My Baby Has Hard Stool

In rare cases a medical problem causes lasting serious constipation.

My baby has hard stool.

The same goes for cow s milk. What to do then. Drinking more water can help soften. When baby constipation is wreaking its havoc baby s poop comes out in hard balls.

Eating high fiber foods can make it easier to pass hard stools. For example research has. Various constipation medications may help with passing a hard stool. But if your baby seems to be in pain or you have any concerns call your doctor.

Infrequent stools that are not soft in consistency clay like stool consistency hard pellets of stool long periods of straining or crying while trying to have a bowel movement streaks of red blood in the stool lack of appetite a hard belly. Signs that indicate constipation in a baby include. The problem is that your baby has an uncontrolled stooling reflex and the muscles by the anus do not relax at the proper time so your baby pushes hard with the diaphragm and the belly muscles while holding the anus tightly closed and it looks like your baby is very constipated because they will do this over and over again without results. If your child goes more than a few days without a bowel movement and then has a hard stool they may be experiencing constipation.

Hard stools are common from time to time. We often use the bristol stool scale which shows the range of stool textures from one to seven. Constipation is defined not just by the frequency of bowel. Most often the hard stools are due to the baby s digestive system not really coping with solids and this will improve over the months to come.

As infants move from a liquid to a predominantly solid diet their stools can become harder and uncomfortable to pass. This change is even more dramatic if your baby has become accustomed to the natural laxative effect of breast milk. Your baby eats solids and consistently has undigested food in his poop. Fruits and vegetables are examples of.

As the baby is approaching toddler age it is also common that they start eating more pasta and bread which can both lead to constipation. One is rabbit like pellet shaped poop and seven is pure liquid santo domingo says. His doctor may want to check to make sure his intestines are absorbing food and nutrients properly some rare types of baby poop could suggest a more serious problem. If baby s poop is hard and dry a sign of constipation and contains red streaks it s likely caused by small tears in the skin created by straining to poop.