead to mechanical injury and perforation of the intestine. Plus, such stimulation simply suppresses the reflex to natural defecation, and the condition worsens.
• In order for the baby to empty the intestine, a certain pressure must be created inside it, which presses on the sphincter from the inside, giving an impulse to its opening. When there is little fecal mass inside the intestine, this reflex is absent, the volume accumulates to the minimum required. Therefore, before the bowel has a bowel movement, it may take several hours to several days until sufficient volume is obtained.

Occasionally, gassy bowel movements may occur; this is normal.

Supplementing the baby with water, smecta or epumisan will not improve the situation, but will only worsen it. These substances interfere with the process of normal formation of microbial flora, disrupt the functioning of enzymes and can only provoke a worsening of the situation. Breastfeeding babies only need breast milk; their stool will be established without your intervention.

To better understand why a newborn’s stool looks one way or another (at different stages), let’s consider the process of formation of a newborn’s stool.

The process of formation of a newborn's stool

Before birth, the baby’s stool does not pass; it accumulates in the colon. From the moment the baby is born, during the first two or three days, the baby's first stool - meconium - passes. This is a special dark or olive-colored mass, sticky and thick, accumulated during intrauterine life. It contains ingested amniotic fluid and desquamated epithelium, but almost no microbes. As a result, meconium has virtually no odor.

From the moment of birth, the baby’s intestines are populated by microbes, which will subsequently form its microbial flora. As a result of this and with the beginning of active consumption of breast milk, the stool changes.

Newborn stool in the first 7-10 days after birth.

The stool becomes more frequent, its consistency is heterogeneous, with lumps, liquid part and mucus. It also varies in color, it can be bright yellow with areas of dark green and greenish-yellow, and white lumps. The consistency is watery and liquid. The frequency of bowel movements can be five or more times a day. Such a stool is called transitional, and the very state of stool formation and bowel function is called transient intestinal catarrh.

This process is associated with the restructuring of the intestines to work in new conditions and the process of colonizing it with microbial flora. At normal pregnancy The baby is born with sterile intestines. But from the moment of birth, it receives a lot of microbes from the skin of the mother’s nipple and from the external environment. This complex of microbes, entering the digestive system, causes a response within it in the form of intestinal irritation, which is called intestinal catarrh. This is a completely normal phenomenon of intestinal adaptation to life outside the womb and it goes away on its own.

Stool of a newborn aged from 10 days to 1-2 months.

After about seven to ten days, the stool gradually becomes uniform in consistency, mushy and yellow in color. The mucus gradually disappears and stools become less frequent. Normalization of intestinal function is facilitated by full breastfeeding, as well as the mother and baby staying together from the maternity hospital, refusal of supplementary feeding, nipples and formula in the maternity hospital.

The first drops of colostrum received by the baby immediately after birth help in the proper colonization of the intestines with microbial flora and the formation of complete stool. After the establishment of mature lactation, the baby forms a “mature” stool, which will persist until the baby is introduced to new food (formula feeding or complementary feeding).

This is a homogeneous stool, a yellow mass like liquid sour cream, with a distinct sour milk smell. This stool indicates complete digestion of breast milk. Many children can have a bowel movement almost after each breastfeeding, but there may be more rare bowel movements, once or twice a day, or even once every few days. This occurs due to the fact that breast milk is absorbed almost completely and there is practically no waste left.

Such stool is considered normal only with exclusive breastfeeding (if neither water nor formula is given). Typically, this phenomenon occurs by the age of two to three months. The volume of stool in the first month is about 15-20 g per day, gradually increasing to 40-50 g per day over several bowel movements. On average, the number of bowel movements in the first half of the year is about 5 times a day.

Stool of a bottle-fed newborn

In artificially-bred children, stool is formed in the same way as in infants, but usually has a thicker consistency, a brownish color and an unpleasant odor.

Artificial babies should have bowel movements at least once a day, more rare bowel movements are a tendency to constipation. Typically, children on IV have bowel movements no more than 3-4 times per day.

A small amount of mucus is allowed in the stool, as well as small amounts of whitish inclusions, these are the remains of undigested fat from food.

Sometimes a newborn's stool changes, and this does not always mean that the child is sick and needs some kind of treatment. Only some dietary changes or other things will be necessary.

Note. Return of food and cosmetics only possible if the packaging is undamaged.

Stool with white lumps

Often, children's stool has white lumps, similar to cottage cheese or sour milk. With normal weight gain, this indicates that the baby is sucking too much milk and some of it simply does not have time to be digested. This happens when breastfeeding on demand, for calming, sleep, etc.

This is not dangerous; some milk fats remain in the intestines, which are not digested and form milk lumps.

BUT, if such stool is formed due to poor weight gain, this indicates a decrease in the activity of pancreatic and liver enzymes. In such cases, therapy with enzyme preparations is prescribed with their gradual withdrawal.

Loose, foamy stool

Sometimes the stool has a liquid consistency, watery, with foam and a sour smell. After the baby defecates, a strong watery stain remains on the diaper.

Often, such stool can be released in small portions during the passage of gases. In this case, the color of the stool remains yellow or mustard.

This can happen if there is insufficient digestion of carbohydrates in the stool. If some of the carbohydrates remain undigested, they pass into the large intestine and attract a lot of water. Therefore, the stool becomes more liquid and watery.

The stool contains mostly milk sugar (lactose), and it is digested by a special intestinal enzyme, lactase. If the latter is not enough, the remaining milk sugar enters the intestines, where it is fermented into gas and water by microbes. This produces liquefied and foamy stools with gas.

Pediatricians often diagnose this condition as “lactase deficiency,” but this is incorrect. True lactase deficiency with enzyme deficiency occurs in approximately 1% of children. To digest food and milk sugar, they need an enzyme from the outside; it is given during breastfeeding.

Most children are faced with a state of anterior-hindmilk imbalance:

• Foremilk is formed in the breast between feedings; it is very thin, watery, and rich in the milk sugar lactose. It is sucked out by the baby at the beginning of feeding, he gets drunk with it and gets quick energy;
• “hind” milk is formed during the feeding process, when the baby suckles for a long time. It is thick, rich and provides baby with satiation and long-lasting energy.

If a child receives a lot of “fore” milk and little “hind” milk, an excess of milk sugar predominates in his intestines, which is fermented by microbes and produces gas and loose stools. This may happen:

• with rare and short feedings, if the mother accumulates a lot of milk in the breast,
• with frequent breast changes, when the baby simply does not have time to suck up the hind milk,
• with frequent and short attachments, when the baby simply sucks out the milk that has accumulated in the breast.

Foremilk is spent on the baby's immediate needs if he receives little hindmilk, but his weight gain will be worse. You need to feed the baby for as long as possible, without transferring him from one breast to the other. Usually they feed at one feeding with one breast, so that the baby completely reaches the hind milk.

A similar situation will occur during short feedings, when the mother does not allow the baby to hang on her chest for a long time. Then the baby simply does not have time to reach the “hind” milk in 5-10 minutes of feeding during short feedings.

Newborn has green stool

Sometimes the stool appears green in the diaper, especially in newborns and children early age. This always frightens parents, but most often it is not dangerous.

Green stool occurs as a result of unchanged excretion in feces. In air, it quickly oxidizes to a green dye, causing the stool to have a slight green tint.

Also, similar greenish stools can occur for the following reasons:

• malnutrition of breast milk with sluggish sucking,
• mother's lack of milk
• for problems with attachment, flat nipples (use for a comfortable and painless grip with baby’s lips),
• when vegetables and fruits predominate in the mother’s diet over all other foods,
• with inflammation of the intestinal mucosa in a baby.

Intestinal inflammation often occurs during hypoxia during childbirth, since the intestinal mucosa also suffers from hypoxia. Inflammation can be caused by an allergy to various types of synthetic components that enter breast milk from the mother’s diet (dyes, food chemicals).

Dangerous symptoms associated with newborn stool

It is worth remembering once and for all: the combination of liquid, green stool with mucus, blood, vomiting, fever and abdominal pain is always dangerous. Most likely, this is an intestinal infection or a surgical pathology that requires treatment. You should call a doctor immediately or ambulance. Self-medication is prohibited for this condition; it is fraught with severe dehydration and complications.

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We express special gratitude to pediatrician Alena Paretskaya for preparing this material.

Infant stool is one of the problematic issues for many mothers. In the mid-20th century, as formula feeding became more common than breastfeeding, a new stereotype of “normal” bowel movements emerged. Formula-fed babies poop differently than infants: formula-fed stool is relatively infrequent, comes out formed and smells bad, reminiscent of adult stool. While stool from breast milk in the first 6 weeks of life is usually liquid and frequent, later, on the contrary, it can be of normal consistency, but with delays. At the same time, often people who do not know that this is quite normal for infants begin to treat the baby either for diarrhea or for constipation...

It is normal for a baby under 6 weeks of age to have bowel movements several times a day, little by little, with a yellow or mustard-colored mass, without unpleasant odor. In this case, the stool may well have a heterogeneous consistency, or cheesy inclusions, or - after some time, if the mother does not remove the diaper or diaper for a long time - you may notice that the yellow stool turns green; this is a completely natural oxidation process. All these are signs that are characteristic of a healthy infant! If you see white “pellets” in your child’s stool, don’t be alarmed. Most likely it's just intestinal immaturity. Therefore, if the child is gaining weight well and nothing bothers him, then there is no reason for your concern either.

Signs that may make a mother wary:

• Too frequent watery stools - 12 to 16 bowel movements per day, with a strong odor, indicate that the child actually has diarrhea (diarrhea). You should definitely consult a doctor, and it is very advisable to continue breastfeeding, because breast milk best fills the deficiency of the substances necessary for the baby.

• frequent stools (8-12 times a day), which are green and watery, are often caused by sensitivity to foods or treatment of the child or mother; protein often causes this reaction cow's milk.

Green, watery, foamy stools are usually a sign of something called anterior-hindmilk imbalance, which doctors like to call “lactase deficiency.” True lactase deficiency is relatively rare, and in the vast majority of cases, this condition of the baby can be corrected by allowing each breast to be emptied completely before moving to the next. In this case, the baby will receive a large portion of fatty “hind” milk, which contains little lactose (unlike the “front” portion that is rich in lactose) and is therefore easier to digest. Clarification so as not to get confused in terms: lactose is the milk sugar found in breast milk, and lactase is the enzyme that is required to break down lactose. The reserves of lactase in the baby’s body are relatively small, and if he receives a lot of “foremilk”, then there is not enough lactase for its normal absorption, so the baby suffers from gas, and the stool takes on a characteristic appearance. Another problem that often arises after 5-6 weeks of a child’s life is relatively rare bowel movements, which are often mistakenly considered constipation and the baby begins to be actively treated. At this age, milk finally becomes mature and the laxative colostrum component leaves it, which is why most children begin to poop less often. Rare stool in itself is not a cause for concern; it’s just that the child’s body is figuring out how much it can accumulate in itself before pooping. If the process is not interfered with, the child may not poop even for up to 7 days once or twice, after which the normal frequency will be restored. If you constantly interfere, forcing the intestines to empty when they are not yet ready, constipation will become habitual. BUT: Indeed, the child may not poop for up to a week, and the mother does not have to worry under one essential condition: the child SAME don't worry! If this obviously bothers the child, the mother, of course, should not hope that everything will “work itself out.”

Constipation in a breastfed baby

Constipation in a breastfed baby is hard, dry, formed stool, the so-called “goat balls,” which are very painful for the baby.
The consistency of NORMAL stool, even with its relatively rare occurrence, cannot be considered constipation. This is only physiological characteristics of this particular organism, such as eye color, the angle of the snub nose, or the shape of the nails. We won’t treat the body because its eyes are blue and not brown, like most people?

Why does such a physiologically rare stool (“not constipation”) appear in a baby?

For the urge to defecate, a little person needs to experience a chain of certain sensations. The most important of which is the pressure of feces on the intestines; it is the degree of pressure that forms the skill of relaxing the sphincters in response to tension, and not contracting them. A young intestine that is not fully formed is still just learning to respond to any external changes; at this stage of its formation, breast milk, the only native and adapted product, helps it in this, gently and without stress. Like any student, the intestines undergo a series of tests or even self-tests. Therefore, the stool of a baby in the first half of the year is heterogeneous - sometimes thick, sometimes thin, sometimes often, sometimes rarely. And our adult standards for such a young student are unacceptable; an adult’s intestines are very different from the intestines of a baby.

The main indicator with such rare stools is the child’s well-being and the passage of gases. The most dangerous sign of constipation is the absence of gases, then you can fear for intestinal patency, but if the baby “farts like a machine gun,” then the patency is excellent. If the consistency of stool after defecation is normal, without “balls,” then the child does not have a problem.
The intestines are simply in a state of testing the degree of pressure of feces inside on the intestinal walls for optimal defecation; after completion of such a test, the body will select a certain period for defecation. This deadline will be set until... the next test, after which everything will change dramatically again.
That is, the main thing is to objectively assess the child’s condition, look at the passage of gases, and not at the calendar.
And yet it’s so strange and scary when bowel movements are not regular and young parents so want to preoccupy themselves with something. What can be done so that the body is “tested” faster, and parents see the coveted poop, without harming the child and without resorting to medications.

1. Give extra liquid.

But the problem is not the consistency of the stool!!! The feces inside are soft, the additional liquid makes it generally liquid and... delays the period of natural bowel movement. As a result, additional mechanical stimulation is required (with a cotton swab in oil, a thermometer), but more often it turns out that due to the additional fluid and the extended period, the “front” part of the stool has formed into a dense, hard “plug”, and the “higher” part is a very liquid, watery stool. Pooping out the “plug” is very painful and unpleasant for the baby.
That is, in the case of physiological rare stools, supplementing with any liquid can worsen the situation.

Here you need to take into account that juice is a very big irritant with a high acidity factor. A complete lack of fiber, but a killer carbohydrate environment due to sugars. The child’s intestines simply cannot digest this yet; digesting the juice requires additional enzymes that the child’s pancreas does not produce in infancy. And it turns out that there is an irritating product in the intestines - sugar from the juice. Until a certain age, the mucous membrane of an infant is very perceptive and sensitive, molecules penetrate through its walls into the blood, and sugars begin to greatly irritate the mucous membrane, the body receives a signal to get rid of the aggressors as quickly as possible, the pancreas tries to form enzymes to break down carbohydrates in the juice. The intestines collect additional fluid to partially neutralize aggressive sugars and begin to contract, removing the irritant. Externally, the child may have stool quite quickly after the juice is infused. But at the cost of enormous stress on the pancreas, mucous membrane and the body as a whole. At the same time, the necessary minerals and vitamins are washed out of the body, and the child loses a lot of fluid. The carbohydrate component creates an ideal environment in the intestines for the proliferation of pathogenic and conditionally pathogenic flora (candida, staphylococcus), which is why thrush in the child’s mouth is so common after copulation.
Juice is one of the most cruel methods of influencing the baby’s body.

3. Give an enema.

The liquid will create additional pressure, the same pressure that the intestines have been waiting for, and before the physiological readiness of the body there will be stool. The body’s “self-test” is down. Defecation was caused by a mechanical stimulator, contraction of the intestines, but the child himself needs to learn to relax. I think everyone has heard stories from two or three year olds who have problems with bowel movements. Often (not always) these are children who were either artificial feeding, or the period of “training” on safe stool from breast milk passed against the background of stimulation of bowel movements.

So what to do? Nothing. Wait. If the child behaves as usual and farts well, then this means this is another “test”.
But if the child strains, blushes, gases do not pass, the stomach is hard, and the child cries upon palpation - this is a completely different matter. We definitely need help here.

If the child does not walk for a long time and this bothers him

• The first step is to massage your tummy. Massage clockwise with full palm. Or exercises like "bicycle".
• A warm bath doesn’t help anyone relax. Mom and baby are immersed in warm 37 degree water, breastfed right in the water, then quickly get out, mom or dad rub their arms, legs and tummy with baby oil, then you can put the baby to lie on mom’s tummy relaxed, it’s worth remembering that it’s easier to poop lying down on the tummy or side than on the back, or the mother can feed in the dismounting position (so that the butt is sagging and the baby is almost vertical) and in 80% you can wait for the “coveted poop”.
• It is very good to hold a child who is complaining about his tummy over the sink under his knees, lubricating the anus area with baby oil... The position is the same as when disembarking.

Only when these methods do not help can you use the first step of mechanical stimulation. Take a sanitary stick, generously grease the tip with Vaseline or baby oil and insert it a little into the butt. No more than a centimeter! Just insert and twist a little. Put away. Put on a diaper and place it on mom’s stomach, tummy to tummy... Or press your knees to your stomach in a supine position...

And only if this does not help, then the next step is a glycerin suppository.
But as a rule, everything works out at the first step.

I would like to highlight the purpose of any treatment; parents should analyze what they treat-condition child or analysis? Does your doctor prescribe bifidobacteria? Is there a correlation with the start of use and the onset of stool retention? Have you been warned that bacterial preparations containing bifidocultures affect the stool and can cause chronic constipation, which will be constipation, and not physiological reactions?... Always monitor your child’s stool very carefully when using any medications.

Mistakes when breastfeeding

As practice shows, problems with stool in infants are often caused not by bacteria, but by improperly organized breastfeeding. Here are the most common mistakes in breastfeeding that interfere with the development of normal baby’s intestinal microflora:

• Late latching of the newborn to the breast.
• Rare feedings “by the hour”, limiting the duration of breastfeeding by the child.
• Adding water and tea to the baby.
• Early introduction of formula supplementation or gradual transition to full artificial feeding.
• Introducing complementary foods before 6 months.

Misconceptions associated with problematic bowel movements in infants

1. Everything rots inside there if he doesn’t walk for more than a day!!

We hear from many mothers. We hasten to dispel this myth!

Let's remember the school chemistry course. Oxidation, reaction with oxygen. Now we take the baby and examine the belly for holes. No? just the belly button? This means you are not in danger of oxidation. If someone says “rots”, also send him to a school chemistry course, where it is said that rotting is a slow combustion reaction in which access to oxygen is an indispensable condition. To do this, at a minimum, you need a hole in the stomach. But, as we have already found out from higher experience, it does not exist.

2. This is dysbacteriosis!!!
Dysbacteriosis is becoming more popular, as are the drugs aimed at treating it. In the minds of many parents, there is an incorrect opinion that every baby has dysbiosis, and biological products are no longer drugs that a doctor should prescribe - you can simply buy them and give them to your baby: maybe it will help? Let's look at some facts about this condition and speculate about them. After all, as we know, “who is forewarned is forearmed.”

The truth about dysbiosis:

1. 1. Dysbacteriosis- this is not a diagnosis according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), the generally accepted international diagnostic classification World Organization healthcare. This is a state of imbalance of the intestinal microflora that accompanies various diseases (for example, acute intestinal infection). Dysbacteriosis also develops after surgical operations on the gastrointestinal tract, treatment with antibiotics, cytostatics, and immune suppressants. Therefore, if a child was born healthy, gains weight well, grows and develops according to his age, you should not look for dysbiosis in him.
   2. In babies who have just been born, the period of colonization of the intestines with microbes is called transient dysbiosis and it belongs to the borderline conditions of newborns. The main protection and medicine for the baby during this period is mother’s breast milk. Colostrum contains a huge amount of antibodies, anti-infective proteins and secretory immunoglobulin A, which provide the baby with primary immunological protection. In addition, the bifidus factor in human breast milk is involved in the formation of normal intestinal microflora, and lactoferrin binds iron and prevents the proliferation of those bacteria that need iron. That is why it is extremely important that from birth nothing but mother’s milk gets into the baby’s mouth! Dysbacteriosis is not scary for a healthy baby.

1. Analysis for dysbacteriosis does not reflect true state intestinal microflora. Let's remember that microflora is a dynamic environment, the number of microbial units is in the millions, and these units themselves multiply (and die) quite quickly. By the time parents receive the result of the microflora analysis (and this is at least 7 days from the date of delivery), the microbial “picture” in the intestines will change radically. In addition, microorganisms populate the intestines unevenly: there are more of them near the intestinal walls, and not in its lumen, and when taking a stool sample, only “luminal” colonies come into the “field of view”. That is why experienced and competent specialists do not trust this analysis and are in no hurry to treat children if it is changed and there are no clinical symptoms.

Normal stool in a baby can be described in different ways: liquid or mushy, yellow or green, with or without particles of undigested food, with a sour milk or pungent odor. The quality and frequency of stool depend on nutrition, the age of the child, previous diseases and genetic predisposition.

The concept of “normal stool in an infant” is interpreted ambiguously in pediatrics and has a wide normal range. General analysis feces in newborns and infants include the following indicators: color, consistency, smell, and the presence of various impurities. These indicators may change for various reasons. As a rule, they do not talk about any serious illnesses. Changes in feces are usually associated with the type of feeding of the child, the period of adaptation of his digestive system to new conditions. Still, the very first sign of health is not the baby’s feces, but the state of health.

Color

The color of a baby's stool can be different: bright yellow, orange, light yellow, light green, dark green, light brown. And all these “colors of the rainbow” are within the norm. What determines the color of stool?

• Type of feeding. If your baby is breastfed, the stool will be greener.
• Reaction to medications. These could be antibiotics, medications that contain dyes or iron, activated carbon. After taking medications, your stool may become much darker than usual. The “terrifying” black stool in a baby after medication should not be a concern if the baby is feeling well.
• Complementary feeding. When complementary foods are introduced, the stool becomes greener. This is due to the increased bile content.
• Poor absorption of breast milk. In this case, the baby's stool will be either green or orange.
• Reaction to bilirubin. Bilirubin is a yellow-brown bile pigment that appears as a result of the destruction of blood proteins. Physiological jaundice occurs in 70% of newborns and resolves without treatment. Bilirubin is excreted from the child's body in urine and feces. Therefore, yellow, brown, orange stools in infants are often observed in the first month of life.
• Discoloration of stool (white stool). Can be a dangerous symptom of hepatitis. This infectious disease It is rare in newborns and children of the first year of life, but has an unfavorable prognosis.
• Dysbacteriosis. When there is an imbalance of beneficial intestinal microflora, the child has light-colored stools. The stool also becomes lighter during teething.

If only the color of the stool changes in a child, but the consistency, smell, presence or absence of impurities remain the same, then most likely the problem is in the type of diet, and not in some serious digestive disorder.

Consistency

We often come across picturesque metaphors: the consistency of “thick sour cream”, “pea soup”, “mustard”, “mushy”. All this is about normal stool in children under one year old. A common description is: loose, watery stools. This consistency (unlike the stool of children after one year and adults) is also considered a variant of the norm. After all, children receive only liquid milk food for the first six months of life. How to distinguish loose stools from diarrhea in an infant? According to the following characteristics:

• the stool becomes not just liquid, but also watery;
• the frequency of bowel movements increases significantly;
• the smell of feces is unpleasant;
• expressive yellow, green color;
• increase in temperature;
• vomit;
• a lot of mucus, foam, streaks of blood;
• weakness and lethargy.

If a child has loose stools that are yellow or green, mixed with mucus or foam, you need to look at the baby’s condition. If your baby is gaining weight and sleeping and waking when he should, don’t worry. Poor sleep and appetite, colic and gas, moodiness, fever are good reasons to see a doctor.

Impurities in stool

Baby feces may be heterogeneous, with various impurities.

• White lumps in baby's stool. These are just particles of curdled milk. If there are too many of them, the baby overeats, his digestive system cannot cope with the volume of food during feeding, and does not secrete enough enzymes. Usually such a baby quickly gains weight, and sometimes exceeds it. Indigestible food in a child’s stool may also appear after the start of complementary feeding. These may be particles of indigestible fiber.
• Slime. The presence of a small amount of mucus in the stool is a physiological norm. It is present in the stool of all children and adults. But if an inflammatory process begins in the body, its amount can increase sharply. The appearance of mucus can have different reasons: improper attachment to the breast, inappropriate formula, overfeeding, premature introduction of complementary foods, atopic dermatitis, runny nose, intestinal infections, reaction to medications, lactase and gluten deficiency, dysbacteriosis.
• Foam. Most often, foam in stool is a functional disorder that is not associated with any pathologies or serious diseases. Diarrhea in infants often occurs with foam. Common cause The baby may also have gas and colic, a reaction to anti-colic drugs, or food allergies. Abundant foam can be a symptom of intestinal infections and dysbacteriosis.
• Blood in stool. This is a more serious symptom that requires observation and consultation with a doctor. The reasons may be the following: rectal fissures, atopic dermatitis, allergy to cow's milk protein, inflammation of the intestines, lactase deficiency, intestinal pathologies, polyps, helminthiasis, lack of vitamin K. Streaks or clots of scarlet blood in the stool may indicate bleeding from the lower digestive tract systems.

When impurities appear, you need to monitor the general condition of the child. If the temperature rises, the child loses appetite and weight, you should not delay calling the doctor.

Newborn chair

A newborn should poop within the first 24 hours after birth. A baby's first stool is called meconium. It is a tarry, sticky, viscous, black-green mass that has accumulated in the intestines during its stay in the womb. Meconium is difficult to wash away due to its consistency. It consists of amniotic fluid, mucus, bile, digestive tract fluids. Meconium is a sign of a healthy digestive system. It will pass for a few days, after which the newborn will poop normal stool. If meconium does not pass within 48 hours after birth, this may indicate intestinal pathologies, in particular Hirschsprung's disease. With this pathology, part of the intestine does not contract, which makes it difficult for stool to pass through.

If the child's black stool appears later, it is no longer the original stool. Black stool (unless stained by food or medications) may be associated with bleeding from the upper gastrointestinal tract. Consultation with a pediatric gastroenterologist is necessary.

Stool during breastfeeding

A breastfeeding baby's stool will change depending on the nutrition of the nursing mother and the maturation of the baby's digestive system.

Peculiarities

Breast milk has a laxative effect. After the baby begins to breastfeed, the stool softens, becomes greenish in color and much thinner than meconium. Around the fifth day of life, feces appear that have the consistency and color of mustard or thick pea soup. The sour smell of a baby's stool indicates a dairy type of diet. Sometimes it can be more pronounced, sometimes less. If foamy and watery stools are added to the sour odor, this may indicate dysbiosis or lactase deficiency. Green loose stools breastfeeding- also the norm. Some pediatricians and lactation specialists call this stool “hungry.” The baby sucks out only the low-fat foremilk, without reaching the hindmilk, which is fatty and nutritious. To eliminate this problem, mothers are advised to keep the baby near one breast for a long time and not rush to change breasts during one feeding.

Frequency

At natural feeding The baby will have a bowel movement at every meal. This can continue for the first month. The frequency of bowel movements in a 2-month-old child can be reduced by up to 4 times, and the baby may even begin to poop in a day or two. This is due to an enzyme crisis in the infant’s digestive system. During this same period, mother's milk is renewed. The baby gradually produces new enzymes that help digest the more complex composition of milk. This may continue for several weeks. The baby may be capricious during this period, actively suckle the breast or refuse it, colic and gassy appear. If a child poops once every three days, without help or discomfort, then it’s his individual characteristics. Retention of stool in this case is not considered constipation.

Stool during artificial feeding

The feces of a bottle-fed baby may change when switching to a different formula and as the digestive system matures.

Peculiarities

The color of the baby's stool depends on the composition of the mixture and can be yellow, pale yellow and even brown. Green, loose stool in a formula-fed baby may be associated with the introduction of complementary foods or a switch to another formula. The consistency of a newborn's stool will be denser. This is due to the fact that formula, unlike breast milk, does not have a laxative effect and takes much longer to digest. The smell of feces is also different: it is sharper and more pronounced.

Frequency

An artificial baby's stool can be irregular due to its density. Feces can remain in the intestines for a long time and harden. This leads to constipation. If the baby does not poop for a day, this is already a signal of stool retention, which cannot be said about a breastfed baby. In general, artificial babies poop less often, sometimes twice as often. Frequent switching to another mixture should not be allowed. This can cause either stool retention or, conversely, loose stools. The baby’s body needs time to adapt to the new composition of the formula, so the transition should be smooth over the course of a week.

What kind of stool should a newborn and infant have? Regular and independent. The stool should be of a soft consistency so that bowel movements are painless. If a lot of mucus, foam, or streaks of blood appear in your baby’s stool, you should consult a doctor.

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The birth of a child is a great happiness for parents and at the same time, anxiety. The responsibility for the baby is so great that a new exciting topic of conversation appears between parents - the color of the stool. Indeed, the contents of the diaper are important information, which talks about the state of health.

What does a baby's normal stool look like?

Changes in the color of children's stool and its consistency depend on the age of the child and, above all, nutrition. A newborn's first stool (meconium) consists of processed amniotic fluid, skin cells and bilirubin, and is dark green in color and thick in consistency.

The first days the color is affected by physiological jaundice - the stool will be greenish, as a rule, it goes away within the first seven days of life.

After a week, the color of the newborn's stool changes due to the main nutrition - breast milk or artificial formula. When switching to an artificial formula, the stool becomes thicker, which also happens when complementary foods are introduced. If a child eats broccoli, the stool becomes green, and after eating carrots, the stool becomes yellow.

The acceptable standard is green, black, brown or mustard. Only red, indicating blood, is of concern, however, red color is possible after consumption of beets by a nursing mother or child.

An alarming sign is green stool with an unpleasant and pungent odor, which is accompanied by abdominal pain. Frequent loose stools accompanied by an increase in body temperature may indicate a rotavirus infection.

Type of stool during breastfeeding and artificial feeding

A breastfed baby's stool has a liquid or pasty consistency and is yellow, mustard or green in color. The presence of white lumps is normal.

A formula-fed baby's stool may be yellowish-brown, light yellow or brownish-green, with a pasty consistency.

Green stool color

Green does not indicate a problem unless there are signs such as abdominal pain, diarrhea and rash. A slightly greenish coloration may occur when exposed to air when the surface of the stool oxidizes. Also, pay attention to your diet if you are breastfeeding.

Almost black or dark green

Formed under the influence of certain foods (for example, berries) and iron-containing drugs in case of anemia. Another reason for darkening is blood. Blood in a child's stool is always an alarming signal indicating a food allergy, intestinal inflammation or abnormalities in its structure.

Blood in a child's stool appears as dark spots and threads, most often associated with anal fissures due to constipation. The problem is more serious with dark stools. When the reason for such a color is not clear on your own, the help of a specialist is required.

Mucus in baby's stool

Moderate amounts of mucus are considered normal when a child tries new foods for the first time. If mucus persists for a long time, it indicates a food allergy.

White or off-white stools may indicate problems with the liver or pancreas. Be sure to visit a doctor.

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50 shades of normal stool

When a child is born, he is abruptly transferred from feeding on blood ultrafiltrate to a “milk diet”. In the first few months gastrointestinal tract"ripens". That's why best option food for him now - . However, it is precisely because of this that a newborn’s stool can have 50 shades, and all of them are within the normal range.

In the first two days of a child's life, meconium comes out. This is a dark, sticky, viscous stool that formed in utero. Usually mothers know about it and the appearance of meconium is not a cause for concern.

With the start of feeding, the stool is replaced with a transitional one. It is usually greenish-brown and may contain curdled inclusions. Only after a few days does milky stool appear (yellow-brown, quite light). And here mothers begin to look closely at him, almost under a microscope (and looking at him with a magnifying glass is a common thing). What can they see?

It's not scary if everything gets absorbed into the diaper

The very first thing you should pay attention to is the consistency of the stool. In children it can be quite liquid. It is not scary if the stool of exclusively breastfed children is almost completely absorbed into the diaper.

If the child has not pooped for several days, the first portion may be quite dense, and subsequent portions may be softer. In some infants, stool becomes less frequent and thicker over time, while in others it may remain quite liquid up to .

The color of stool is indirectly affected by the composition of breast milk. It depends on many factors (the appearance of stress hormones, etc.). In response to these fluctuations, bile may be released in a larger or smaller volume, so the stool may be either a little darker or a little lighter.

Since the composition of the mixture is always the same, the baby’s “final product” does not change color from day to day. The feces of infants on IV may contain cheesy inclusions and rarely mucus. In addition, the baby rarely absorbs the mixture in full, so bottle-fed babies poop more regularly(usually once every 1-2 days). These babies' stools are usually thicker and are not completely absorbed into the diaper.

Usually we don’t look at our stool, we flush it down the toilet and that’s it. The same should be done with the contents of the diaper. These are waste products of the body and are not intended to be examined under a magnifying glass or microscope.