Nutrition for a child's constipation

Difficulties with bowel movement appear in children often. The causes of coprostasis can be alimentary, organic, functional, psychogenic disorders.

In some cases, it is enough to change the diet of a child, increase its drinking regimen and motor activity, in others it may be necessary to take medication and even surgical intervention. But in any case, a diet with constipation in children is one of the necessary therapeutic measures that help improve the motor function of the intestine.

How to understand that a child has constipation

Defecation in newborns can be after each feeding, but even if bowel evacuation occurs less often, and stool of normal consistency, then this is considered a variant of the norm, and not constipation. If the kid has a stool rarely, then the indicator of the functioning of his digestive system is the general state of health and the escape of gases.

If the gases do not go away, the newborn is whimsical and pulls the legs to the tummy, then this can be a sign of disruption of the bowel. True constipation occurs in a quarter of children under the age of one year. It can arise because of an abnormal structure of the intestine. Pathology is quite rare, but surgical intervention is necessary to eliminate it.

In most situations constipation arises functional, that is, the intestine is healthy, but because of insufficient innervation, motor skills are reduced. The cause of constipation may be malnourished mother, too early introduction of complementary foods, lack of fluids, taking an antibiotic, a lack of mother's milk. With "hungry" constipation, the baby loses weight, bladder emptying occurs less than 10 times a day.

If defecation occurs rarely, while the child is restless, refuses food, his tummy is swollen and he does not sleep well, then this is an occasion to turn to the pediatrician and carry out the necessary studies. Also, adults should be concerned if the baby has a hard and dry stool.

With disturbed emptying, stool mass lingers in the large intestine and widens the intestine, provoking a megacolon (too large a gut). Pathology can begin to form from birth. There is a violation of the fact that when trying to stool, the baby cringes hard, cries, but the stool does not come out.

How to fix the problem

If the infant has constipation, then the nursing mother needs to revise her diet and add more foods to her that weaken and remove the fixing dishes. In the infant, the digestive system is not yet mature, so that what the adult organism can easily digest, the infant's intestine is beyond its power.

If the baby is breastfed, then the mother needs to eat more raw and thermally processed vegetables, drink sour-milk products, give up sweets, remove mucous soups and viscous cereals, jelly from the diet. As a rule, the cause of constipation in the child is a slow contraction of the intestines, because of which the stool masses are not pushed.

If you balance the diet, you can improve peristalsis and normalize the work of the gastrointestinal tract

Prophylaxis of constipation should begin already in infants. If defecation occurs rarely, then in the diet of a half-year-old child is introduced a puree of vegetables and fruits, various porridges. Vegetables are best suited beet and its juice, zucchini, and from fruit purees plum or apple.

When the baby has grown up and almost all the products are present in his diet, it is necessary to focus on those that weaken the intestines and give less of those dishes that possess the fixing property. The list of products from constipation for children does not differ from what is recommended for adults with diet therapy.

Relaxing effect on the intestines is provided by any vegetable oil (olive, linseed, sunflower), fermented milk products, dried fruits, bread from second-grade flour, vegetable and fruit juices. Fastening properties are flour products from wheat flour, rice, strong tea, cocoa. In case of constipation, the child should also follow the temperature of the dishes he uses.

Those products that are colder than 15 ° C reduce the separation of gastric juice and stimulate its motor function, and products with a temperature above 60 ° C, on the contrary, irritate the receptors of the stomach and weaken its motor activity. That is why it is recommended to include in the menu dishes that are used in a cold form, for example, okroshka, cold meat, borsch.

Cold fruit and vegetable juices, sour-milk drinks, mineral and carbonated water have a good effect on bowel motility. In the mornings on an empty stomach it is recommended to give to drink cold water with a spoon of honey or juice, and before going to bed drink kefir, compote.

A child a day must drink plenty of fluids. You can offer mineral water, compote of rhubarb or prunes, vegetable broths and juices, broth of wild rose. The more water the child drinks, the softer the stools, which means that the stool stones that slow the passage of intestinal contents are not formed.

Great importance in dietary nutrition is given to the regime of food intake. It is recommended to eat in small portions, but every 3 hours. So, the child will not feel hungry, the digestive tract will always have work, and digestive juices will be allocated already by the due time.

What products improve bowel motility?

As a snack, it is desirable for a child suffering from constipation to offer vegetable and fruit juices or mashed potatoes. Fiber contained in them will not only help to normalize the work of the gastrointestinal tract, but also remove toxins from the body, radionuclides, and reduce the amount of sugar in the blood.

A lot of fiber is found in apples, apricots, bananas, blueberries, melons, dates, grapefruit, oranges, peaches, pears, figs, dried apricots, prunes. Of vegetables with constipation useful white cabbage, broccoli, carrots, beets, sweet corn, leaf lettuce, pumpkin, sweet potato, spinach.

Vegetables can be served either raw, or boiled or baked

Vegetable salads with vegetable oil are useful. Accelerates the motility of the vinaigrette, with a slightly undercooked borage, salads from cabbage, carrots and apples, sauerkraut, green peas, pumpkin porridge with the addition of honey.

Children under three years of age are advised to give vegetables after cooking (cooked steamed, boiled), as this provides a mechanical shake of the gastrointestinal tract and the body digests this food better. Children over the age of three can already be given raw vegetables and fruits (with skin).

Children under three years of age are recommended to eat 19 grams of fiber per day, and boys and girls under the age of 9 must eat 25 grams, a fiber norm for older children from 35 grams. A lot of dietary fiber in the seeds of pumpkin and sunflower, peanuts, walnuts, pistachios, so they can also be offered to the child as a snack.

To the main dish you can serve bread with bran or wholemeal. It also contains a lot of dietary fiber and improves the motor activity of the intestine. Kashi is better to cook from millet, buckwheat, oatmeal, corn, pearl barley, wheat, barley cereal.

But from manna and rice porridge, as well as from pasta and noodles it is better to refuse until the chair is normalized, as they are fastened. Constipation may occur after using antibacterial agents as a result of changes in the intestinal microflora. To restore the normal flora, you can increase the consumption of sour-milk drinks.

It is more necessary to drink kefir, live yoghurt, acidophilic products

What products do not provoke gas formation?

If, in addition to constipation, the child has increased gas formation, it is necessary to remove dishes and foods that cause increased rotting and fermentation in the digestive tract. From the children's diet, you need to remove raw vegetables with a high content of coarse fiber (legumes, potatoes, cabbage, turnip, radish), as well as foods with a high level of starch (yeast baked goods, black bread).

It does not accelerate the formation of carrots, pumpkins, beets, zucchini, greens, so they can safely be given with constipation and flatulence. You can not drink carbonated drinks, there are sweets. Promotes the process of rotting using excessive amounts of protein foods of animal origin, especially if there is it at night.

To improve the motility of the stomach and at the same time not to provoke flatulence is recommended:

• dried bread or croutons;
• dietary meat;
• porridge (except for millet and pearl barley);
• scrambled eggs;
• dairy products;
• orange, apple, lemon juice;
• apricots, prunes, pomegranates;
• green tea.

What diets are recommended for constipation

When adding foods stimulating the motility of the gastrointestinal tract to the diet, bowel evacuation normalizes within a week. If, after 10 days, still defecation is difficult, then it is necessary to consult the therapist to identify the causes of the disorder and prescribe medication.

Constipation can be a consequence not only of nutritional disorders, but also due to malformations of the large intestine (polyps, adhesions, tumors, helminthiases), diseases of the stomach, liver. In chronic diseases of the intestine outside the stage of exacerbation diet No 3 is prescribed, which also contains the amount of protein and carbohydrates, which is prescribed by the age norm, but increases the content of vegetable fats.

When flatulence occurs, the use of simple carbohydrates should be reduced

If fermentation processes prevail in the intestine, then No 4A is prescribed, which limits the use of protein and carbohydrates. If there is a violation of the liver and pancreas, the diet table No 5 is shown, and in case of gastritis or peptic ulcer, table No 1. These diets recommend mechanical, thermal and chemical shading of the mucous, and therefore restrict the use of cold dishes, foods with fiber, raw vegetables and fruits.

Therapeutic diet, aimed at getting rid of constipation, should be prescribed by a pediatrician or gastroenterologist, since it depends on the underlying disease. The diet includes information about the necessary energy value, the ratio of nutrients, the need to shake the digestive tract, the frequency of food intake.

The better to feed the child with constipation, the doctor will tell, after determining the cause of the onset of the symptom. Even after normalization of gastrointestinal motility, it is necessary to adhere to proper nutrition, which excludes excessive consumption of fats, simple carbohydrates, as well as fried, sharp, salty foods.

When a diet with constipation is ineffective

One of the causes of constipation is restraining the urge to defecate. Children often can not go to the toilet outside the house and therefore suppress the urge, and then can not release the intestines, because the stool becomes hard due to the lack of water in it. To prevent this from happening, the child should be taught to defecate at the same time, preferably in the morning.

Conditional-reflex locks can develop with diaper dermatitis, anal fissures, and in this case, you need to treat the underlying disease, because of which the act of defecation becomes painful and as a result is suppressed. Psychogenic constipation can develop as a result of weaning, potentiation of the pot, unwillingness to go to the toilet in the school or the garden.

The menu of the child with constipation should be designed in such a way as to strengthen intestinal peristalsis, therefore the quantity of dishes with vegetables and fruits, vegetable oil, sour-milk products increases. The menu for a week is recommended to be developed taking into account the physiological needs of the growing organism and accompanying diseases (allergies, flatulence).