The birth of a baby is both joy and excitement, an indescribable feeling of happiness and constant anxiety. Moreover, anxieties can be for various reasons. Mom can only guess if the baby is hungry, why he is whimpering, whether he is warm. A lot of questions arise in connection with the basic functions of life, including the baby’s chair. Mucus, blood streaks, white lumps in the feces of the baby can cause fear for the condition of the child, so you should know in which cases such problems appear, whether he has a disease.
Debugging a newborn’s body systems is a complex and lengthy process
To begin with, it should be said that the normalization of the gastrointestinal tract in each child is a purely individual process. It can occur both in a few months and during the first years of life. The full ability to digest food and remove its residues from the body at the level of an adult is formed only eight years after birth. That is why you should not rush with some products in the diet of children, impose on them an "adult" table. Even the slightest malfunctions in the usual diet provoke white lumps in the feces of the baby.
Why is the baby's feces grainy?
In the most favorable case, such an appearance of the baby's stool is overeating. If the amount of food that the child consumes during the day is more than is necessary to satisfy physiological needs, this provokes excesses. The undigested particles make up the very grains in the feces of the baby. The human body is designed in such a way that food is digested and assimilated by the allocation of the necessary enzymes, but the children's pancreas cannot, due to its underdevelopment, cope with its task one hundred percent. And the stomach of the baby plays only a passive function - it only absorbs substances from food.
Early feeding is a taboo!
There is a difference in what rate of feces in infants , depending on the type of feeding. According to the Ministry of Health, according to the latest prescriptions, it is not recommended for a child to eat anything other than breast milk or adapted milk formula for up to six months. A few decades ago, children received the first lure after the third month, but it has been scientifically proven that this negatively affects future health. A child who has experienced such experiments early on may become allergic, have gastrointestinal problems, and dysbiosis.
Chest VS Bottle
Breastfeeding, all on the same recommendations by the Ministry of Health, is a priority. After all, no matter how good, balanced and high-quality the mixture was, it cannot satisfy all the needs of the child. Breast milk is a miracle of nature, analogues of which cannot be found or artificially created. The fact is that its composition is constantly changing depending on the needs of the baby. A strong relationship between mother and child at the psychological and physiological level is manifested precisely during feeding. However, such an instability of food and its chemical composition cannot guarantee stable stool in infants. And although many doctors, especially Western ones, reject the direct relationship between the mother’s diet and the subsequent well-being of the child, experience shows that there is an effect. That is why it is better to avoid strong allergens, metabolic products, fast food and alcohol.
Breastfeeding: what pitfalls can be
But even if the mother’s nutrition is absolutely healthy, does not contain harmful substances and chemistry, why can the problem happen and white lumps appear in the feces of the baby? As already mentioned, this is overeating. Putting a baby on the chest on demand has its advantages: this is a great way to calm an excited baby, to help him fall asleep, drink and feed. But a newborn baby needs a constant mom's presence and often just wants her attention, receives not only entertainment, but also a portion of breast milk. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and over time, mom and baby will learn to communicate using other methods, so this problem will pass. In addition, it is quite difficult to control exactly how much the baby has sucked from the chest. Sometimes it remains to rely only on nature and natural regulation, a feeling of fullness in a child. It is not worth it to take away his breasts by force. In addition, milk production is arranged in such a way that the largest amount of food falls on the front milk, it is more liquid, not so greasy and consists mainly of water. And the back stands out literally in grams and allows the baby to enjoy mom and her intimacy.
In what cases should I contact a specialist?
The unequal volume of milk in the breast, changes in its fat content, frequency of application directly affect stool in the baby. Therefore, if his health is good, he is not worried about gases, he defecates easily, then do not interfere with natural physiology. However, in case of problems, it is best to establish a diet by organizing application by the clock, and for additional stimulation of the body, supporting intestinal microflora, special nutritional supplements should be used. Such drugs should be prescribed by a doctor based on the results of the analysis and external examination of the child.
Artificial feeding is normal
With children on artificial feeding, the situation is slightly different. Most often, choosing a certain mixture, mom stops her choice. Thus, constancy and stability during feeding is ensured. In addition, special recommendations have been created on the amount eaten in one go, a day for each age, weight of the child. And it’s easy to check whether the baby ate in the bottle. It happens that a child does not get enough of the amount that is due to him according to the standards, so my mother does not always follow the developed plans of pediatricians, changing the amount of food as she sees fit. This can also lead to disruptions in the intestines, and the newborn will show it with the contents of the diaper.
A new mixture - a new reaction
Another nuance for artisans is that in different batches of the mixture the composition can change, even minor errors fundamentally change the characteristics of food, this cannot pass unnoticed by the baby's body. The skin on which the rashes will appear, or the intestines, can react. The undigested mixture or part of it turns into white lumps in the feces. The baby has an unformed body, so it reacts very sensitively to all changes.
What is meconium? What does he look like?
After birth, the baby changes extremely quickly, grows, mother needs to carefully monitor all changes. A newborn child immediately after its birth should cleanse the intestines. Staying in my mother’s tummy, he also ate, and processed products accumulated for many months. The first bowel movements (meconium) is a fairly solid feces, it is dark green in color, dense. His discharge should end at most on the second day. Then the stool becomes like gruel, only sometimes with a little admixture of meconium and only in the first few days. This is the so-called transitional chair, and it already shows how correctly and competently mother and doctors create a diet for the child.
Feces of the baby when breastfeeding
When breastfeeding, the chair should normally be mushy, light yellow in color, with the smell of sour milk. Various impurities, excessive wateriness, foam, greenness, mucus can indicate intestinal dysfunction, improper nutrition of the mother. Each situation requires specialist advice, because it can be a symptom of an intestinal infection, aversion to lactose, an insufficient amount of enzymes, or dysbiosis. Before giving the child to all the circles of hell in polyclinics, it is better to carefully examine his condition, if he develops well, grows, does not cry and looks healthy and happy in general, then perhaps such a stool in a baby is his norm, and he does not require medical intervention.
How do babies poop on artificial feeding?
The feces of children who eat the mixture are slightly different. The color can vary from light yellow to a little brown in color, the smell is also sour, the consistency is mushy, but slightly thicker than from breast milk. Solid feces in the diaper are considered constipation and require adequate measures by the parents.
Constipation in a baby. How to recognize?
Despite the widespread opinion of some pediatricians that a child can rarely empty his intestines, sometimes he has to wait up to seven days, and if this does not bother him, then mom and dad need not worry, not all doctors support this theory. Stool, which occurs less than once every two to three days, is already becoming constipated. Normally, the baby, eating breast milk, in the first months of his life should stain the diaper 5-6 times a day. For those who eat adapted milk formula, stool occurs less frequently - up to 4 times.