When a baby is born, his body has yet to learn to perfectly and smoothly cope with all natural processes, and therefore various functional disorders in the chest period are more likely to be a norm than a pathology. Unfortunately, such disorders, although not dangerous, but cause a lot of inconvenience to both the most unfortunate crumbs and his parents. One of the most common misfortunes is constipation.
Constipation in a baby is quite difficult to differentiate from the norm, because sometimes the baby may have a normal stool delay of one to two days. If it does not bring discomfort, and the chair is ultimately soft, then this is not considered constipation, and nothing needs to be done in this case. But if a child is tormented, trying and can not poke, his stomach hurts and his appetite decreases - this is constipation. Constipation in infants is most often accompanied by increased gas formation and cause severe discomfort.
The causes of constipation in the infant are many. Firstly, much depends on nutrition. If the baby is on artificial feeding, then the problem is most likely in the mixture, or rather, in how the baby tolerates it. To begin with, it is worth trying to give him more water - sometimes this helps, and if he already tastes juices - you need to give preference to those that have a laxative effect, for example, carrot or plum. The mixture needs to be changed only if these methods do not help to establish regular stools, since this change is quite noticeable for an infant, and frequent and abrupt changes in mixtures can contribute to food allergies. If constipation in an infant is almost a constant occurrence, then it is better to transfer the baby to another mixture, and preference should be given to those that provide comfortable digestion, for example, contain dietary fiber, or prebiotics.
Constipation in breast-fed infants occurs much less frequently and indicates an imbalance in the mother’s diet. In this case, you need to pay attention to foods rich in potassium, the most famous and effective of which is prunes.
In addition to the main, food, constipation in a child can occur for many reasons. In particular, teething can cause both constipation and diarrhea, water quality is of great importance, especially for artificially fed children, and even the weather can sometimes affect stool density - in general, constipation in babies is more likely to be normal than extraordinary, and almost every baby in the first year of life encounters him.
Despite the fact that constipation in a baby is not particularly dangerous, it gives the baby great discomfort, and it is necessary to deal with it. The main thing in this business is not to overdo it. Drugs and enemas should be addressed last, and before that, try other means.
Sometimes a special massage helps a lot when the baby is massaged in a tummy clockwise or in the form of the letter P from right to left, since it is in this direction that the large intestine passes, and this stimulates its peristalsis and promotes the movement of feces. By the way, such a massage also helps with increased gas formation. You can try bending the baby’s legs in the knees and pressing them on the tummy, playing a bike and lubricating the anus with oil or cream: this will not only facilitate possible bowel movements, but may well stimulate it.
Laxatives and enemas are extreme measures that you should not resort to too often, since the intestines are then completely lazy, and constipation in a baby will become a constant phenomenon. This is a reliable solution, but only when everything else has already been tried.