Chair

Meconium. In the first two to three days after birth, the child's chair consists of a substance called meconium, it is greenish-black in color, liquid and viscous. Then its color changes to brown or yellow. If the child did not have an chair by the end of the second day of life, you should see a doctor.

The stool of a child who is breastfed can be used many times a day. In the first weeks of a child who is breastfed, the stool is several times daily. In some children, it happens after each feeding. The color is usually light yellow. The consistency is similar to a thick soup or dough. The newborn's chair is almost never hard. Many children who are breastfed, to one, two or three months, the periodicity of the stool is reduced. Sometimes it happens every day, and sometimes every other day or even less. This can alarm the mother, who is used to thinking that the chair should be daily. But if the child does not show concern, there is nothing to worry about. The chair of the child remains soft, even if it happens every two to three days.

Some children start to push, if they have not had a chair for two or three days. However, the chair still looks like a soup-puree in consistency. The only explanation that comes to my mind is this: the stool is so thin that it does not exert sufficient pressure on the internal walls of the anus, where the feces come from. Talk to your doctor. It usually helps to add a small amount of solid food to the diet, even if the child does not need it. Child will help two or four teaspoons of prunes( stew or canned).No laxatives are needed in this case. I also think that it is not necessary to regularly use a laxative or enema so that the child does not get used to them. Try to solve the problem with prunes or other solid foods.

Stool in a child with artificial feeding. In a baby who is fed cow's milk, usually the chair is initially one to four times a day( sometimes up to six).As the child grows, the stool is shortened to one or two times a day. The number does not matter if the child feels well and the consistency of the stool is good.

Feces of a child feeding on cow's milk, usually doughy and light yellow or tan. However, some newborn feces resemble soft eggs - lumps, and between them a more liquid substance. If the baby feels well and normally arrives in weight, it does not matter.

The most common violation of y children on artificial feeding is propensity to hard stool. This problem is considered in the paragraph on constipation of

. Very few children in the first months tend to have a liquid green lumpy stool. If a lot of sugar is added to the mixture, the feces deteriorate. In especially difficult cases, a doctor needs help. If you can not consult a doctor, try completely to exclude sugar from the mixture. However, if the baby's chair is always thin, you can ignore it if, of course, the child feels well, normally adds weight and the doctor does not find anything serious.

Changes in stool. As you can see, it does not matter if the feces of the child change slightly at different times, if only the child feels normal. But when the stool undergoes major changes, you need to see a doctor. If, for example, the feces were always viscous, and then suddenly became liquid, with pieces of undigested food, you can suspect an attack of indigestion or a slight gastric infection. If the stool becomes noticeably more liquid, greenish and its odor changes, it almost always indicates an intestinal disease( diarrhea), more or less serious. If the chair lingers, and then becomes unusually hard, it can mean the onset of a cold or other disease, but not necessarily.(Infection not only changes the work of the intestines, but also reduces the appetite.) The general rule is this: changes in the amount and color of feces are less important than changes in its consistency and smell.

Slime in the stool is common if the child has diarrhea and is a sign of gastric irritation. It can also mean indigestion. But mucus can come from higher parts, for example from the throat or bronchi, if the child has a cold. In healthy babies in the early days often there is a lot of mucus.

When the new vegetable is added to the child's diet( less often in the case of other foods), the food can often go out in the same form as it entered. If there are other signs of irritation of the stomach: liquid stool, mucus, - let's next less. If there is no irritation, you can continue to give the same amount or gradually increase it until the child learns to digest it. Because of the plum, the feces can turn red.

If the feces are held in the air, it will turn brown or turn green. Do not worry about it.

Traces of blood on the stool surface are usually explained by cracks on the inside of the anus;these cracks arise due to hard feces. In itself, this bleeding is not serious, but you should notify the doctor and treat constipation. This is important not only from the point of view of physical, but also psychological reasons( see paragraph 382). Large amounts of in feces are rare and can be attributed to abnormal bowel function, severe diarrhea, or intestinal obstruction( see paragraph 690).In this case, you should immediately consult a doctor or put the child in a hospital.