What to do if your child has constipation and hard stools

Constipation is relatively common in children, which often causes hard stools and even bleeding during bowel movements. Parents must pay attention to this, as it may be related to the child's poor diet and lack of exercise. Children should drink more water and eat more foods rich in dietary fiber every day. In addition, they should pay more attention to exercise and you can massage the baby's abdomen at ordinary times.

What to do if your baby has dry stools

What should I do if my baby has dry stools? Mothers can give their babies more boiled water and fruits to maintain a balanced nutrition, as shown in the following:

1. Drink more boiled water every day. Drinking water can clean the intestines and promote intestinal peristalsis.

2. Eat a balanced diet and increase dietary fiber. Eat more vegetables. You need to eat vegetables in a certain amount.

3. Eat more fruits. One-year-old babies should eat whole fruits instead of drinking fruit juice. This can not only exercise the baby's chewing ability, but also increase the fiber in the fruit, which is beneficial to promote defecation.

4. Do appropriate exercise. Exercise promotes faster metabolism throughout the body and also helps intestinal peristalsis.

5. Try not to use enema or other drugs to promote defecation as they can easily lead to dependence. If you don't have a bowel movement for two or three days, you can consider using a suppository to eliminate the old stool.

6. If you encounter any abnormal symptoms, take your baby to the hospital for prompt treatment.

How to prevent dry stools in babies

1. Babies over 4 months old who are bottle-fed or mixed-fed can drink some fruit or vegetable juice. For example, boil radish, carrot, celery, etc. in water and drink it, and squeeze orange, apple, and watermelon into juice. If the baby is too young, he should drink 1-2 spoons first. If there is no abnormality, then gradually increase the amount.

When the baby is 5 months old, you can gradually add complementary foods. It is best to chop spinach, cabbage, greens, shepherd's purse, etc., put them into rice porridge or oatmeal and cook them together to make a variety of delicious vegetable porridge for the baby. The large amount of fiber contained in vegetables can promote intestinal peristalsis and achieve the purpose of laxative. You can also feed some fruit puree such as bananas and apples to promote intestinal peristalsis. For babies who are exclusively breastfed, it is best to breastfeed until they are 6 months old before starting to add complementary foods.

2. Do moderate exercise and do baby exercises. Insufficient exercise can also slow down intestinal motility and lead to difficult bowel movements. Mothers can often help their babies do baby gymnastics; for older babies, they can be encouraged to practice turning over and crawling by themselves, or give the baby a ball and play with him.

3. Massage your baby's abdomen appropriately: Massage the lower left abdomen. If you feel a cord-like object, gently massage from top to bottom to encourage the stool to be discharged downward.

4. Proper massage of the baby's anus can also induce physiological reflexes and promote defecation.

5. If the constipation is severe, you can give your baby appropriate Chinese medicine for clearing heat, detoxifying, and moistening the intestines under the guidance of a doctor.

6. For babies who have already developed anal fissures, for mild cases, you can use warm water sitz baths to keep the area clean; for severe cases, you must seek medical treatment from a doctor.