What to do if infants and young children are constipated

Constipation is caused by indigestion and the inability to detoxify regularly. People usually eat some gastrointestinal-boosting foods or take some medicines to relieve constipation. Generally speaking, mild constipation is not harmful to human health. People can eliminate this symptom by paying attention to their eating habits and exercising more. However, for infants and young children with constipation, since their digestive system is relatively fragile, they cannot easily eliminate stool through food. So what should we do if infants and young children have constipation?

① It is very important to correct your child’s diet

If the baby is breastfed, constipation caused by insufficient breast milk will often result in failure to gain weight, crying after eating, etc. For this type of constipation, the symptoms of constipation will be relieved as long as the amount of milk is increased.

When nutrients that are not completely digested and absorbed accumulate in the intestines, they can cause inflammation. In addition, dry weather and lack of water may also be factors that cause the baby to get angry, so babies who are fed with milk are more prone to constipation. This is mostly because the casein content in milk is too high, which makes the stool dry and hard. In this case, you can reduce the amount of milk and increase the amount of sugar, that is, increase the sugar content of milk from the original 5-8% to 10-12%, and increase the amount of juice appropriately. For babies under 3 to 4 months old, you can add some milk cake to the milk. Because the carbohydrates in the milk cake can stimulate intestinal peristalsis and help defecation after being partially fermented in the intestines. For babies over 4 to 5 months old, complementary foods can be added appropriately. It is best to chop spinach, cabbage, greens, shepherd's purse, etc., put them into rice porridge and cook them together to make a variety of delicious vegetable porridge for the baby. The large amount of cellulose and other food residues contained in vegetables can promote intestinal peristalsis and achieve the purpose of laxative. At the same time, prebiotics are also a good product for laxative and intestinal health.

② The habit of bowel training should not be ignored

Babies can be trained to have regular bowel movements from 3 to 4 months old. Because intestinal motility speeds up after eating, the urge to defecate often occurs, so it is generally advisable to let children defecate after eating. This will establish a conditioned reflex of defecation and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Regarding the question of what to do about constipation in infants and young children, I believe that after reading the above content, you all have a general understanding. When infants and young children are just born, their stomachs are very fragile and they usually only eat liquid food. If your baby is constipated, parents should never let the child take laxatives at random. It is best to go to the hospital for treatment.