What should I do if my baby’s stool is red?

For many families who have just become parents, taking care of children is an important and sacred thing, and the children's stool is also the focus of many parents. There are many reasons why children have red stools. Most of the reasons are that the children's digestion is not very good during this period, resulting in more food residues that are not completely digested, or it is caused by excessive iron content in the body.

The stool of children who are factory-fed is light yellow or yellowish brown, hard, dry and well-formed, and often does not stick to diapers. If there is too much sugar in the milk, the stool will become soft and have a slightly rotten odor. The amount of stool is also large each time. Normally, the stool is 1-2 times a day or once every 1-2 days. As children grow older and eat more different foods, their bowel movements gradually become like those of adults.

Babies have different ages, diets, and bowel habits, and the number of times they defecate each day varies. Children's feeding methods are different, and the nature of their stools is also different.

For breastfed infants, normal stool is yellow or golden in appearance, with a uniform paste-like consistency, a sweet and sour smell but not smelly, no obvious mucus, and occasional granular milk curds or a slightly green color. The stool is defecated 3-5 times a day. Some children may defecate 6-7 times a day, but the amount is not large each time, the nature is good, the weight is gaining as usual, and the nutritional status is very good. This is not pathological and does not require any treatment. If a child used to have 1-2 bowel movements a day, but suddenly has 5-6 or more bowel movements a day, and the bowel movements contain a lot of water or undigested food residues, you should go to the hospital for treatment.

Red stool indicates lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Blood in the stool is common and is mostly caused by anal fissures, hemorrhoids or rectal polyps.

Since infants and young children are still very young, their organs are not yet fully developed, especially the digestive tract, which is the foundation of the human body. It is very likely that they will have difficulty defecating, defecation disorders, or other gastrointestinal diseases due to problems with diet, which may even lead to death. Parents should pay attention to this.