Green feces and a temperature of 38 in a child. Causes of green stool in infants: what to do? What help can be provided

The color of the baby's feces is an informative indicator of the state of his health and the functioning of the digestive system, so he has become the subject of increased attention of parents. In studying the contents of the diaper, it is important not to overdo it, sometimes an uncharacteristic shade is the norm.

Why does my baby have green stools?

In order not to be mistaken with the diagnosis, it is important to study all the factors associated with the pathology in question. There are several indirect circumstances that matter if a child has green stools - the reasons depend on the following conditions:

• stool consistency;
• the presence of inclusions and impurities;
• additional symptoms;
• baby's age.

The child has a green stool with mucus

When, with the indicated type of bowel movements, the baby feels great, cheerful, cheerful and not naughty, there is no reason to worry. In an infant, green stools with mucus are a normal variant. The digestive system of infants is just beginning to adapt to external environment and a new way of eating. The intestine is not yet inhabited by a permanent microflora and its composition is adjusted daily by the body. Sometimes this causes green stools in the baby with some impurities, including a meager amount of mucus.

If there are a lot of viscous inclusions and the baby is crying, the causes of the described problem may be:

• indigestion;
• Mom has food poisoning.

Green liquid stool in a child

The consistency of the feces of children also changes regularly, it depends on several factors:

• nutrition of a nursing woman;
• composition of microflora;
• the presence of complementary foods and supplements;
• mother's hormonal background.

Dark green liquid stools in a child indicate a high concentration of iron in his diet. This is due big amount a given item in the mix or mom's menu. Other reasons:

• stool quickly oxidizes when exposed to air;
• teething;
• the introduction of leafy vegetables as;
• another change in the intestinal microflora;
• a lot of coloring foods (zucchini, broccoli and cucumbers) in a woman's diet.

When a child has loose green stools with mucus, but is absent heat, the symptom in question indicates the development of dysbacteriosis. This condition is not considered a disease or pathology, especially in infancy. Biocenosis on the intestinal mucosa is gradually normalized. While the baby gets used to external conditions, the microflora is often in an imbalance.

Constipation is rare in babies breastfeeding, this problem is more characteristic of children who eat industrial mixtures. If parents notice a green stool in a child at the same time as a change in its consistency, probable cause- inappropriate food. It is necessary to carefully study the composition of the mixture, consult a pediatrician and change it.

Hard green stools are often observed after antibiotics - the child's intestinal microflora changes in response to the action of antimicrobials, even if they were taken not by the baby himself, but by the mother who feeds him. A similar reaction occurs when using other medicines:

• antifungal;
• hormonal;
• anti-inflammatory;
• binders.

Black and green stool in a child

This variant of color and consistency of feces is typical for newborn babies. The thick, dark green stools in a newborn baby are called meconium. It consists of the digested remains of the vital activity of the crumbs in the mother's womb - epithelial cells, hair, amniotic fluid, bile and other biological waste. Meconium will quickly be replaced by the usual unformed feces.

Baby has yellow-green stool

This shade of feces also refers to the variants of the norm, doctors sometimes call it transitional feces. When all the meconium passes, the child's stools are green with yellow patches. It has an unpleasant sourish odor and gruel consistency. This indicates the beginning of the stabilization of the intestinal microflora and the adaptation of the baby to breast milk.

Other reasons why a newborn baby has green stools with a yellowish tint:

• malnutrition;
• the predominance of fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet of a nursing mother;
• change in the hormonal background of a woman;
• increased production by the liver.

The appearance of bubbles in the contents of the diaper is alarming, but this is not a reason to panic. A slightly foamy green stool in a baby is a sign of incorrect breastfeeding. The milk that accumulates in the front of the breast is watery and thin. It is intended primarily to quench thirst and causes a feeling of satiety. Hindmilk is more fatty and viscous, rich in nutrients.

If the mother weaned the baby from the breast before he himself stopped sucking, or often changes sides, the baby receives only watery biological fluid. This provokes a green stool in a child, the normal brown-yellow coloring of the feces is given by hindfat milk. When it is not enough, children not only have frothy stools, but also slowly gain weight.

Another cause of this pathology may be a rare diagnosis - lactase deficiency. It exists in an acquired and innate form. This violation is associated with a deficiency or absence of an enzyme that is involved in the breakdown of milk sugar. Sometimes it indicates serious problems in the functioning of the pancreas.

Green stool with blood in a child

Red and pink blotches in the baby's stool are also considered a variation of normal feces. The intestinal mucosa is permeated with thin and still fragile capillaries that easily burst when straining or passing gases, especially if the baby suffers from flatulence. This explains why a baby has green stools with sparse and small blood streaks.

If there are many inclusions described and they are voluminous, the baby may have more severe illnesses. Bleeding is caused by:

• infections;
• internal damage to the intestines;
• genetic anomalies of the digestive system;
• acute inflammation.

Vomiting and green stools in a child

It is important for young parents to distinguish between typical regurgitation in infants and pathological ejection of stomach contents. The first option is the norm, especially up to six months. Green stools and vomiting are clear symptoms of an intestinal infection that can be provoked by:

Fever and fever are extremely dangerous signs that accompany inflammatory processes in the body. If the baby has green stools and fever, the cause is often severe poisoning. Toxins come not only with food, the poison can enter the baby's bloodstream with air, mother's milk, through poor-quality cosmetical tools applied to the skin.

If the baby feels good, he does not have vomiting, and the body temperature remains within the normal range, you can not worry about his health. Until the composition of the microflora in the intestines stabilizes, the shades of the baby's feces and its consistency will often change. If there are concomitant negative symptoms and the child's restless behavior, you should find out why the green stool appeared - what to do in such cases, the pediatrician will tell you. It is especially important to show the baby to the doctor when vomiting and diarrhea are observed. These conditions are very dangerous because they provoke severe dehydration in children.

Newborn green stool

In the diaper of a baby of 1-4 weeks of age, there should be liquid contents of the color in question. At month old baby green stool or meconium is a cleansing of the digestive system from the remnants of intrauterine waste products. It is almost sterile and is not a sign of pathologies. Such feces precede the process of normalization and correction of the intestinal microflora, the adaptation of the crumbs to receive food from the outside.

The accompanying symptoms can serve as a cause for concern and an immediate appointment with a pediatrician:

• sleep disorders;
• vomit;
• increased body temperature;
• refusal to feed.

Baby has green stool

When the baby is not naughty and feels good, parents should not panic. Green loose stools in infants are a variant of the norm. It even sometimes contains inclusions, which also do not pose any threat to health:

• slime;
• blood;
• yellow or white grains.

If the child shows anxiety, there are obvious signs of the disease (fever, diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration), you should immediately consult a doctor. Before seeing a doctor, it is important to provide the crumbs with proper care:

1. Apply more often to the chest.
2. Do a light massage, spread on the stomach.
3. At high temperatures, wipe with a cloth soaked in water.
4. Use children's antipyretic in the form of rectal suppositories (if necessary).

Green stools in a one-year-old child can be caused by several physiological factors:

• the presence of coloring products in complementary foods (cucumbers, broccoli);
• mother's diet.

In these situations, you do not need to do anything. When the baby's digestive system gets used to the updates in nutrition, the intestinal microflora normalizes and the shade of feces becomes familiar (brown). If there are negative clinical manifestations, especially, it is necessary to immediately visit a pediatrician and make sure that the crumbs do not become dehydrated. One-year-old babies can be additionally soldered boiled water from a teaspoon in parallel with applying to my mother's breast.

Green stool in a bottle-fed baby

The main reason for the described phenomenon is considered to be the high content of iron in the mixture. The purchase of a suitable composition will help to cope with the problem, it is advisable to first consult with a pediatrician or development specialist baby food. If, even after changing the mixture, the child has a green stool, it is necessary to find the exact cause of this symptom. With normal health of the crumbs, no action can be taken, such a shade of feces is quite normal. The presence of high fever, vomiting or other negative signs is a reason to see a doctor and prevent dehydration.

Many mothers intuitively determine the state of the child's digestive system by the type and color of the stool. Such home diagnostics work quite well, it allows parents to worry about the health of the crumbs in time. Of particular concern can cause green diarrhea in a child that occurs suddenly and at any age. Green stools are not always a sign of a serious problem, but sometimes, with additional dangerous symptoms, they indicate the development of a certain disease. How can parents understand whether they should sound the alarm or whether the appearance of green feces is not dangerous?

The color of the stool can signal serious problems, but sometimes it is observed in healthy children.

What factors can cause green diarrhea?

The reasons for the unusual grassy color of feces depend on the child's diet, age and health.

Having noticed the appearance of an unpleasant shade, analyze the situation and try to find out what could be the reasons for such changes. Some of them may only indicate a normal reaction of the body to certain foods, but there are those that cannot be passed by - they require a visit to a doctor.

Factors that do not affect the health of the child

The digestion of a newborn is imperfect, it is full of surprises, often not associated with serious dangers for the child. Parents should be prepared for them and know exactly what is the reason for the appearance of green, black or other color of the stool. Consider the most common factors that affect the type of feces in infants:

• Meconium. The first feces of a baby are not only processed food, so they can be painted in a dark olive color.
• Formation of the gastrointestinal tract. The yellow-green hue of feces in the first year of a child's life is associated with the underdevelopment of the digestive system. As a rule, up to 2 years, the work of the gastrointestinal tract normalizes, and unpleasant manifestations disappear.
• Features of breastfeeding and nutrition of the mother during breastfeeding. Loose stools are formed when the baby sucks foremilk, which is not very fat. Green diarrhea in a child is provoked by eating vegetables and fruits of the same color or foods that contain a lot of carbohydrates (see also:).

If the nipple is not properly grasped, the baby receives only foremilk, which leads to gastrointestinal upset.

• Artificial feeding. Milk formula containing a large number of iron, change the color of the stool.
• Lure. The introduction of new foods into complementary foods can lead to the appearance of different shades of feces.
• Not proper nutrition. The appearance of green diarrhea in children 3-5 years old may be associated with eating excessive amounts of foods such as chocolate, apples, pears, lettuce or spinach, pastries, dill.

Causes requiring special attention

An alarm signal looks like a stool with mucus and an unpleasant color in the case when there is a suspicion of the presence of an infection or other disease. Here is a list of reasons that parents should pay special attention to:

1. Dysbacteriosis. The cause of the disease can be improper introduction of complementary foods to the baby, an intestinal infection transferred by the child, somatic diseases that require antibiotic treatment.
2. Various types of intestinal infections: yersiniosis, shigellosis, campylobacteriosis, escherichiosis, rotavirus infection.
3. Dysentery.
4. Salmonellosis. The main cause of salmonellosis is the consumption of "dirty" raw eggs and fish.

Salmonellosis is a very serious infectious disease that is provoked by “dirty” food.

As you can see, the appearance of loose stools can be associated with various factors. It is important for parents to compare them in order to correctly determine why this is happening. Obviously, if there is a disease, it can manifest itself with other symptoms. It is necessary to monitor the general condition of the child in order to draw the right conclusions and organize competent assistance in time. The problem of diarrhea in children is devoted to a number of programs with the participation of the famous pediatrician Dr. Komarovsky, who examines this topic in detail and intelligibly from all sides.

What symptoms should alert?

It is important for mom to understand: if menstruation or one year old baby poops green, you should closely monitor his condition and pay attention to possible signs of illness. Any disease that gives a similar reaction is accompanied by other signs. Often in the clinical picture of the disease there are a number of symptoms that make it possible to establish the correct diagnosis:

• Temperature increase. If a high temperature is added to the diarrhea, the cause is salmonellosis or dysentery.
• Stool consistency (see also:). Breast or 3 summer child poops grass-colored diarrhea filled with mucus and blood clots - these are clear signs of severe dysentery. Feces come out with foam - a sign of intestinal infection or dysbacteriosis. If the stool is with mucus, but there are no blood clots, then salmonellosis serves as a provocateur.
• Chair shade. Light green feces - a mild intestinal disorder, dark - salmonellosis, black - dysentery. Note that the black shade of green in diarrhea with mucus is the initial stage of the disease. It will take a little time and it will manifest itself with other characteristic symptoms.

• Smell. With dysbacteriosis, the feces are liquid, have a sour putrid odor, with an intestinal infection - a stool with a fetid odor that hits the nose.
• Vomiting and regurgitation. Repeated regurgitation in infants indicates dysbacteriosis, and older children vomit. Vomiting is profuse, non-stop, inherent in salmonellosis.
• General well-being. Explicit anxiety of the baby, complaints that his tummy hurts, crying and whims of the newborn, refusal of food, insomnia are indicative signs of the general malaise of the child. It is easier for parents of 4-7 year olds to understand what worries the baby, and at 1 month you need to be especially attentive to his behavior. The baby cannot tell you what it hurts, therefore, if you find an unpleasant shade of diarrhea in the baby, pay attention to other signs of the disease.

If the baby vilifies, but his temperature does not rise and nothing else bothers him, he is cheerful and mobile, you should not worry much. Most likely, after a while, digestion will stabilize, diarrhea will go away and will not affect the health of the little patient in any way. The situation looks more serious when fever, vomiting, pain in the abdomen and other unpleasant symptoms are added to diarrhea.

Obviously, parents should call the doctor, and take certain measures before he arrives. A similar tactic is offered by Dr. Komarovsky, who believes that self-treatment in such cases is irresponsible and criminal. The honored pediatrician warns parents that in doubtful situations, when there is no clear picture of the disease, only an appeal to a specialist will become best solution.

If the condition of the baby worsens, you need to urgently call a doctor to determine the cause of the disease.

What help can be provided?

No mother can calmly watch how a child suffers. What can be done if, against the background of diarrhea, the child has a rise in temperature and the general condition worsens (more in the article:)? While waiting for the doctor, do the following:

1. Give your child saline solutions (Rehydron, Oralit, Eneterodez), which can be bought at a pharmacy. Medications will help replace fluid loss.
2. It is not necessary to solder the baby with drinking water, it can provoke nausea and vomiting.
3. To neutralize and remove toxins, give the crumbs some kind of sorbent (Enterosgel or Smecta).
4. Continue breastfeeding.
5. Please note that the child should not fast for more than 6 hours.
6. No other drugs, especially antibiotics, can not be used. The thoughtless use of drugs can aggravate the situation.

All your competent actions will help alleviate the condition of the baby, but will not solve the problem globally. Only a doctor can eliminate suspicions of a serious illness or pathology of digestion. Keep outward calm, try not to scare the baby with your excitement, so that nervous tension does not add to your poor health.

No need to scare the baby with excitement - on the contrary, he should draw calmness from his mother

What is the dangerous condition?

Diarrhea, no matter what color it may be, always carries a loss of fluid from the body. The danger of dehydration is especially great for infants. A large loss of fluid leads to a rise in temperature, complicating the problem. Green diarrhea may be accompanied by bloating, pain. The child reacts to the development of the problem with cold limbs, his eyes may sink. Newborns become restless, act up a lot. The smart decision is to call a doctor immediately. The threat increases if the baby is not even 6 months old: dehydration can be fatal. Crumbs of this age do not perceive saline solutions well, refuse to drink them, there is a strong loss of fluid, the body cannot cope with the problem.

How is the problem diagnosed?

Find out how serious the problem is laboratory research. Doctors resort to them in order to accurately determine the degree of the disease. Types of analyzes:

• feces for dysbacteriosis;
• bacterial culture of vomit and feces;
• visual examination by a doctor of the rectum or retroromanoscopy;
• urine;
• blood on general analysis;
• coprogram;
• RNGA of blood is an analysis that detects antibodies to salmonella.

A complete blood count may be needed to determine the cause of the disease.

A complete diagnosis allows you to accurately find out the cause of the unusual color of diarrhea, to determine whether the child has a pathology or not. The test results give the doctor a complete clinical picture and facilitate the choice of treatment. If no serious illness is identified, the doctor may recommend proper nutrition and other measures that parents should take to prevent the child from developing diarrhea with a strange shade (we recommend reading:).

What treatment is given?

Treatment is prescribed only after a comprehensive diagnosis, based on the results that the tests showed. If doctors have discovered any disease, they can treat it like this:

1. Special therapeutic diet food.
2. With dysbacteriosis, probiotics, bacteriophages, Bifilin, Linex, Acipol, Bifiform are prescribed.
3. Intestinal infection is eliminated with the help of enterosorbents, antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs.
4. The use of enzyme therapy. Means such as Pancreatin, Pankurmen, Festal, Panzinorm forte, Mezim forte, Digestal are used.
5. For elimination side effects antiallergic drugs are being taken.
6. Antidiarrheals are also prescribed: Imodium or Diarol.
7. Myotropic antispasmodics are used to relieve pain syndromes.

With dysbacteriosis, children's Linex can be prescribed

What preventive measures should be taken?

Preventive measures that every mother can carry out will help to avoid the described problem. Do the following regularly:

1. Eliminate or reduce foods that trigger allergies in newborns in your diet. This diet is especially important three months old child.
2. Eat a balanced diet for yourself and try not to use antibiotics for your own treatment.
3. When formula feeding your baby, check with your pediatrician to find the right formula for your baby.
4. Introduce complementary foods gradually, carefully monitoring the reaction of the baby. We saw changes in the feces - exclude the product from the child's menu for a while. Wait until the GI tract of the crumbs is fully formed.
5. After 3 years, keep a balanced baby food, do not give carbohydrates and vegetables in large quantities.
6. Spoons and pacifiers of the baby should not be licked by any of the adults. Your saliva can carry harmful bacteria into your baby's body.

One of the most unpleasant and dangerous signs of the disease in children are symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting. Today we will pay attention to diarrhea, although it is not uncommon for these symptoms to appear simultaneously. There are several reasons for the development of diarrhea symptoms, but each requires a detailed analysis, which will help parents understand the health of the baby.

Causes of diarrhea

Often, diarrhea in children occurs due to exposure to the intestines of pathogenic bacteria and viruses. With the development of symptoms such as green diarrhea, high fever and pain in the abdomen, you should immediately consult a doctor.

The main causes of green diarrhea in a child include the following factors:

• dysbacteriosis or violation of the intestinal microflora;
• penetration into the intestinal cavity of infections;
• liver diseases, which also entail the development of diarrhea;
• development of intestinal bleeding.

Green diarrhea appears mainly in newborn babies in the first days after birth. Such diarrhea does not pose a danger to the health of the baby at all, since this is an absolutely normal phenomenon, indicating the removal of original feces from the body.

Green feces in older children indicates the penetration of intestinal infections into the body. Often the symptoms of diarrhea occur together with fever, nausea and vomiting, as well as a complete decrease in strength in the child. All these symptoms are the main sign of intoxication of the body, provoked by pathogenic microorganisms.

Green diarrhea in a child, together with fever and general malaise, is observed in liver diseases. In addition, with liver ailments, additional symptoms appear, such as pain or discomfort in the right hypochondrium. It is quite difficult to determine liver disease in a small child, so you can not do without a study in a hospital.

Green stools are also observed during the development of the disease dysbacteriosis. At the same time, feces, in addition to being green, also have impurities of mucus and blood. Diarrhea with dysbacteriosis can be periodically replaced by constipation.

It is important to know! Despite the fact that only 4 causes of green diarrhea in a child are known, it is strictly forbidden for parents to make a diagnosis on their own, and even more so, prescribe treatment for a baby. The child should be taken to the hospital or an ambulance called.

Green diarrhea and its dangers

At first glance, harmless diarrhea can provoke the development of serious complications. If the symptoms of diarrhea are not treated in a timely manner, the consequences can be irreversible. Complications of green diarrhea include the following conditions:

• Dehydration. Many people forget what dehydration is and how close a child comes to this condition with symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, and high fever.
• Lack of minerals and salts. With an insufficient amount of these components, the risk of developing seizures increases.
• Exhaustion of the body and the development of hypovitaminosis.
• The formation of rectal fissures and the development of hemorrhoids.

It is impossible to ignore such a symptom as diarrhea. Parents at the first sign of detection of green diarrhea in a child should definitely resort to the help of a doctor. Many believe that it is possible to restore the lack of water, salts and minerals in the body with the help of drinking plenty of water. In fact, it is impossible to perform this procedure on your own, because this will require an intravenous infusion of a solution of glucose, Regidron and other drugs. If the causes of diarrhea are directly related to the age and nutrition of the baby, then there is no reason to worry. If parents suspect problems with the health of the child, then the help of a medical specialist is indispensable.

Associated symptoms

If a child, in addition to green diarrhea, is diagnosed with other negative symptoms, then this indicates the presence of a disease that needs to be treated. Additional symptoms of diarrhea include the following:

• Temperature. Green diarrhea and fever may indicate the presence of dysentery and salmonellosis. Salmonellosis is caused by eating raw chicken eggs and fish. In this case, these products can be consumed by a nursing mother, and salmonellosis will manifest itself in a child.
• Consistency. If green diarrhea has signs of foam, then this indicates the development of dysbacteriosis or intestinal infections. The presence of mucus and blood clots in the stool indicates dysentery, and the absence of blood indicates salmonellosis.
• Hue of feces. If the color of the feces is predominantly dark green, then this is the main sign of salmonellosis. If the color of the feces is bright green, then this is the main sign of intestinal disorders.
• Smell. The sour smell of feces indicates dysbacteriosis. Signs of malodor indicate the development of intestinal infections.

Parents should not panic if a child has green diarrhea without accompanying symptoms. At the same time, parents should monitor the child's health, and if it worsens, you need to see a doctor.

What to do with green diarrhea in children

If the signs of green diarrhea in a child are supplemented by symptoms such as high fever, vomiting, diarrhea and general malaise, then the following activities can be carried out by parents before the ambulance arrives.

1. Give the baby drugs such as Regidron and Enterodez in small quantities. You can buy these saline solutions at any pharmacy.
2. If the child has symptoms of vomiting, then normal water should not be given to him. This will only increase the development of symptoms of vomiting and lead to even greater complications.
3. Apply one of the following sorbents: Smecta, Enterosgel or Polypefan. Their principle of action is based on the absorption of toxins and their subsequent removal.
4. Use antibiotics and other medications, except for antipyretics, is strictly prohibited. An antipyretic should be given to a child at a temperature above 38 degrees. If the baby is diagnosed with signs of both vomiting and diarrhea, then it is necessary to check with the doctor which form of antipyretic is better to use. In this case, preference is given to intramuscular administration of antipyretic drugs.
5. Reduce the amount of food you eat, as overeating will only increase the symptoms of vomiting.

Compliance with these recommendations will greatly alleviate the condition of the crumbs before the arrival of an ambulance. Upon the arrival of the ambulance, the child will need to be taken to the hospital for a more detailed examination, so you should immediately pack your things.

Features of treatment

Temperature and green stools in a child are the main signs of need drug treatment. The treatment regimen is prescribed by the attending physician after examination and diagnosis. The course of treatment is based on the following actions:

1. Mandatory adherence to a therapeutic diet, which the doctor will tell you in more detail.
2. If a child has dysbacteriosis, then drugs such as Bifilin, Enterol and Acipol are prescribed for treatment.
3. With the development of intestinal infections, the use of antibiotics and chemical preparations is required.
4. To avoid dehydration, it is required to solder the baby with Regidron, Gastrolit or Oralit.
5. For diarrhea, antidiarrheal drugs such as Diarol and Imodium should be used.
6. To relieve pain, antispasmodics are prescribed: Papaverine, Drotaverine or No-shpa.

If a child shows signs of green diarrhea and fever, then parents should try to understand what could provoke such symptoms. This will allow the doctor to quickly diagnose and prescribe the necessary treatment.

A condition such as green diarrhea in a child is alarming for parents. Unfortunately, not everyone knows what causes this pathology and how to deal with it. There are several reasons that lead to diarrhea, and each of them requires attention from a doctor.

Most often, the disease is caused by pathogenic bacteria and viruses. If the child has a fever, a stomach ache and a green color appears, it is necessary to consult a doctor.

Causes of green diarrhea:

• liver disease;
• intestinal bleeding (rare).

Diarrhea dyed in green color, appears in many newborns in the first days after birth. There is nothing dangerous in this, since for several days meconium, the original feces, will be excreted from the child's body.

In older children, green diarrhea is often the result of intestinal infections. In this case, the temperature may rise, weakness and pain in the abdomen, nausea and vomiting may occur. These are characteristic symptoms of intoxication of the body by pathogenic microflora - protozoa, viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Similar signs with green diarrhea occur in a child against the background of liver disease, only discomfort in the epigastric region and the right hypochondrium can be added to them.

Dysbacteriosis is characterized liquid stool greenish in color, with the presence of mucus and streaks of blood in advanced cases. In this case, diarrhea can periodically change.

Signs of dehydration in a child

You can determine that a child has lost a large amount of moisture by the following criteria:

• pronounced lethargy and calmness;
• reduction in the number of urination dark color urine;
• dry to the touch skin, cracks on the lips;
• the appearance of circles under the eyes;
• retraction of the fontanel in young children.

Any of these signs requires urgent medical attention. Otherwise, dehydration can cause even more serious complications for the child.

How dangerous is green diarrhea in a child?

Complications of green diarrhea can be the following conditions:

• dehydration - than younger child, the more he is subject to this state;
• loss of minerals and salts, against which convulsions may appear;
• hypovitaminosis and exhaustion;
• fissures and hemorrhoids, prolapse of the rectum.

Diarrhea in a child should not be ignored. Violations of the water, electrolyte and salt balance in the body cannot be replenished with ordinary drinking, a doctor should be treated using appropriate drugs (for example, Glucose solution, Regidron, etc.).

How to help the baby?

Green diarrhea in a child and temperature are two frequent companions of pathology, which can intensify as dehydration progresses. This condition is most dangerous for children under one year old. Due to severe fluid loss, the need to drink increases, so first aid will be to provide the child with clean drinking water.

If the baby is breastfed, before feeding, you can give him 50 mg of an absorbent drug prescribed by the pediatrician. Absorbents destroy toxins and remove pathogenic microflora from the body, qualitatively softening the mucous membrane of the digestive tract and facilitating the absorption of food. absorbents are added to the mixture (for example, Enterosgel).

Older children, in addition to the absorbent preparation, can be given rice water, which also enhances the elimination of toxins from the body and restores bowel function.

The temperature with diarrhea, not exceeding 38.5 °, you can try to bring down on your own. To do this, you need to often water the child and not put on him warm clothes. Antipyretic drugs are allowed to be used only as directed by a doctor.

What is absolutely impossible to do?

If the baby has green diarrhea, and his condition worsens, you can not self-medicate by offering him:

• painkillers (Nurofen, Ibuprofen), which can blur the picture of the disease, the symptom of which was diarrhea;
• tetracycline antibiotics, which are often used for diarrhea in adults, but are highly toxic in childhood;
• drugs intended for adolescents and adults (Imodium, Loperamide);
• force the child to eat;
• limit fluid intake for fear of new bouts of diarrhea or vomiting;
• offer raw vegetables and fruits, as well as heavy foods that irritate the digestive tract;
• put ice or a heating pad on your stomach.

Self-medication in the case of childhood diarrhea can aggravate the situation. You need to seek help from a doctor.

In what cases is it necessary to urgently call a doctor?

Green diarrhea in a child is already a suspicious sign that you need to pay attention to, but do not panic. Before calling a doctor, it is important to assess the well-being of the baby. Fever and abdominal pain are an immediate reason to call an ambulance, especially when it comes to a child under 3 years old.

The doctor will not only determine the cause of the pathology, but also prescribe a comprehensive course of treatment. As a rule, it consists of drugs that normalize the water-salt balance in the body (Rehydron), sorbents (Smecta) and agents that restore the intestinal microflora (Linex, Bifidumbacterin, etc.).

Drugs will also be prescribed to eliminate the root cause of green diarrhea in a child. For example, if the pathology has arisen against the background of an intestinal infection, these will be antibiotics (Sumamed, Levomycetin, etc.). Also, the specialist will determine the diet for the child, which will have to be followed for several days.

You can limit yourself to calling the local pediatrician at home if the child feels normal, but the green diarrhea does not stop - most likely, it is a symptom of dysbacteriosis. After the doctor confirms the diagnosis, the baby will be prescribed drugs for outpatient treatment aimed at strengthening the body's defenses and combating dysbacteriosis (Maxilak Baby, Hilak Forte, etc.).

Complications

The list of complications is:

• dehydration of the body;
• convulsive syndrome at high temperature;
• dysbacteriosis, which, in turn, can lead to gastroduodenitis and other chronic diseases;
• neurotoxicosis, cerebral edema, toxic shock, coma as the consequences of an untreated intestinal infection.

Prevention

Prevention of diarrhea with a green tint in a child consists of the following activities:

1. A woman should strictly follow and, if possible, not take medications, especially antibiotics.
2. The baby is on artificial feeding, with frequent recurrences of diarrhea, should be examined by a pediatrician or pediatric gastroenterologist to diagnose the pathology and select the appropriate mixture.
3. The first should be introduced gradually and carefully. The green color of diarrhea can be an individual reaction of the baby to any food product. In this case, the dish provoking pathology should be discarded and wait until the digestive tract gets stronger.
4. For children over 3 years old, it is important to feed fully and correctly, avoiding excessive amounts of high-carbohydrate foods and greens in the daily diet.
5. You can not take a pacifier or a baby spoon in your mouth. In the saliva of an adult, causative agents of intestinal infection may be present.

If a baby has green diarrhea, first of all, you need to find out the cause of the pathology, and then begin to act. It is best to consult a doctor immediately, which will reduce the likelihood of complications. So that green diarrhea in a child does not recur, it is important to devote time to prevention.

Mothers of babies are often very worried and worried about the fact that it is not always clear what the child wants to tell them right now with his crying or behavior change. To understand what problem worries the child, you need to carefully perceive all the signals of the baby's body. Such a signal is also a change in the color and consistency of children's feces. The green stool in the baby is especially frightening for parents.

In the first year of life in children, the color of the stool normally changes several times. How not to miss the disturbing moments in the work of the baby's digestive tract? What is considered normal and what is not? What are the causes of green feces in infants on various types feeding? You will learn all this by reading this article.

Green stool in breastfed baby

During the neonatal period, babies pass the original feces (meconium). It has a dark olive color and a very viscous consistency. Approximately 3-4 days after birth, the baby has a transitional stool, which has a yellow-green color and a more liquid consistency than meconium. And this is absolutely normal.

With prolonged physiological jaundice, the baby may have green stools, since the body removes excess bilirubin with feces, which gets this color due to an excess of this pigment.

Breastfeeding mothers should also take care of their own diet. If a woman eats green vegetables and herbs (zucchini, broccoli, asparagus, dill), the color of the baby's feces will also be green.

When a breastfeeding mother drinks certain medicines (iron preparations), this also changes the color of the baby's stool towards green shades.

During the introduction of complementary foods, the color of the stool will directly depend on the foods that the baby ate. And after eating green vegetables, it will also be with a touch of green.

In infants, there is also such a situation when fresh feces are of the usual yellow-brown color, but after a while it oxidizes in air and becomes green. Parents who once belatedly, and not immediately after the "dirty deeds", decided to change the diaper, this color of the baby chair can scare. But there is no point in panicking. You just need to look into the diaper next time right after the baby goes big. If it is a normal color, then in this case there is no reason for concern.

Another reason for the appearance of green stools in infants is the situation when the baby predominantly drinks only foremilk from the breast. The fact is that the composition of the foremilk, which is released immediately when the baby is attached to the breast, differs from the composition of the so-called hindmilk.

Foremilk is less fat and contains easily digestible carbohydrates, so it is easy to digest. And back milk, that is, from the deeper parts of the mammary gland, is more fatty and nutritious. As a rule, children quench their thirst with foremilk, and hindmilk can satisfy the baby's hunger.

Features of the digestion of foremilk cause a greenish color of the stool when feeding predominantly with foremilk.

Most often, this situation occurs in weakened or premature babies who have enough strength to suck only the front, more liquid, milk. And when the time comes to work hard and suck on thicker and fatter milk, they become naughty or even refuse to continue the meal.

A compassionate mother can offer the baby another breast, where he will again eat only foremilk. Soon this behavior becomes habitual for the child. These babies have more scanty and green stools, as well as poor weight gain.

The normal mustard-yellow color of the stool is due to bile pigments, which are taken with bile to the intestines to digest the fats in food. Since the foremilk contains practically no fat, the color of the stool becomes not yellow, but greenish.

In what case is green stool in weakened children considered the norm?

When using some breast milk substitutes, such as hypoallergenic formulas, the baby will normally have gray-green stools. Since these mixtures come with partial (hypoallergenic - GA) or complete (for example, Alfare) hydrolysis (splitting) of cow's milk protein, in the process of digesting such a product, the child's feces become dirty green.

The technology of partial hydrolysis of cow's milk protein is used in the manufacture of mixtures for the prevention of allergic diseases in children of the first year of life. Therapeutic mixtures for children with cow protein allergy are produced on the basis of complete hydrolysis of milk protein.

Also, when complementary foods are introduced to a formula-fed child, the digestive tract may react in such a way that the child's stool will become a completely different color than it was before. Including the color may change to green.

If at the same time nothing bothers the child (there is no temperature, there are no impurities in the feces - mucus, blood, there is no change in the baby's well-being), then there is no reason to worry. Some time after the introduction of new products, the baby's digestion will improve.

Iron-fortified milk formulas also change the color of the stool to greenish. The reason for this is the interaction of iron with oxygen contained in the air, that is, its oxidation.

Toddlers on mixed feeding they eat both mother's milk and milk formula. For this reason, they may have green stools even more often, since all of the above problems may be relevant for them.

In what case should green stool alert parents?

When parents find green feces in their baby, they should carefully observe the general condition of the crumbs.

If they find any of the symptoms listed below in the baby, then this is an occasion to consult a doctor and conduct the necessary examination and treatment.

Alarm symptoms:

• green watery, frothy discharge;
• stools with a frequency of more than 12-15 times a day;
• with an admixture of mucus, streaks of blood;
• with a fetid sour or putrid odor;
• you notice severe irritation on the skin of the baby's priests after contact with such a chair;
• the baby is worried about bloating and intestinal colic;
• there is moody behavior or lethargy;
• Do you notice a decrease in your baby's appetite?
• there is insufficient weight gain or even weight loss.

Pathological conditions of the baby

Let us dwell in more detail on when a green stool is a consequence of a baby's illness.

Dysbacteriosis

Despite the fact that dysbacteriosis is not considered a disease in our country and around the world, it brings a lot of anxiety to kids and their parents.

Dysbacteriosis is a violation of the quantitative ratio (balance) of normal and pathogenic intestinal microflora. This condition is considered not as a disease, but as a complex of symptoms that are the result of any pathology.

Intestinal dysbacteriosis is often diagnosed in infants, since the child's intestines are colonized with microflora only after birth, and before that it was absolutely sterile.

Thus, it is very important at this postpartum stage to provide all the conditions for colonizing the intestines of the crumbs with beneficial microflora. This is facilitated, for example, by early breastfeeding, breastfeeding breast milk, exclusion of antibiotics.

And if at this stage, according to certain indications, it is impossible to comply with the necessary conditions, then the process of colonizing the intestines with normal microflora is disrupted. Even already populated beneficial microflora can die, and the growth of more resistant pathogenic flora increases. For example, if a nursing mother is forced to treat a bacterial process with antibiotics, then they will have a detrimental effect on the beneficial intestinal microflora of both the child and the mother.

The disturbed balance of the intestinal microflora leads to a violation of digestion, peristalsis (motor function) of the intestine, to a violation of the synthesis of vitamins and amino acids. The immunity of the child also decreases, since the normal microflora is involved in the synthesis of immune cells.

Disturbed digestion leads to changes in the qualitative and quantitative composition of feces. With dysbacteriosis, the color of the stool changes (more often the color becomes green), consistency, mucus impurities appear, the frequency of defecation changes (constipation or diarrhea).

Intestinal infection

Intestinal infection in the acute period is manifested by weakness, lethargy of the child, decreased appetite, fever, vomiting, bloating, stools with impurities of greens, mucus, possibly blood (with salmonellosis) and with a pungent odor. The causative agents of intestinal infections can be:

• viruses,
• bacteria,
• fungal infection,
• their combination.

Viral infection

Infants, due to the immaturity of their immune system, are susceptible to various infectious diseases. Common childhood infections such as rotavirus and enterovirus can affect both the upper respiratory tract and the intestines.

All intestinal infections for infants are dangerous, first of all, by rapid dehydration of the body. Therefore, if you notice in a child:

• temperature,
• profuse regurgitation,
• vomiting,
• frequent loose stools
• decreased appetite,
• rumbling in the stomach,

important to contact immediately medical care and do not stop feeding the baby with plenty of fluids.

lactase deficiency

Lactase deficiency is manifested by frothy copious green chair with a sour smell that irritates the skin around the anus. The reason for such changes in the baby is the lack of an enzyme (lactase) that breaks down milk sugar (lactose). It can be either a genetically determined pathology or acquired with age.

There is also such a thing as secondary lactase deficiency. Its manifestations do not differ from those described above. There is a secondary lactase deficiency more often after an intestinal infection. This is when there is a violation of the formation of enzymes after inflammatory process in the intestine. The restoration of the enzyme-forming function occurs gradually and for a long time - over several months.

celiac disease

Celiac disease is a chronic disease characterized by intolerance to the gluten protein in cereals. With this disease, the cells of the intestinal wall are affected, the absorption process in the intestine is disrupted.

A distinct symptomatology of this disease can be seen only with the introduction of grain complementary foods. to an infant(cereal porridge, bread, flour products). Celiac disease is manifested by dull pain in the abdomen, fetid, abundant yellow-gray or gray-green feces with a sheen, which is due to the high content of fat in the stool. Fecal masses are poorly washed from clothes and washed off the walls of the pot.

Also, these children are characterized by growth retardation, underweight, a sharp increase in the size of the abdomen, capricious behavior and irritability. There is also a delay in teething and various manifestations of vitamin and microelement deficiency due to impaired absorption (rickets, stomatitis, seizures in the corners of the mouth, anemia).

Possible examination in a polyclinic

If the stool changes are not one-time, but the child's condition does not suffer, just the parents are concerned about these changes, the doctor may prescribe a scatological study - a qualitative analysis of feces. This method allows you to evaluate the work of the baby's digestive tract.

If the baby has indications for fecal examination for dysbacteriosis, it can also be done in a clinic. Identified violations in the balance of microflora are quite easy to correct with probiotics, which are selected by the doctor, taking into account the results of the analysis and the age of the patient.

More serious studies (bacteriological analysis of feces, sowing feces on flora) are prescribed by a doctor according to indications, that is, if a bacterial inflammation process in the intestine is suspected.

Thus, babies can have feces of different consistency and color, poop with different frequencies. And if the baby's stool is changing, and its general condition does not raise questions and complaints, then there is no reason to worry.

When found in a child anxiety symptoms parents need to see a doctor to examine the baby and find out the reasons for the change in his stool. Early seeking medical help makes it possible to stop the disease in the bud, to prevent it from progressing. And this means that it will be easier and faster for the baby to transfer all the necessary therapy.

Health to you and your children!