Newborn baby crying with hard stomach

When many mothers touch their baby's belly, they will find that the baby's belly is hard, and the baby starts crying when touched. This is because the baby has indigestion or constipation. Newborns have weak spleen and stomach, insufficient qi and blood, and are prone to cold. If the mother does not dress the baby enough, does not cover the baby with a quilt, or the baby eats cold food, it will cause indigestion. The baby's qi and blood are insufficient, and food easily accumulates in the intestines, causing constipation.

1. Indigestion causes abdominal distension

When a baby catches a cold, its digestive function will be impaired, resulting in abdominal distension. At this time, the baby's belly will feel hard to the touch, so you must pay attention to keeping the baby warm, and be quick when changing diapers and clothes for the baby. When bathing the baby, you must also pay attention to the room temperature and water temperature, dry the baby in time, and do not take a bath for too long.

Suggestion: You can feed your baby some probiotics to relieve your baby’s gastrointestinal discomfort. However, even probiotics should be taken under the guidance of a doctor.

2. Caused by constipation

There are many reasons for neonatal constipation. Here are some common ones:

1. Insufficient breast milk: If the mother's milk is insufficient, the baby will always be in a semi-hungry state, and the baby may only defecate once every two or three days. In addition to infrequent bowel movements, there are also signs of insufficient breast milk, such as feeding time longer than 20 minutes, lack of satisfaction after feeding, slow weight gain, restless sleep, etc.

2. The protein content in breast milk is too high: The mother's diet directly affects the quality of breast milk. If the mother drinks protein-rich soups such as pig's trotter soup and chicken soup at every meal, there will be too much protein in the breast milk. After the baby eats, the stool will be alkaline, hard and dry, and not easy to excrete.

3. Milk powder is difficult to digest: The raw material of milk powder is milk, which contains a lot of casein and a high calcium salt content. It is easy to clump under the action of stomach acid and is difficult to digest.

4. Disease factors: Anal fissure, anal stenosis, congenital megacolon, etc. can also cause constipation. In addition, constipation is also related to genetic and physical factors.

3. It may be caused by gastrointestinal stenosis, incompleteness, embolism, etc.

The main causes of gastrointestinal stenosis, incompleteness and embolism are embryonic malformations. In the neonatal period, pyloric or duodenal obstruction may be manifested, with a cystic mass palpable in the left upper abdomen, accompanied by vomiting, hematemesis, or bloody stools.

Note: If the neonatal period has repeated coughing, wheezing, cyanosis, difficulty swallowing, vomiting, etc., the baby should be sought medical treatment immediately to avoid more serious consequences.

4. Caused by improper feeding

There are mainly the following situations of improper feeding. Just be careful to avoid them when feeding in the future.

1. Put the baby in bed immediately after feeding without burping him/her;

2. Feed your baby while lying down at night;

3. After one breast is empty, if you feel that the baby is full, save the milk from the other breast for the baby to eat next time;

4. Breastfeeding mothers eat foods that are easy to produce gas and difficult to digest, causing abdominal distension and discomfort in the baby.