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When your children are young, their digestive systems are still delicate and are not fully developed. It is because of this reason that special consideration has to be given to their diet. Still, there are times when your child will have indigestion, stomach problems, or simply, constipation. Constipation is rather common with young children and if your child has not passed stool for more than three days, you have a problem on your hands.
Constipation may refer to a lack of bowel movement or passing of stools which are very hard.
If the stools become hard and stony, passing them out of the body can be very challenging. In a lot of cases, the child begins to cry, anticipating pain even before the actual pain begins. A baby can try to hold back the stools because of the pain and when this happens over a period of time, constipation may become chronic and aggravated.
One of the usual symptoms of constipation is the bloating and hardening of the stomach. This happens because of the excess of gas that forms in the stomach when the child is not able to pass gas. In infants, constipation should be treated as soon as possible to avoid complications.
Some of the common causes of constipation in young children and infants are an excess of cow milk or formula, incorrect switching from soft food to solids, decreased intake of fluids (especially water), lack of physical activity, and in some cases, teething. Most often, you will see that introducing your child to a new diet will almost certainly cause constipation.
A typical diet for constipation in children will include lots of fiber.
When switching from soft foods to solid foods, make sure that you add some roughage to the diet. This will make the baby’s stools softer and will increase its mass. This means that you should include a small portion of fruits or vegetables in your child’s diet. You can start off with soft fruits like mashed bananas, strained peaches and plums, nectarines, apricots, and pears. With the fruits, you can make some fruit juice or mash the fruits so that the child can consume the pulp too. If your child experiences constipation very often, you can give it some prune juice. This will help soften the stools over a period of time. Other meal options are soft oatmeal or barley porridge. You may also want to consult a medical specialist if the constipation lasts for too long.
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