What to do if your baby has stomachache

Everyone knows that there will be many things that don't go well when the baby is just born, one of which is the baby's stomach fullness. Many parents may have heard about breastfeeding and the child's incomplete physical development, but they don't know what to do. So, what should you do if your baby has a stomachache? Let me introduce it to you below.

First of all, we should tell parents that abdominal distension is a normal physiological phenomenon and there is no need to be nervous. Secondly, you should start to control urination and defecation in the later period of neonatal life so that the child can develop good bowel habits. In the health care massage, one of the sections is to massage the abdomen, which can be done 2 to 3 times a day. Doing so can stimulate intestinal peristalsis and facilitate defecation, and it should be said that it is also effective in improving constipation.

Normal physiological phenomenon

What exactly is constipation? Babies with constipation are mostly breastfed. This is because the baby's digestive ability gradually improves after one month and can fully digest and absorb breast milk, resulting in very little food residue produced every day, which is not enough to stimulate the rectum to form bowel movements, ultimately leading to a common phenomenon. The water content of normal breastfed baby's stool accounts for 80% of the dry-wet ratio. Two-thirds of the visible components are food residues, one-third are normal intestinal bacteria, and there are also trace amounts of mineral salts, bile pigments and derivatives, and desquamated intestinal epithelial cells. These bacteria include Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus faecalis, etc., which are beneficial to the human body. They can fully decompose food residues to produce vitamins and other nutrients for the human body to absorb and utilize, and coexist with humans. The beneficial bacteria in the feces of breastfed babies are mainly lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. Because the food is fully decomposed and very little food residue is produced, it cannot stimulate the rectum to have a bowel movement in time, thus causing "stomachache". Knowing this, mothers can rest assured that this is a physiological phenomenon. You see! There is some truth in this old saying.

This kind of stool condition also shows that the mother's breast milk is of very good quality and nutritionally balanced, and the baby's digestive ability is very good, which leads to insufficient intestinal peristalsis of the baby (because it is too easy to absorb and does not require sufficient peristalsis), resulting in the phenomenon of "stomach retention".

Some ways to adjust

Although the baby's "holding stool" is a normal bowel movement due to breastfeeding, the mother does not need to be too anxious. In the past, no treatment was required and no water was needed. However, new research suggests that the amount of breast milk at this time is just enough or slightly insufficient for the baby, so the ideal frequency of bowel movements should be adjusted to 1 to 2 times a day. In order to better ensure the rapid metabolic needs of infancy and seize the opportunity to cultivate good bowel habits in babies, it is possible to effectively prevent constipation in the future.

1. Have bowel movements regularly. Because the "stomach retention" phenomenon usually begins to appear around 2 months old, it is important to train your child to defecate regularly (such as defecating in the morning and evening every day) so that your child can form good bowel habits early.

2. Do abdominal massage every day. (1) Use your palms to gently rub the baby's abdomen, with the navel as the center, rotating from left to right 10 times. Rest for 5 minutes, then massage 10 times again. Repeat 3 times. (2) Place the baby in supine position and hold the baby's legs to do flexion and extension exercises, stretching and flexing once, for a total of 10 times, and then flexing and extending one leg 10 times. This will help the baby's bowel movements and facilitate the discharge of stool;

3. Drink more water. For the "belly holding" of fat babies, you can feed some boiled water or vegetable juice or fruit juice between two feedings every day. After 4 months, adding complementary food can completely solve this bowel movement problem.

4. Increase milk supply. If the child's stool decreases and weight gain is not ideal because of insufficient breast milk, then you can add some formula milk to the child in time; if the baby is more than 3 months old, you can also add a little rice soup, which can better improve the stool condition;

5. Stimulate anus for defecation. Twice a day, about 20 to 30 minutes after the baby feeds, apply an oily topical medication (such as chloramphenicol ointment) to the baby's anus, put soft paper on it, gently push and press the anus, and do it slowly 10 times. Generally, the baby will feel the urge to defecate or have a bowel movement soon. Dip a sterilized cotton swab in vegetable oil and gently insert it into the baby's anus, which can also induce a bowel movement in the rectum.

Parents should not worry if their baby has diarrhea. After reading the above content, you will know why diarrhea occurs. You will know that it is not because the baby is sick, but because the development is not in place. At the same time, some solutions are also given, I believe they are of great help in life.