What are the causes of blood in the stool in children?

Children's resistance is relatively poor, and they often have health problems due to various reasons. For example, many children have symptoms of bloody stools. This problem is most likely caused by diseases such as anal fissure, acute intussusception, acute necrotizing enterocolitis, intestinal polyps and hemorrhoids. Different diseases that cause blood in the stool require different treatment methods!

1. Anal fissure

It is more common in infants around 2 years old. The characteristics of blood in the stool are a small amount of fresh blood, dry and hard stools, and pain during defecation. Therefore, the children are unwilling to defecate, which aggravates the symptoms. The treatment mainly involves keeping the local area clean, taking laxatives orally, increasing fiber-rich foods, and changing bowel habits.

Anal fissures and blood in the stool are mostly caused by tearing the anal edge during defecation when the stool is dry and hard, and there is severe pain. The clinical manifestations are crying and restlessness during defecation, bright red blood in the stool, and fissures can be seen during anal examination.

2. Acute intussusception

This is the most common acute abdomen in children and a common cause of bloody stools. It is more common in children under 2 years old, especially infants aged 4-10 months. The main symptoms of the children are bloody and jam-like stools, accompanied by crying and vomiting due to abdominal pain.

3. Acute necrotizing enteritis

It is an acute hemorrhagic necrotizing inflammation confined to the small intestine, with the lesions mainly in the jejunum or ileum. This disease often occurs in summer and autumn, and may be accompanied by a history of unclean diet. The onset is rapid, manifested by acute abdominal pain, which often starts around the umbilicus or upper and middle abdomen. The pain is paroxysmal colic or continuous pain with paroxysmal aggravation.

4. Intestinal polyps

It is a common cause of bloody stool in children, and is more common in children aged 3-6 years old. The characteristic of blood in the stool is the appearance of fresh blood at the end of defecation, in small amounts, without pain, and not mixed with stool. In case of secondary infection, mucus, pus and blood in the stool may occur. Most intestinal polyps in children are juvenile polyps, which are actually a type of hamartoma and rarely become malignant.

5. Hemorrhoid fistula in infants

It is probably a little known fact that babies can also develop hemorrhoidal fistulas. The symptoms of hemorrhoidal fistula in infants are: redness and swelling on both sides of the buttocks, which sometimes turn into ulcers around the anus. People who don’t understand it often mistake it for diaper rash. The bleeding is fresh blood in a small amount when wiping with toilet paper after defecation.

6. Hemorrhoids

It is internal hemorrhoid bleeding, which mostly occurs after defecation and is painless. The blood is mostly attached to the stool and is bright red in color. Although the incidence of hemorrhoids in children is low and there is little blood in the stool, hemorrhoids are the most common anorectal disease, so they cannot be ignored in clinical practice.