You look healthy when you look at your child's feces…If you have these symptoms, go to the hospital right away
Feb 09, 2025
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With the help of Professor Lee Yoo-min of the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescents at Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, we summarized the importance of childhood health and related symptoms that commonly occur.
◇Baby with severe constipation, suspected of disease if there is growth failure or weight loss
For children over the age of 4, constipation is defined as bowel movements less than twice a week, defecation more than once a week, stool holding behavior, painful or difficult symptoms during bowel movements, confirmation of a large mass of stool in the rectum on a rectal examination, and two or more of the symptoms of clogging the toilet last more than a month.
The main causes are lifestyle habits of holding the stool, restricted use of the toilet, eating too little or eating abnormalities such as fiber intake and lack of water. In addition, if there are systemic diseases, muscle diseases or neurological diseases that cause constipation, patients with food allergies or metabolic abnormalities may also have constipation.
It is important for children with severe constipation to develop a habit of not holding back when they feel defecation. Dietary control, such as sufficient water intake and consumption of fruits and fiber-rich foods such as pears, grapes, kiwi, and grape beans, is helpful. If growth failure, weight loss, bloody excrement, severe abdominal pain, or abdominal distention are accompanied by constipation, visit a hospital to find the cause, and see a doctor even if chronic constipation worsens suddenly or if you have intestinal obstruction.
Professor Lee Yoo-min said "We can evaluate endocrine and metabolic diseases that cause constipation, neurological or muscle diseases, and in the case of functional constipation, medication can be considered along with dietary control."
◇Baby with diarrhea, be careful of dehydration and check the cause
The diarrhea is defined as the loss of excessive moisture and electrolytes in feces, and if an infant sees more than 10g of soft stools per kg of body weight per day, it is defined as diarrhea. Functional diarrhea in infancy refers to cases in which soft stool occurs more than four times a day in infants and young children before school, but diarrhea disappears spontaneously during school without pain, night diarrhea, or growth disorders. Consuming more than 150 ml of water per kg of body weight per day or eating too much carbohydrates can cause infant functional diarrhea, and reducing water intake to 90 ml per kg of body weight per day can reduce diarrhea.
Children's diarrhea can be largely divided into acute and chronic diarrhea, and acute diarrhea is often caused by acute gastroenteritis caused by bacterial and viral infections, antibiotics, and overeating, and chronic diarrhea can be caused by milk protein allergies and enzyme deficiencies.
For acute diarrhea in children, it is important to consume enough water and nutrients and prevent dehydration. If the lip and oral mucosa are dry due to decreased urine volume and skin elasticity, dehydration can be suspected, and supplying electrolytes with fluids can help. In addition, if you have a high fever or severe abdominal pain, bloody excrement, or bile vomiting, it is recommended to visit a hospital for appropriate treatment.
◇'Gut, diarrhea, fever, bloody excrement' If you have abdominal pain, you should go to the hospital right away
Abdominal pain is divided into visceral pain, trunk pain, and associated pain by mechanism of occurrence. In the case of visceral pain, the upper abdomen hurts when lesions of the liver, pancreas, biliary tract, and stomach occur, and pain is detected around the navel when lesions of the distal small intestine, cecum, appendix, and proximal large intestine occur. In the case of problems with the distal colon and urinary system, pain may occur in the upper part of the pubis. Tracheal pain is localized pain caused by direct stimulation of nerve endings such as peritoneum and mesentery. The associated pain occurs in the deep part and is projected into the spinal cord muscle and skin segments, and is felt far from the organ where the pain occurs.
Accurate questionnaire and physical examination should confirm the starting point, location, nature, duration, intensity, pattern, deterioration, and mitigating factors of abdominal pain. If you have vomiting, diarrhea, fever, bloody excrement, constipation, anemia, oral intake or weight loss, you should look for an organic cause. If you have jaundice, abdominal distention, bowel tone, right upper and lower tenderness, or liver and spleen hypertrophy, additional examination is required. On the other hand, if there are no warning symptoms such as bloody stool and no specific findings on physical examination, it may be a functional gastrointestinal disease.
If there are warning symptoms, blood tests, fecal tests, and urine tests are performed, and simple abdominal x-rays or abdominal ultrasound are performed as necessary to check for organic diseases. Consider upper gastrointestinal angiography or endoscopy depending on the suspected disease. In patients with functional abdominal pain without organic causes, pain-relieving drugs or cognitive behavioral therapy are helpful.
Professor Lee Yoo-min said, `It is better for children to recognize that the definition of diarrhea and constipation is different from that of adults, and to understand the child's eating habits and bowel patterns. It is recommended to reduce the intake of processed foods or artificial sweeteners, and balanced nutritional intake and regular physical activity with various high-quality nutrients are helpful."
Since each child has different eating habits and living environments, intestinal bacteria are also different. Recently, the intestinal-brain axis hypothesis has been revealed, and many studies have been conducted on the association between functional bowel disease and intestinal microorganisms. As the cause of functional bowel disease, various factors such as eating habits, stress, and intestinal bacterial abnormalities can be combined to cause it, so it is better to check whether the child's eating habits are healthy, reduce school and family stress, and avoid lack of sleep, irregular life rhythms, and excessive competitive environments."
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
