THE SCOOP ON POOP: WHAT'S NORMAL, WHAT'S NOT Continued
1 to 4months. When your baby is 3 or 4 days old, his stool changes from tarry meconium to a watery consistency. Babies usually make up to ten dirty diapers a day for the first one or twomonths and then go two to four times a day until around 4 months. This is thanks to the gastrocolic reflex, which occurs as the stomach stretches with food and the colon is automatically signaled to empty andmake room for more. In babies, the gastrocolic reflex is immature, so each time they feed they usually squirt out a little poop. Over time, some babies' intestines absorb so much breast milk that they create extremely small amounts of waste and their colon doesn't emptymore than once daily, or even once weekly in some cases. Formula-fed babies typically poop less frequently than breast-milk eaters because their stool moves through the intestines more slowly. Meanwhile, babies on both formula and breast milk go somewhere between multiple times a day and once a week. 5 to 12 months. Once a baby starts eating pureed foods and cereals, between 4 and 6months, her stool will change. A breastfed baby's poop often thickens with the addition of solids, whereas a formula-fed baby's usually softens. If your breastfed baby used to go only every five days or so, you'll see it becomes more of a daily event. 1 to 3 years. As you transition from breast milk or formula to wholemilk and amore solid diet, the stool will continue to change. For most babies, it gets thicker and harder. Between 12 and 18 months, you'll probably also notice what I call the "salad diaper," filledwith larger pieces of veggies that aremore difficult to digest. This can make your effort to offer a diverse range of foods feel like a huge waste of time! But it's not, insists Evelyn Hsu, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Children's Hospital of Seattle. "Your toddler's colon is just learning how to process whole veggies," Dr. Hsu explains. (Not tomention that kids aren't necessarily chewingwell at this stage.) Over time you'll see the food get more digested. Research shows that the perfect time to begin potty training is between 27 and 32 months of age. When we talk about potty training, though, we usually mean learning to pee. Pooping in the potty often comes later; most kids are able to do it by 3 or 4 years of age. 3 to 5 years. By now, kids ideally poop once a day. And when they do, it should be soft and pain-free. However, constipation is common around this age. I often ask older children if their stool looks like a bowl of chunky soup, a snake, a log, or a bunch of pebbles. The answer I'm looking for: a long snake. Kids who are constipated often have trouble toilet training because they'll avoid pooping if they're afraid it will hurt. To treat constipation, I suggest that 50 percent of a child's calories come from fresh fruit and veggies and that she should have no more than 2 or 3 cups of milk per day. Parents should also have their child try to sit on the potty after every meal. If those methods don't work, we prescribe stool softeners such as Miralax. Have patience and stay positive! With that, I wish you well in the diaper years. We all want an end to the potty patrol, but the exact timing
is ultimately up to your child. Do your best to provide support for your child. And then know this: Although pooping on the potty may seem like the finish line, many of us can be found wiping bottoms for a few more years to come. POOP PROBLEMS: WHEN TO CALL THE DOCTOR • If it's white (a sign your baby isn't producing enough bile), black (which signals blood digested from the stomach or small intestine), or contains streaks of red (it could mean blood from the colon or rectum) • If your child screams out in pain or bleeds while pooping • If you see mucus, which can be a sign of an infection or intolerance • If your child's stool changes dramatically after you introduce a new food; this may signal an allergy • If your child's poop is still a very runny consistency by age 1 (if your child has diarrhea -- watery stools more than five times a day -- mention this to your doc too) 3 THINGS THAT CAN ALTER YOUR CHILD'S BMS Antibiotics. If your child takes them, hemay experience diarrhea, gassiness, stomach upset, or more frequent poops. So use antibiotics for your child only when you have to. Or ask your pediatrician about giving your child probiotics daily while taking an antibiotic. Research shows that probiotics can shorten bouts of diarrhea in children who are taking antibiotics. Gastroenteritis. Children with a stomach virus often vomit for about 24 hours, but they may need up to two weeks for their stools to get back to normal. When a virus sets up camp in the intestines, it takes time for the good bacteria to re-populate and allow your child's stools to get back to the way they were. Travel. Being on the road can make it tricky to stay hydrated, leading to harder BMs. When you're drinking water from new places, the normal bacteria living in the gut can change and may also lead to runnier stools. Try to eat culture-rich yogurt daily and use probiotics the week before you travel.
Written by: Wendy Sue Swanson, M.D. from Parents Magazine
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