Symptoms of constipation in children
Last reviewed: 20.11.2021
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Pain in the abdomen is common to all children with constipation. Constipation is one of the most common causes of these pains, and one of the first steps that parents take is to identify the symptoms of constipation and contact the pediatrician. Since there are many other diseases that can cause abdominal pain, it is important to know the symptoms of constipation in a child.
What is constipation?
Constipation is usually defined as less than two or three defecations a week, or painful bowel movements, even if the child can defecate every day.
In most cases, constipation in children is caused by a diet high in fat and low in fiber. In addition, children with constipation often drink too little liquid. Constipation may be caused by hypodynamia (low physical activity), constipation may be a side effect of certain medications.
Symptoms of constipation in children
The symptoms of constipation, as a rule, are quite simple. They may be a bit incomprehensible to the older child, when parents do not know exactly how many defecations a week their child made. A kid who no longer needs a pot can not tell his parents what his bowel movement was and whether she was at all. Depending on the age of the child, symptoms and signs of constipation may include the following
- Less than two or three bowel movements per week
- tension during defecation
- long (more than 15 minutes) time of defecation
- reluctance to go to the pot or toilet because of fear of pain, it can lead to retention of stool in the intestines, which makes the constipation even more prolonged and painful
- abdominal pain, bloating, colic, which often pass only after defecation
- a very large amount of feces that go painfully
- the feeling that the defecation was incomplete and the bowel was not completely emptied, even after the defecation took place
- rectal pain
- excessive amount of gases with pain and without them
- bright red blood in feces or on paper when your child is wiped off with paper after bowel movement
Keep in mind that some children, especially infants and young children, experience stress when they empty the bowels of the stool. If they have soft abdominal pain with abdominal pain, then, most likely, it is not constipation.
Severe Constipation and Symptoms
Parents are usually well informed about the usual symptoms of constipation.
Severe or chronic constipation may have even more obscure symptoms than periodic constipation. Children with such symptoms can often suffer encopresis, with forced leakage of a small amount of soft or liquid stools on the underwear.
Encopresis, as a rule, is caused by the presence of a large, hard stool, which remained in the rectum and there it was modified.
If parents are unaware of the baby's constipation, they may think that a loose stool or spontaneous release of feces is a sign of diarrhea, and it's diarrhea that the doctor has to complain about, while in reality the child has the opposite problem.
Other complications of severe constipation may include
- hemorrhoids
- prolapse of rectum
- fecal compression
Therefore, with the slightest suspicion of a malfunction in the rectum of a child, you should immediately consult a doctor and do not consider it a temporary and minor deviation.