When parents are confronted with constipation in a baby, they want to help the child faster and more correctly, turning to authoritative specialists. Let's find out the opinion of the famous pediatrician E. Komarovsky about constipation and their treatment.
What is constipation?
Constipation, according to the dictionary, can be called difficulty defecation and emptying, which is too slow. Also called constipation is insufficient bowel movement from feces. Such a problem is relevant for a person at any age, but attention should be paid to constipation in children, since this is how congenital pathologies can manifest.
Psychological factor
The place where the baby empties can affect his stool. The kid may not like the location of the toilet, the temperature in it, smell, sanitary conditions. This is especially noticeable when traveling with a child far from home. Then constipation can be caused not by the peculiarities of the intestines, but by psychological reasons. This should be considered before you start treating constipation in your toddler.
If the child has anal fissures or hemorrhoids, then he may want to use the toilet, but restrain himself for fear of pain. In such a situation, candles based on sea buckthorn oil or glycerin can help. Komarovsky calls them one of the most affordable and harmless ways to cope with constipation in a baby under one year old.
Isn't it a disease?
If constipation develops over the age of three years, and the child does not have obesity, dystrophy or developmental delay, then congenital anomalies are thought of last.
In infants of the first year of life, constipation can mean a rather dangerous pathology - Hirschsprung's disease. With such a disease, nerve cells in a part of the intestine are underdeveloped, due to which this area does not function well. It is constantly shrinking, causing the accumulation of feces. It is possible to cure such a pathology only through surgery, removing that part of the intestine that does not work. It is good that this disease is quite rare (in one newborn among 2,000-5,000 babies), so constipation is not a life-threatening problem for most children.
Can the reasons be established?
There can be many reasons for the formation of constipation in a child. And only a qualified doctor can help identify the exact cause of a particular child. Often this is just a symptom of a disease, and not an independent problem. Constipation can manifest pancreatitis, cholecystitis, hemorrhoids, peptic ulcer and other diseases.
Komarovsky says that quite often the causes of constipation are never found even after a lot of research. However, parents' attempts to cope with this problem should be under the supervision of a specialist doctor. And if during the examination the cause of constipation was established, then all efforts should be directed not to the constipation itself, but to the disease that manifested itself in this way.
If the examinations of the child have not identified a serious cause of constipation, Komarovsky emphasizes that parents do not consider constipation a tragedy or trouble. It is quite possible to cope with this nuisance.
What is the treatment?
The famous doctor notes that for normal bowel function, it is required to provide the child with a normal amount of fluid. But at the same time, enough potassium must enter the baby's body. When a child loses fluids (for example, with a fever or being in a hot and dry place), it affects the intestinal juices, impairing their functioning. Everything is aggravated when parents are afraid to give their child any water except boiled water.
Yes, it is better to give the baby boiled water than untreated tap water, but after boiling the water is free of mineral salts. And first of all, the lack of potassium in such water is unfavorable for the intestines. If this element is not enough, it affects the contractions of the digestive tract - they weaken, which ultimately leads to constipation.
Dried apricots, prunes, raisins, figs are distinguished by a high potassium content. If the parents give the child boiled water, then Komarovsky advises giving these products at the same time (or making compote from them). According to E. Komarovsky, the main causes of constipation in infants are overheating of the child and the use of boiled water.
Diet for constipation
Diet therapy for diarrhea will be aimed at eliminating protein-rich foods from the child's diet.
The kid can be given one-day kefir, black bread (and white bread is better to limit or remove), yogurt, apple juice, yogurt.
After drinking curdled milk before bed and eating steamed prunes, you can relieve constipation in 1 out of 4 cases without using other medicines. Komarovsky also emphasizes that there are no products that are categorically not recommended and are mandatory for constipation. The approach must always be individual.
Medications
As for laxatives, without consulting a specialist, a well-known pediatrician considers only two categories of such drugs permissible:
- Liquid oils such as olive oil, castor oil, or almond oil.
- Senna-based drugs, such as Senade or Senadex.
Giving the child these funds, the main task is to achieve daily bowel movements (preferably in the morning, so the drugs are recommended to be taken before bedtime). You should choose a dosage so that going to the toilet in the morning does not cause discomfort.
If you have increased the dose to the maximum allowable, at the same time changed the child's diet, do not overheat him and give him enough liquid, as well as foods with potassium, and all these actions did not eliminate constipation in three days, you should go to a specialist.
Having picked up the effective dose of the laxative, give the child the drug in this dosage for 10-14 days, so as not only to make the baby's stool regular, but to develop a reflex to empty out every day at the same time. Then gradually reduce the dose every three to four days, and if constipation reappears, give the child the same amount of medicine.
Komarovsky focuses on the fact that constipation, like any other health problem, should be treated in a comprehensive manner.
