Constipation in a 4 month old breastfed baby

Young parents do not always know how to properly care for their babies in their first year of life. This is why various digestive problems arise due to introduction to new foods, improper diet of lactating women and the use of potent medications. When the first negative reactions appear, you should definitely contact a therapist who will select adequate treatment. Next, we’ll take a closer look at what to do when constipation occurs in a 9-month-old child.

Normal stool standards for a child

Doctors consider it normal for a newborn baby to have a bowel movement after each feeding. By four months, the number of bowel movements decreases to three times a day. But this is not a dogma; in practice, things can happen completely differently. Each child has its own characteristic individual characteristics and the development of the child’s body depends on them. Therefore, if a breastfed baby’s bowel movements are less frequent than normal, but the baby is cheerful and gaining weight, there is no reason to worry.

Before the introduction of complementary foods, the stool of a small child is unformed and does not have an unpleasant odor.

Typically, a small child's stool has a lactic-sour smell.

Symptoms

The presence of a disease can be determined by some reactions of children and various signs of their behavior:

• They sit on the potty for a long time, beat their feet on the floor, often the process is accompanied by screams and tears
• They generally refuse to sit down to relieve themselves.
• They “protect” the tummy (during play and pranks), since an unsuccessful touch can cause pain and discomfort.

Constipation problem

Constipation in a four-month-old baby will be considered a pathology if:

• there is no bowel movement for a long time;
• the child is restless;
• strains excessively, grunts, turns red when defecating;
• points his legs toward his stomach;
• the chair looks like balls.

If, with these symptoms, the baby has a normal temperature and gains weight, then the cause of constipation is a violation of the mother’s diet. Otherwise, you must urgently seek help from a pediatrician, since the pathological condition can be caused by severe diseases of the digestive system.

Stool retention may be a consequence of insufficient milk consumption. To avoid this, it is necessary to weigh the baby before and after each feeding.

Prevention

To avoid digestive problems in your baby in the future, you need to adhere to the following simple principles:

• During breastfeeding, be sure to give your baby something to drink. In addition to water, juices based on products that do not cause allergic reactions are allowed. Teas based on flax seeds, fennel or dill are useful for digestion.
• Your baby's daily diet should include only healthy foods. For normal stool, yoghurt, kefir, vegetable and fruit purees, and cereals with fiber are recommended.
• Even when breastfeeding, the mother must also lead a healthy lifestyle so that the baby receives only useful and safe substances along with milk.
• Patients in the first year of life lead an almost recumbent lifestyle, so it is imperative to do gymnastics and abdominal massage between meals every day.
• After long-term drug treatment, it is recommended to take a course of probiotics to restore the balance of beneficial bacteria in the stomach.

Maternal malnutrition

If the main cause of constipation is breast milk, the nursing mother should avoid the following products:

1. Unripe fruits containing starch. It is difficult to digest by the gastrointestinal tract and consumes a lot of energy and time.
2. Cottage cheese, which is consumed by a nursing mother due to the large amount of calcium in this product. An excess of this useful element also causes stool retention.
3. Fried and fatty foods.
4. Chocolate and cocoa are foods that slow down intestinal motility.

Among the recommended products are:

• ripe ripened fruits in moderation;
• various vegetables (especially beets);
• adding vegetable oil to the diet as an additive to salads;
• dried fruits (dried apricots, prunes).

Constipation in a child can also be caused by the mother taking certain medications (antibiotics, muscle relaxants).

Gastrointestinal diseases

Among the most dangerous pathologies leading to the development of constipation are:

1. Hirschsprung's disease. A severe disease of the digestive tract in which there is no innervation of certain parts of the intestine. As a result, its function is disrupted and constipation occurs.
2. Dolichosigma. Pathology of the sigmoid colon, characterized by its elongation. This leads to numerous bends and the formation of pockets where stool can get stuck.
3. Lactase deficiency. The disease is characterized by the absence of an enzyme involved in the breakdown of milk sugar (lactose). The condition is accompanied by the development of constipation.

In addition to the above reasons, constipation in a child can be caused by:

Other pathologies

Constipation in a 4-month-old child can also occur due to other concomitant diseases:

1. Dysbacteriosis is a disorder of the intestinal microflora. It can be caused by an infectious disease of the digestive tract in the mother and child or by taking antibacterial agents.
2. Violation of the nervous regulation of the intestines can be caused by a child's birth injury or cerebral palsy.
3. Rickets is a lack of vitamin D in a baby and, as a result, a violation of the formation of bone and muscle tissue. This leads to improper functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and the development of constipation.
4. Incorrect drinking regime in a child.
5. The presence of acute respiratory diseases in a child, accompanied by fever and dehydration.
6. The presence of emotional stress in the child, which can be provoked by prolonged separation from the mother.

Treatment

Treatment of constipation in a small child is usually prescribed for a long period of time, especially if stool retention was caused by congenital abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract. It is necessary to specify the types of assistance that any parent can provide to the baby when the first signs of constipation are detected:

1. Non-drug treatment methods. They include abdominal massage, the use of thermal procedures, gymnastics for infants, and normalization of the drinking regime.
2. Drug treatment methods. Use of various types of enemas, rectal suppositories and oral laxatives.

Thus, following the above recommendations can help get rid of the problem of stool retention.

Medication methods

In cases where the above recommendations were ineffective, it is necessary to resort to the use of medications.

If constipation lasts more than a day in a 4-month-old child, the following remedies can be used:

• rectal suppositories;
• enemas;
• oral laxatives.

Please note that independent use of medications in infants is unacceptable. Any medications are prescribed by a doctor after an objective examination of the child, laboratory and instrumental studies, and the exclusion of all contraindications to their use.

Laxatives

Oral laxatives (“Dufalak”, “Normaze”, “Portalak”) contain lactulose; when it enters the intestines, it absorbs water and swells. This helps soften stool and remove it more quickly from the body.

Any drugs with a laxative effect should not be used frequently due to the risk of developing addiction to the drugs.

Suppositories

Glycerin suppositories are an effective treatment method even for prolonged constipation. There are suppositories for children, but adults can also be used, but do the following:

1. Take the medicine from the refrigerator, keep it at room temperature for a while and divide into 4 servings.
2. Take ¼ of the candle in your hands. It has already reached body temperature and can be sculpted. Form a sharp edge with your fingers for ease of insertion into the anus.
3. Lay the baby on his side and, with his knees bent, lubricate the anus with baby cream. Now insert the prepared piece, returning the legs to their original position and moving the buttocks to prevent the suppository from coming out back, as the baby may try to push against a foreign body in the rectum.

Enemas

Microclysters are also approved remedies for infants. Microlax is a safe drug because it is not absorbed through the intestinal wall, and therefore does not enter the child’s bloodstream. The laxative effect is observed within half an hour after use. The drug should be administered in the same way as rectal suppositories.

In addition to ready-made medications, cleansing enemas can be used in children of this age. For this procedure, 40-60 ml of boiled water is used, which is administered rectally using a syringe with a rubber tip.

It is not recommended to carry out this procedure at home, since administering an enema to a 4-month-old child requires a medical education.

Non-drug methods

Non-drug treatment methods are a priority for the treatment of constipation in a four-month-old child. Since any medications in young children can harm the body.

Among the methods available to every parent at home, the child can use:

• performing abdominal massage;
• gymnastics;
• applying heat to the abdominal area;
• restoration of the correct drinking regime in the child.

The advantage of non-drug methods is their ease of use, they are easy to learn and will not be difficult to perform on an infant every day.

Massage

Abdominal massage is an effective procedure for the treatment and prevention of stool retention in infants. It can be done 2-3 times a day, preferably after meals.

There are several rules for performing the procedure:

1. All movements should be performed only clockwise. Other directions may cause intussusception in the child.
2. You should not use force when stroking your belly. The procedure should be tolerated comfortably by the baby.
3. The hands of the person performing the massage should be warm. This will make the procedure more effective and comfortable for the child.
4. For a massage, it is enough to stroke the child’s abdomen in a clockwise direction for a couple of minutes.

Gymnastics

Among the gymnastic exercises for infants with constipation, the following will be useful:

1. “Bicycle” exercise: the mother bends the child’s legs one by one, simulating riding.
2. Pressing the baby's legs against the tummy for a couple of seconds and then straightening them.
3. Place it on the baby's tummy more often before feeding.
4. Exercise with a child on a fitball (this will not only help cope with constipation, but also stimulate the physical development of the baby).

Heat on the abdominal area

Blood flow to the intestines often solves the problem of constipation by increasing the peristalsis of the organ. An ordinary heating pad, preheated to 39-40 degrees, will help create this effect. It is enough to perform this procedure once a day for 5-7 minutes.

An alternative to using a heating pad can be a regular warm bath at a temperature of 36-37 degrees.

Normalization of drinking regime

Regular boiled water can solve the problem of constipation. This is especially true during the hot summer months. The daily norm for a 4-month-old baby is approximately 50-70 ml. A lack of fluid in the baby's body leads to increased absorption from the large intestine and, as a consequence, hardening of the stool and the occurrence of stool retention.

What to avoid

Inexperienced mothers often tend to resort to various unconventional methods of treatment and folk recipes. However, before using these medications on a baby, you should consult with your doctor to assess their possible harm.

Here are some examples:

1. One of the folk methods for treating constipation is laundry soap, which is used instead of rectal suppositories. Such a remedy can cause inflammation of the rectal mucosa, allergic reactions in the child, and also lead to bleeding.
2. Another folk remedy for constipation is a decoction of dried fruits or beet juice. These drinks effectively cope with stool retention, however, they are not recommended to be given to a child before complementary feeding is introduced, as this can cause the development of food allergies.

First aid

If you quickly need to cleanse the intestinal system of toxins, you can use one of the following methods:

• Cleansing enema, but only after the doctor's permission. This method is suitable for emergency cases when it is impossible to use another method to restore normal bowel movements. Nine-month-old children can inject no more than 180 ml of ready-made enema solution into the anus. This can be plain water, chamomile decoction, heated vegetable oil or saline solution. Contraindications include intestinal obstruction, anal fissures and bleeding. You can insert the tip into the anus to a thickness of no more than 1 cm. At the pharmacy you can buy a ready-made enema for babies, for example, Microlax.
• Glycerin or sea buckthorn suppositories are allowed to be used from the first days of life. The main components of rectal suppositories are not absorbed into the circulatory system, therefore they are safe for health. Drugs in this group are suitable only for mild forms of constipation, when stool is located directly in the large intestine. The desired therapeutic effect should occur within an hour. Otherwise, you need to consult a doctor who will select a more effective drug, taking into account the health condition of a particular child.
• Prune decoction or puree is characterized by laxative properties. In addition, dried fruits are safe for babies, because they do not cause allergic reactions. Nine-month-old children will only need to take one spoon of decoction before each meal. To prepare the decoction, you need to pour a glass of boiling water over several prunes, leave and strain.