Can newborns be constipated?

Constipation refers to decreased frequency of bowel movements, longer intervals between bowel movements, difficulty in defecation, and hard, dry stools. Newborns are breastfed and eat less, so their bowel movements are relatively infrequent and irregular. If the stools of a newborn are relatively soft, there is no need to suspect that the newborn is constipated. If your stool is dry and hard, you are constipated. Once a newborn is constipated, he or she should seek medical attention immediately to find out the cause of the constipation and receive timely treatment.

Causes

1. Inappropriate food ingredients

Constipation is closely related to the composition of food. For example, if the food contains too much protein and insufficient sugar, intestinal fermentation will be relatively reduced, affecting fermentation, making the stool alkaline and dry, leading to constipation. Food (such as milk powder) contains a large amount of casein, and the feces contain a large amount of insoluble calcium soap, which causes an increase in feces and easy constipation.

2. Long-term inadequate diet

When children eat too little, there is less residue in the intestines after digestion and the stool is less; insufficient sugar in milk causes dry stools; insufficient diet for a long time leads to malnutrition, which makes the abdominal and intestinal muscles weak, lack of tension, and weak peristalsis, leading to stubborn constipation.

3. Bowel function problems

Due to irregular life and bowel movements, the defecation reflex is weakened or not formed; the intestinal muscles relax and constipation occurs. Certain drugs or diseases that can weaken the intestinal wall muscle tone and cause dysfunction, as well as abnormal sympathetic nerve function, can cause constipation.

4. Abnormal development of the digestive tract

Congenital imperforate anus, congenital megacolon. 5. Genetic metabolic diseases: congenital hypothyroidism, congenital idiocy.

Clinical manifestations

1. Normal stool

If your baby goes more than 2 days (48 hours) without a bowel movement, he or she is constipated. Some babies have difficulty defecating soon after birth, and only defecate once every 1 to 2 days or 3 to 4 days. The feces are dry and hard, and the baby cries constantly during defecation. Because the stool is dry and hard, and defecation is difficult every time, the baby will develop a fear of defecation, leading to a vicious cycle. Constipation in newborn babies is usually functional constipation, which is often ignored by parents, leading to worsening of the condition. If the baby is constipated for a long time, symptoms such as loss of appetite, abdominal distension or even abdominal pain, and restless sleep may occur. In severe cases, symptoms such as rectal prolapse or anal fissure bleeding may occur. Therefore, parents must pay attention and observe closely. If constipation is found, it should be cured as soon as possible, otherwise it will cause serious consequences.

2. Meconium

If no meconium is seen within 24 hours after birth, one should suspect congenital malformation of the digestive tract causing fecal obstruction, which requires prompt diagnosis and treatment. If an older baby has a bowel movement interval of more than 36 hours and no meconium is passed or a small amount of abnormal meconium is passed, this is considered abnormal and attention should be paid to whether the baby has congenital digestive tract malformations or other diseases.

How to deal with it

1. Train your baby to have regular bowel movements

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.

2. Regulate the baby's diet

If the baby is breastfed, the constipation caused by insufficient breast milk often leads to symptoms such as failure to gain weight and crying after eating. For this type of constipation, the symptoms will be relieved as long as the amount of milk is increased; if the baby is fed with milk powder, constipation is more likely to occur, which 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. For babies under 3 to 4 months old, you can add some milk cake to the milk. 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.

3. Medication

If the above methods are still ineffective, you can use enema to relieve constipation. Please note when using it. After the enema is injected into the anus, parents should clamp the buttocks on both sides with their hands to allow the enema liquid to remain in the intestines for a while, and then let the child defecate. The effect is very good, but this method should not be used frequently.

4. If there is digestive tract malformation or genetic metabolic disease

Seek medical attention promptly and ask a specialist to treat it.