When chatting with mothers, I often hear worried dialogues from mothers:
The baby has not had poop for several days. What should I do?
It must be constipation, give him some probiotics quickly!
Do you often have this kind of trouble? If the baby is constipated, what will you do?
Have you been caught in the following 10 misconceptions about constipation?
Myth 1: If you don’t poop every day, you must be constipated!
Constipation is not based on defecation interval, only dry stool and difficult defecation are constipation.
If the time interval for defecating alone is long (some people call it “saving belly”), or sometimes the baby defecates very hard, it may be normal. Some babies even defecate once every 3-4 days, while others defecate 3-4 times a day.
As long as the baby’s diet is normal, the growth curve is normal, and the mental state is good, there is no need to worry. Only when the following symptoms occur, you need to start paying attention:
Suspected constipation cases include:
- Difficulty in defecation; The poop is small and dry, like rabbit poop. Sometimes large and hard; The baby is agitated, painful and crying when defecating. Flatulence and lumps in the stomach; There are stripes of blood on the surface of the poop. It may be due to the stiff poop causing [anal fissure].
Myth 2: Breastfed babies are prone to constipation,
Some mothers may think that breast milk has good nutrition, complete absorption and less food residue, which leads to constipation in breast-fed babies.
In fact, the probability of constipation in breast-fed babies is very small.
Because although the nutrition of breast milk is easy to digest and absorb, it contains water-soluble dietary fiber oligosaccharides, which can be decomposed in the baby’s intestinal tract, increase the volume of feces, and prevent and reduce the occurrence of constipation.
In addition, breast milk also contains many probiotics beneficial to baby’s intestinal health, including lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. Therefore, it is not recommended for breast-fed babies to supplement probiotics and their preparations.
Myth 3: Probiotics in Milk Powder, Drinking Milk Powder Certainly Not Constipation
Even if there are additional probiotics, milk powder or mixed feeding babies have more constipation.
The main reasons are:
- The milk powder is too thick: in this case, mothers are required to ensure that the milk powder is mixed according to the correct proportion of water and powder; Blindly supplement calcium, iron, zinc and other minerals: if the baby is fed formula milk, its various nutrients can already meet the baby’s needs, and the additional minerals will combine with fatty acids to form calcium soap, causing constipation; Milk protein intolerance.
Myth 4: If you don’t pull today, if you don’t pull tomorrow, you will always pull.
This is not the case.
If the more poop accumulated in the baby’s intestinal tract, the longer it lasts, the harder and drier it will become, thus making it more difficult to expel it from the body. Moreover, due to the great pain when dry poop is excreted, children or adults will subconsciously suppress the poop back, causing further aggravation of the problem.
Therefore, problems should be solved as soon as possible. (Ashley)
Myth 5: Drinking Yogurt Can Treat Constipation
Not necessarily.
Some yogurts do contain a certain proportion of live bacteria, which may be helpful to intestinal health, but there are still two points to consider:
Younger babies are not suitable for drinking yogurt, and milk protein in yogurt may cause baby allergy.
If yogurt is needed to improve constipation, enough probiotic live bacteria are needed.
Myth 6: It is OK to use Kaisailu for constipation of the baby!
The application of Kaisailu can treat the symptoms but not the root causes.
Methods to relieve constipation are divided into [temporary solution] and [permanent solution].
The application of Kaiselu belongs to [palliative] and is a way to solve the immediate problem. Kaiselu is safe and non-stimulating and can be used in an emergency.
However, the root cause is the key.
Myth 7: Drinking More Water Can Treat Constipation
Drinking more water can improve symptoms, but it has no therapeutic effect.
Drinking more water can indeed promote intestinal peristalsis, but it can only improve symptoms and cannot treat constipation.
Generally speaking, the main cause of constipation is that food processing is too fine and refined, resulting in insufficient intake of dietary fiber and too little food residue.
Other possible causes of constipation include:
- Fever; Dehydration; Changes in baby’s diet; The effects of certain drugs; Some diseases: such as Hirschsprung’s disease, anal fissure, hemorrhoids, etc.
Myth 8: Bananas Can Treat Constipation
Eating too many raw bananas will cause or aggravate constipation.
In fact, immature bananas contain more tannic acid and have a strong [astringent] effect, which will inhibit gastrointestinal fluid secretion and inhibit its peristalsis. If the baby ingests too much, it may cause constipation or aggravate constipation. And because the dietary fiber content in bananas is not high, even mature bananas, its laxative effect is not good.
In fact, most mothers just think bananas look like poop, so they have a good association with [banana laxative]. In contrast, prune, apricot, apple and pear are better choices of anti-constipation fruits. Of course, there are high fiber vegetables such as broccoli, pumpkin and sweet potato.
Myth 9: The baby is constipated, and eating probiotics will be good.
Probiotics cannot be used if you want.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, The most common probiotics are tiny strains of [bifidobacterium] and [lactic acid bacteria]. Studies have proved that these two probiotics can prevent or treat symptoms such as infectious diarrhea and eczema in infants. However, for many other health problems, there is currently insufficient evidence to prove that probiotics alone can improve health problems, including constipation.
Moreover, the possible benefits of probiotics will only be realized when sufficient probiotics are ingested. Once infants stop drinking formula milk supplemented with probiotics, Bacteria in the intestinal tract will return to the previous level. In fact, probiotics are more suitable for use when babies have intestinal dysfunction, such as diarrhea, dyspepsia and antibiotics, and mothers should pay attention to choosing probiotic preparations that do not contain milk, sugar, etc.
Compared with probiotics, some doctors advise mothers to consider choosing prebiotics to relieve constipation. Prebiotics are indigestible food ingredients (such as dietary fiber). It can help the reproduction of beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract, thus increasing the number of beneficial bacteria and inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria at the same time.
Common sources of prebiotics include breast milk, asparagus, spinach, strawberries, etc. In fact, it is to let the baby increase the intake of dietary fiber.
For infants and children under 2 years old who start to add supplementary foods, the daily dietary fiber intake is about 3 ~ 5 g. For children over 2 years old, the daily dietary fiber intake can be estimated by adding 5 ~ 10 years old, for example, 7 ~ 12 g of dietary fiber should be consumed every day for 2 years old.
Generally speaking, one portion of vegetable puree or fruit puree (about 30 ~ 50 g each) eaten by babies every day can provide about 1 g of dietary fiber, while prune, peas and other foods have higher dietary fiber content.
Myth 10: Constipation can only be treated, prevention is useless,
In fact, the prevention of constipation is the key.
Parents should be familiar with the baby’s normal defecation pattern, typical defecation characteristics and hardness, so as to distinguish whether constipation exists or not and how serious constipation is. More importantly, starting from a reasonable diet and good defecation habits, rather than long-term dependence on drugs or probiotics to solve immediate problems.
Note: If the baby has intractable constipation, please go to the hospital for examination in time to determine the cause of the disease, eliminate organic diseases or food allergy and other problems, and solve them symptomatically.