A Mother's Discovery

a mother's experience nurturing her little ones, treasuring every single family moments with her loved ones and sharing her thoughts on day-to-day life experience, breastfeeding and natural parenting ...

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

constipation or not...?

i love fresh fruit juice...


i often come across mothers who come to the clinic complaining of their babies do not pass motion for few days and it is very stressing for them (the parents)...

parents need to understand that as children age, the normal physiologic changes occur in the intestines and colon that decrease the daily number of stools from a mean of 2.2 in infants younger than 1 year to a mean of 1.4 in 1-3 year old children...thus, less frequent stooling may not be constipation....

if your doctor has rule out the causes of organic constipation, we as parents need to see what our children eat....increase the fruits and vegetables intake as this can alleviate constipation...prepare your child's milk (if not breastfeeding) according to the instruction stated on the formula milk can...do not overdilute or overconcentrated it as this can cause hard stool in your child...for older child, increase their other fluid intake as well...

explore your child's toiletting habit...when your child is ready to toilet train, make this learning process as an interesting experience....a cute potty especially for them and perhaps you can pretend doing your "business" as well in the toilet with them...if they succed, perhaps you can reward them with something they like...you can encourage your child to go to toilet every 2 hours even though they don't pass out anything....

it is important to ensure that your children pass motion about 1 or 2 times per day or minimum of 3 times per week...if a child frequently avoids defecating, the stool will stay longer in the rectum and the stool will become harder....passing out hard stool is traumatic to a child..

after a thorough examination on the child, a doctor will then decide whether medication is really needed...usually, medication is used if there is evidence of rectal impation...so, if your doctor does not supply you with the medication for the above problem, maybe your child does not need them...sometimes, dietary modification alone can solve this matter....educate and encourage your child to pass motion everyday....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

salam dr ezura.saya ada soalan.bayi saya akan berusia 4 bulan. sejak umur 2 bulan ++ sehingga kini, baby saya buang air besar 2-3 hari sekali, berwana hijau dan agak liat. saya campur susu badan dan formula S26.baru2 ni cuba enfalac tapi masalah masih serupa. saya pam susu badan tapi sekarang makin berkurangan.mohon nasihat.

Dr Ezura said...

salam,mungkin itu bowel habit anak mommy...ada tak najis tuh bercampur darah atau dia sgt susah nk berak smpi kena teran kuat2..?atau mungkin bleh cuba dgn susu lain...bila buat susu pastikan scoop susu tu rata bukan penuh menimbun...sbb nnt susu terlalu byk berbanding air dan jd pekat...
utk bykkan susu badan , kerapkan bg susu bdn, lg byk baby hisap, lg bertambah production...insya allah..