What to do if the newborn baby has not defecated for four days

When taking care of your baby, you always need to observe your baby's daily diet and daily life carefully. The baby's stool can be used to show the baby's digestion and whether the food can be better absorbed. However, many parents have experienced symptoms such as their baby not having a bowel movement for three or four days. Such symptoms always make parents particularly worried, because the baby is relatively young and they don’t know how to take care of the baby. Let’s learn about what to do if the baby has not had a bowel movement for four days.

What to do if the newborn baby has not defecated for four days

1. Diet correction for artificially fed infants

Artificially fed babies are more prone to constipation, but this can be avoided if sugar and complementary foods are added appropriately. If this happens, the sugar content of milk can be increased to 8%, and fruit juice (such as tomato juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, date juice and other boiled fruit juice) can be added to stimulate intestinal peristalsis. For older babies, you can add vegetable puree, chopped vegetables, fruits, porridge and other complementary foods. If the baby is older, you can add coarser cereals such as corn flour, millet, oatmeal, etc. to make porridge. At 1 to 2 years old, if various complementary foods have been added, 500 ml of milk per day is enough, and the baby can eat more coarse grains, sweet potatoes, carrots and vegetables. If conditions permit, agar jelly can be added. For malnourished children with constipation, it is necessary to pay attention to nutritional supplements and gradually increase the intake. After the nutritional status improves, the abdominal muscles and intestinal muscles will grow and the tension will increase, and the bowel movements will become smoother naturally.

2. Training habits

Defecation is a reflex movement, and children can develop the habit of defecation on time through training. Generally, babies over three months old can start training. After feeding in the morning, they need to be supported by an adult with both hands, or sit in a basin or a small toilet chair. If they do this on time for half a month, the habit will be formed. Do not change the time at will after developing it. For older children with chronic constipation, in addition to encouraging them to exercise more and eat more fiber-rich foods, they should also have bowel movements on time to develop good habits.

3. Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that chronic constipation is mostly caused by lack of body fluid and dry intestines, and is treated with the method of nourishing yin and moistening the intestines. For mild cases, you can use only Prunus mume seeds, chewing 3 to 5 seeds each time, 1 to 2 times a day, or every other day. For patients with more serious conditions, Sanren Pills (equal amounts of Trichosanthes seed, Prunus mume seed, and Cannabis seed, 3g each) are often used. One pill each time, 1 to 2 times a day. For young patients, the dose is half as much. Older children can take Ma Ren Zi Pi Wan, 1 to 2 pills per day, and stop taking the pills after the bowel movement.

4. Other treatments

Young children can take 0.5-1 ml/kg of milk of magnesia or 0.5 ml/kg of liquid paraffin before going to bed every night. The two drugs can also be made into a mixture for use, which can avoid the use of paraffin oil alone, which is easy to leak out of the anus. The above drugs can be used continuously for 3 to 5 days, while bowel training is performed the next morning. To avoid inhalation, paraffin oil should not be used on infants. Children can also take phenolphthalein 3 mg/kg each time before bedtime. In case of acute constipation or fecal impaction, 5-10 ml of enema (a preparation of glycerin and sorbitol) can be injected into the anus to stimulate the rectum and induce defecation. At home, a small soap bar can be inserted into the baby's anus to facilitate defecation, or the little finger with a leather glove dipped in a small amount of paraffin oil or vaseline can be inserted into the anus to facilitate defecation. The enema method is highly stimulating and easy to develop a habit, so it is not used unless there is a special need.

The above is an introduction to what to do if the baby has not had a bowel movement for four days. After understanding it, we know that the baby's bowel movement is also related to the feeding method. There are many reasons for not having a bowel movement for 4 days. In addition, mothers can appropriately help the baby do some massage when taking care of the baby, and give the baby some warm boiled water in time, which will relieve the baby's bowel movement. If the cause cannot be confirmed, be sure to consult a doctor in time. If the baby is breastfed, mothers should also adjust their diet and eat more light food.