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Baby poop: Pictures of healthy and unhealthy stools

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Baby poop comes in a variety of colors, and those colors can change depending on your baby's diet. Your newborn's very first poop, called meconium, is greenish-black and tarry. Breastfed poop is yellowish, soft, and seedy; while formula-fed poop is thicker and brownish in color. Solid food poop has more substance and a stronger odor. Babies can be constipated and have diarrhea, just like adults, which will make their poop look different than usual. These photos give you the full scoop on newborn poop. (A note for the squeamish: This gallery contains real photos. )

What should baby poop look like?

Baby poop comes in a wide range of colors and a variety of textures, and deciphering what's normal and what's not can be puzzling to a new parent. If you're spending more time than you'd ever imagined staring quizzically at the contents of your baby's diaper, you're not alone! Bowel movements are one of the most common concerns parents ask their child's doctor about.

This baby poop chart will give you the full scoop on your newborn's bowel movements. The following photos and information will help you understand which baby poop colors are normal and which ones warrant a call to the doctor as your newborn grows, drinks breast milk or formula, and starts eating solids. You'll find out what's harmless, and when there may be a cause for concern.

If you still have questions about your baby's bowel movements after reading this guide, don't hesitate to call or email photos of any questionable baby stools to your child's provider. (And for more helpful tips on when to call your baby's pediatrician, as well as other great safety info, check out the Infant CPR, Choking, and Safety class from BabyCenter Courses.)

Note: These are pictures of real baby poop! Please view only if you're comfortable looking at them. If not, you can read this description without photos instead, or watch this animated video.

Newborn poop (meconium)

You may be surprised to learn that normal newborn poop doesn't look very normal at all. For your baby's first couple of bowel movements, expect to find a greenish-black, tarry, sticky sludge that kind of looks like motor oil when you open your newborn's diaper. Since meconium is made of mucus, amniotic fluid, dead cells, and other stuff your baby ingested in utero, it doesn't really smell – so you may not realize it's time for a diaper change.

When your baby is 2 to 4 days old, their poop will become lighter in color – sort of a yellowish green – and less sticky. This so-called transitional stool is a sign that they've started digesting early breast milk or formula and their intestinal tract is working just fine.

Photo credit: marima / Shutterstock.com

Breastfed baby poop

Normal breastfed baby poop, like as seen in this photo, is yellow or slightly green, and has a mushy or creamy consistency. It may be runny enough to resemble diarrhea, though baby diarrhea is usually very liquid in consistency. Breastfed poop typically looks like Dijon mustard and may be dotted with little seed-like flecks. Interestingly, it smells slightly sweet.

There are many shades of normal when it comes to breastfed baby poop. One you might see is a greener tone, which could signify that you ate something different than you normally do. If your baby isn't experiencing any other symptoms, there's no need to worry.

If you see bright green and frothy poop in your baby's diaper that almost looks like algae, they're probably getting too much foremilk – the low-calorie milk that comes first in a feeding – and not enough hindmilk, the higher-fat, super-nutritious stuff that comes near the end. It could mean that you're not feeding your baby long enough on each breast. To remedy this, start each new breastfeeding session on the breast you ended on the last time.

Formula-fed baby poop

Formula-fed babies have thick, pasty, peanut butter-like poop on the brown color spectrum. Its color ranges from tan-brown to yellow-brown or even greenish-brown.

The thicker consistency of formula is slightly harder to digest than breast milk, so some of its ingredients end up passing right through your baby's digestive system. Formula-fed baby poop is also more pungent than poop from breastfed babies, yet a little less pungent than poop from babies who are eating solid food, but you'll recognize the smell.

If at some point you decide to switch formula brands, expect the look – and feel – of your baby's poop to change. Its aroma might change, too.

Iron-fortified baby poop

Green baby poop is a sign of iron in your baby's formula. The iron in formula doesn't absorb as well as the iron in breast milk – hence the greenish hue. If you give your baby an iron supplement, their poop may turn dark green or almost black. This doesn't happen often, but it's normal.

One thing: If your baby's poop looks blackish and they're not taking an iron supplement, it's a good idea to call their doctor. Rarely, blood in infant stool can turn poop a black color, which is called melena. Your child's doctor can make sure there's no stomach bleeding to worry about.

Solid food baby stool

Once you start introducing your baby to solid foods – infant cereal, pureed bananas, and so on – you'll almost instantly notice a change in their output, especially if your baby is breastfed. Solid-food poop tends to be brown or dark brown and thicker than peanut butter, but still mushy. Get ready: It's also much smellier than exclusively breastfed poop.

Expect the consistency of your baby's poop to change depending on what they've recently eaten. Some bowel movements may look hard and pebble-like, while others can have that runny, mustard-like consistency of breastfed poops. There's nothing to worry about unless your baby seems to be straining or goes more than a few days without going at all.

Baby stool with partially digested food

Occasionally your baby's poop will have identifiable chunks of food in it or be tinged with a surprising hue of the rainbow, like red, orange, or dark blue – this isn't something you need to worry about. Red could mean beets, orange suggests carrots, and dark blue implies blueberries (you may even see tiny pieces of blueberry skin in there, too).

You're likely seeing this because certain foods are only partially digestible or travel so quickly through the intestines that they don't have time to completely break down. It also happens when your baby eats a lot of one food or doesn't chew a mouthful completely before they swallow.

The time to call the doctor is if your baby's poop consistently has undigested food in it. Your baby's doctor will check to make sure their intestines are properly absorbing food and nutrients.

Photo credit: Original Shutter / Shutterstock.com

Baby diarrhea

Newborn diarrhea is very runny and looks like it's made up of more water than solid food. It can be yellow, green, or brown, and often can seep or "explode" out of their diaper.

Diarrhea can be a sign of an infection or allergy. If it lasts for a while without being treated, it can lead to dehydration. Call the doctor if your baby:

Has signs of dehydration, such as crying without tears, dry lips, peeing less often than usual, or excess sleepiness
Has diarrhea that doesn't go away after a few days
Has visible blood or mucus in their diarrhea
Has a fever along with the diarrhea

Photo credit: nutthapol Samjai / Shutterstock.com

Constipated baby poop

If your baby's poop is hard and looks like little pebbles, they're probably constipated. Your baby may look visibly uncomfortable when they're pooping, and the poop may be tinged with blood from irritating the anus on the way out. One or two pebbly diapers isn't a concern, but if the constipation doesn't improve, your baby is irritable, or you see blood in their stool, it's best to call their doctor.

Constipation often happens in babies who are being introduced to solid foods, or it can be a sign that your baby isn't getting enough fiber in their diet. Your doctor may recommend giving your baby water, pear, or prune juice to help move things along.

Baby poop with mucus

Does your baby's diaper look like it's been slimed? Greenish poop streaked with shiny, glistening strings means there's mucus in it. This sometimes happens when a baby is especially drooly, since mucus in saliva often goes undigested. Drooling can be a sign that a tooth is about to pop.

Mucus in poop can also be a telltale sign of an infection or food allergy. Rarely, it could mean your baby isn't absorbing enough nutrients from breast milk or formula. If the mucus is accompanied by any other symptoms (such as diarrhea or a fever) or it shows up in your baby's diaper for two days or more, call their doctor to rule out any problems.

Photo credit: Katarzyna Uroda / Shutterstock.com

Blood in baby's poop

Seeing red in your baby's diaper can be frightening, to say the least. Many of the possible causes of blood in baby stool aren't serious, like small tears in the baby's anus from passing large poops, or a cow's milk allergy. (Despite its name, a cow's milk allergy is more of an intolerance, and most babies grow out of this by age 1. It will require you eliminating cow's milk from your diet, if you're breastfeeding, or switching your baby to a formula without cow's milk.)

Sometimes the blood in infant stool is bright red from bleeding closer to the surface, and sometimes it's black (which means it's been digested). Sometimes, red dye in food or medication can also turn stool slightly red.

Call your doctor if you notice:

Normal poop tinged with red blood, which is often a sign of a cow's milk allergy
Constipated poop with a hint of red blood, likely a result of tears in the anus or hemorrhoids
Diarrhea mixed with red blood, which can signal a bacterial infection

When black blood appears in a baby's diaper – usually in little flecks that look like black poppy or sesame seeds – it's often because your baby is breastfed and swallowing blood from your cracked and bleeding nipples. While this is a sign that you need some pain relief, it doesn't pose a threat to your baby. Still, it's best to call your baby's doctor to make sure it's not something more serious, like bleeding from their intestines.

Photo credit: Vadi Fuoco / Shutterstock.com

Chalky or white baby poop

Lots of seemingly frightening signs in your newborn's poop are nothing to worry about. Others, like white, grey, or pale-yellow stools, are good reason for concern. Pale stools can be a sign of biliary atresia – a blockage in the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder. Bile is the greenish fluid that helps us digest food and gives poop its brown color.

If your baby's stool looks especially pale, call their doctor right away. Biliary atresia is rare, but babies diagnosed with it need surgery to fix the blockage. The procedure works best when it's done before a baby reaches the 2-month mark.

Photo credit: © Holly Clark / Stocksy United

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Sources

BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals. We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies.

Blank Children's Hospital. 2014. 12 Types of baby poop & what they mean (infographic). https://www.unitypoint.org/blankchildrens/article.aspx?id=40567710-74c7-4ef2-a040-847be9fbd35a [Accessed May 2022]

Cleveland Clinic. 2020. The color of baby poop and what it means. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-color-of-baby-poop-and-what-it-means-infographic/ [Accessed May 2022]

Healthy Child Manitoba. Undated. The scoop on poop. https://www.gov.mb.ca/healthychild/healthybaby/kits/scoop_on_poop.pdf [Accessed May 2022]

John Hopkins Children’s Center. Undated. Stool color guide. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/articles-and-answers/healthy-children/stool-color-guide [Accessed May 2022]

Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Undated. What can your child's poop color tell you? https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/johns-hopkins-childrens-center/what-we-treat/specialties/gastroenterology-hepatology-nutrition/stool-color-overview.html [Accessed May 2022]

Johns Hopkins Medicine. Undated. Biliary atresia. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/biliary-atresia [Accessed May 2022]

La Leche League Canada. 2015. Thursday tip: Explaining green breastmilk and green baby poop. https://www.lllc.ca/thursday-tip-explaining-green-breastmilk-and-green-baby-poop [Accessed May 2022]

Mayo Clinic. 2022. I’m breastfeeding my newborn and her bowel movements are yellow and mushy. Is this normal for baby poop? http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/expert-answers/baby-poop/faq-20057971 [Accessed May 2022]

National Library of Medicine Medline Plus. 2020. Constipation in infants and children. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003125.htm [Accessed May 2022]

Nationwide Children's Hospital. 2021. Newborn poop: Meconium and beyond. https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2021/07/newborn-poop-meconium [Accessed May 2022]

Nemours KidsHealth. 2021. Diarrhea. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/diarrhea.html [Accessed May 2022]

Pregnancy, Birth and Baby (Australia). 2019. All about baby poo. https://www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/news/all-about-baby-poo [Accessed May 2022]

Providence. Undated. Baby poop: What's normal? https://www.psjhmedgroups.org/Orange-County/Services/Pediatrics/Frequently-Asked-Health-Questions/Baby-Poop.aspx [Accessed May 2022]

Seattle Children's. 2022. Diarrhea (0-12 months). https://www.seattlechildrens.org/conditions/a-z/diarrhea-0-12-months/ [Accessed May 2022]

Seattle Children's. 2022. Stools – blood in. https://www.seattlechildrens.org/conditions/a-z/stools-blood-in/ [Accessed May 2022]

Seattle Children's. 2022. Stools – unusual color. https://www.seattlechildrens.org/conditions/a-z/stools-unusual-color/ [Accessed May 2022]

University of Utah Health. 2018. The poop on poop: Constipation in kids. https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/shows.php?shows=0_v590hptx [Accessed May 2022]

Stephanie Watson

Stephanie Watson is a freelance health and lifestyle writer based in Rhode Island. When she’s not busy writing, Watson loves to travel, try new cuisines, and attend as many concerts, shows, and plays as she can fit into her busy schedule.

How often should a newborn poop?

Yes, it's normal if your baby is pooping after every single feeding. You’ll quickly discover that when it comes to newborns, poop frequency comes in a wide range of normal.

Some babies are just more productive poopers than others. It’s perfectly okay to end every feeding with a diaper change, or to not see a single bowel movement for a few days. Your baby pooping a lot probably isn’t an issue, unless you’re changing three or more extra-watery diapers a day. In that case, it could be diarrhea, which is something to let your baby's doctor know about.

How often should a newborn poop?

It varies. Poop habits differ a lot from baby to baby. The average frequency is one or more bowel movements daily. But some newborns produce five or more dirty diapers a day in their first 2 weeks of life, while others go for days without pooping.

It’s not unusual for newborns to poop a lot, since they spend most of their waking hours eating. In general, breastfed babies poop more than formula-fed ones. In fact, your baby may poop while nursing and again once they’re done – which is why you may want to wait a few minutes after you're finished breastfeeding before swooping in with a clean diaper.

Because breastfed poops contain more liquid, they’ll look more watery than the stools of formula-fed babies. (See real photos of the different kinds of baby poop here.)

When a breastfed newborn poops after every feeding during the first few weeks, take it as a good sign – it means they’re getting plenty of milk. Even though formula-fed babies may have less frequent bowel movements than breastfed babies, it's normal for them to poop after every feeding as well.

The frequency of your baby's bowel movements may start to slow down by the time they're around 6 weeks old, but some babies continue their pattern of pooping after every feeding for much longer. (It’s not uncommon for some 1-year-olds to poop five times a day.)

How long can a baby go without pooping?

If your baby hasn’t had a bowel movement in a few days, there’s no need to immediately fear the big “C” (aka, constipation). Babies can go days, or even a week, without producing a dirty diaper. A breastfed baby can go even longer – as long as two weeks without pooping if they haven’t started on solid foods yet.

If the bowel movements your baby does make are soft, constipation probably isn’t an issue. Exclusively breastfed babies rarely get constipated because breastmilk is an economical food. Your baby gets just what they need, with little waste leftover to poop out.

True constipation in babies typically happens from a change in diet, a lack of fluids, or an illness. The telltale sign is hard, dry stools. If your baby is constipated, they may get extra fussy and look like they’re straining uncomfortably when they try to go.

Should I ever be worried about my baby pooping a lot?

Generally, if your baby's bowel movements are fairly consistent and they’re acting like their usual self, frequent poops aren't a cause for concern. However, if there's a sudden change in your baby's pooping pattern and their stool becomes watery, check with their doctor. Very watery bowel movements could be a sign of an infection.

Call the doctor if your baby has any of these other poop-related symptoms:

Pulling their legs up to their stomach (a sign that their tummy hurts)
Straining to have a bowel movement
Poop that looks like small, hard pebbles or is extra watery
Irritability
A swollen belly
Blood in their poop

If my baby is pooping a lot, are they more prone to diaper rash?

Babies who have frequent bowel movements can be more susceptible to diaper rash. Constant contact with stool can irritate the sensitive skin on their bottom.

The best way to prevent diaper rash is to keep your baby’s bottom clean and dry. To start, change their diapers more often. Wash their skin clean with warm water during each change.

You may want to coat the area with a diaper rash cream or a product containing zinc oxide or petroleum jelly to create a barrier. And instead of putting on a new diaper right away, let your baby go diaper-less for a little while each day so their bottom can fully air dry. If these tips don’t relieve the diaper rash, give your baby's doctor a call.

Read more:

A new parent's guide to baby poop

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How much formula newborns and babies need

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What a child's surprise will tell about - ON Clinic's blog

Unfortunately, children are not born with instructions for use, but they leave clues about their health. A baby's diaper hides a huge amount of information that you just need to be able to decipher.

So that young parents do not waste time, today the doctors of the children's departments of the ON Clinic network of medical centers will tell you what the color, consistency and amount of children's bowel movements say.

How many times a day does an infant poop?

When a child appears in a family, parents have many questions, and one of them is how often does a baby poop? Maryana Litvinova, pediatrician at the ON Clinic Kharkiv medical center, will answer it:

“The baby poops very often. It is difficult to say specifically how many times a day this happens, because the number of bowel movements is very individual and partly depends on the nutrition of the baby. The stools of breastfed babies are usually larger and thinner than those of formula fed babies. But 5-6 times a day is the average for all babies.”

It is worth noting that newborns defecate often, but over time, the number of trips to the toilet is greatly reduced. This situation makes many mothers nervous, but in reality there is nothing frightening. This is largely due to the fact that mother's milk becomes more mature, and the baby's body absorbs nutrients better, as a result of which there is less leftovers from the digestive process.

The main thing is that the child eats and gains weight, and his stools are soft and regular.

The consistency of baby feces: norms and deviations

The first baby poop is called meconium. They look like a thick, sticky greenish-black mixture and should normally only be seen in the first 3 days of a baby's life, until their digestive tract adapts to the need to digest food.

Then the child's stool becomes more formed and looks like thick mustard with granular inclusions. In children on IV, the liquid in the feces is much larger, and the blotches are smaller, while in babies on the IV, on the contrary, the blotches are larger and the liquid is less.

However, the consistency of feces can change, and parents should pay attention to this in order not to miss the body's signals that the child is not feeling well.

Diarrhea

Because children's feces are loose, sometimes parents mistake normal stools for diarrhea. Natalia Ovcharenko, a pediatrician at ON Clinic Nikolaev Medical Center, will tell you more about how to distinguish diarrhea:

“Believe me, you are unlikely to miss the onset of diarrhea: frequent and abundant discharge of liquid feces testifies to it. Sometimes diarrhea can be accompanied by vomiting, weakness, fever, and a darker, reddish color of the feces.”

If your child has diarrhea, you need to prevent dehydration. To do this, let the child drink water, often and in small portions. It is also necessary to contact your pediatrician immediately, as diarrhea may indicate the presence of a virus in the body or a systemic disease that is dangerous for babies.

Constipation

The opposite is true of constipation: parents sometimes miss it, mistakenly believing that constipation is always the absence of a bowel movement. However, a change in the consistency of feces may also indicate it. How to recognize constipation in a small child, Olga Chvertka, a pediatrician at the ON Clinic Poltava medical center, will tell:

“Children's stools are normally soft, so granular stools may already be a sign of constipation. Very hard and stony feces require a visit to a doctor, as they may indicate dehydration in a child's body. Other signs of dehydration include decreased tears and saliva, sunken eyes and crowns.

Some parents believe that the absence of a stool in a child for 2-3 days is already constipation. In fact, the regularity of bowel movements is individual for everyone and largely depends on the structure of the intestine. Constipation is primarily indicated by pain and the need to push hard during bowel movements. If your baby goes to the toilet for the most part every 3 days without pain and straining, and his feces are soft, there is no reason to worry.

What color of baby stool is considered normal?

Children's stools can take on a different color, and this is a fairly common cause of parental anxiety. But they often worry in vain, because the color of feces directly depends on the time it takes for food to pass through the digestive tract.

Here is what Lidia Garkovenko, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the ON Clinic Poltava medical center, says about the color scale of children's feces:

“The color of a child's feces can vary from yellow to brown. So, yellow feces only indicate that milk or a mixture quickly passes through the digestive tract. When this process slows down a little, the poop can turn greenish, and if digestion slows down even more, they turn brown.

If your child's feces are slightly darker or yellowish, but there are no other symptoms, there is no need to worry.

How does food affect the appearance of baby stool?

The presence of a child directly affects the contents of his diaper. So, the feces of children on breast milk and formula can differ significantly.

The child's body is designed in such a way as to assimilate the maximum of useful components from mother's milk. Because of this, some babies may not go to the toilet for many days. But at the same time, in many children on breastfeeding, almost after each feeding, mustard soft feces are excreted. Formula-fed babies tend to have darker stools and fewer stools.

When you start introducing complementary foods into your baby's diet, the nature of his bowel movements may change. Olga Mikusko-Petrova, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the ON Clinic Nikolaev medical center, will tell you exactly how:

“When a baby starts eating solid food, his feces become harder, and his stool becomes less frequent. This is due to the nature of the products that enter the body. With milk and liquid formula, baby poop was soft and watery, with solid food, this pattern works in exactly the same way.

In addition, the introduction of complementary foods can also affect the color of stools. For example, eating dark berries by a child will make the stool darker. In fact, the color of the stool is determined by the amount of a particular pigment in the baby's diet.

As for kindergarten children and schoolchildren, food affects their feces in the same way as in an adult. For example, a large amount of fibrous foods can cause undigested food to be present in the stool. Some foods may cause constipation or diarrhea. To avoid this, it is recommended not to give the child the same food in large quantities, especially new and exotic foods.

When is it time to worry?

As you can see, small changes in the consistency and color of children's feces often do not indicate serious problems in the body. However, there are situations when feces can signal problems and the need to see a doctor.

Primary stool colors to alert parents:

chalky white - may indicate bile problems. Probably, the liver produces it in an amount insufficient for the digestion of food;
pitch black indicates the presence of digested blood in the gastrointestinal tract;
scarlet red - indicates the presence of fresh blood in the stool, which comes from the colon or rectum;
green mucous - such changes in the color and nature of the stool may indicate the development of the virus in the child's body.

If you notice any of these signs, we recommend that you contact your pediatrician. He will ask you about the child's nutrition, the nature of the bowel movements and prescribe additional studies to rule out the development of serious gastrointestinal pathologies.

Baby poop can really tell a lot about a baby's health and diet. But you can not diagnose a child on your own, based only on a change in the nature of the bowel movements. If you're worried about the color or consistency of baby stool, it's best to make an appointment with your pediatrician.

Have you tried to decipher the clues in the toilet yourself?

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Baby poop: a visual guide to the types of baby poop

Poop is a waste product of the digestive system. They are made up of food debris that cannot be digested, as well as dead bacteria, cells that break away from the intestinal wall, intestinal secretions, liver bile, and water. The regularity of poop formation in a child and its appearance are important signals that provide valuable information about the health of the child.

(Are you wondering: My baby doesn't poop and other frequently asked questions)

Therefore, it is very important that all mothers and fathers monitor the child's poop, as they are a reliable tool for assessing your bowel function and thus know if the child is healthy and growing well. Thanks to this, one of the most common disorders in babies, constipation or difficulty urinating, can be controlled. The reason is the last section of the large intestine, the colon, which is formed by a canal called the rectum that empties into the anus and which stores the stool until it is removed. If the stool is soft, the deposit does not cause pain, and if the stool is hard and compact, the opposite will happen, causing constipation.

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Here's a quick and complete guide to what baby poop can look like and whether it's normal or indicative of a medical condition.

The different types of stools that a child may have, which we will discuss next, are based on the most frequent visits by parents to the pediatrician. We hope you find this information useful!

Black or dark green poop: meconium

Meconium - newborn's first food and has a blackish green appearance and a sticky resinous texture. For this aspect?

- About intestinal contents of fetus which is expelled by the newborn shortly after birth.

- Despite the showy appearance, is a perfectly normal poop and should not scare or bother you.

- Usually the baby throws her into the hospital, during the recovery of the mother.

Mustard-colored food with cream texture

Mustard color in baby poop is normal ; it means everything is fine. These are typical feces of a breastfed baby. What other characteristics does this type of feces have?

- Typically, the faeces of breastfed newborns have these characteristics. they are semi-liquid, creamy in appearance, with small lumps and a characteristic sour or "sour" odour.

- Children taking a bottle of have more compact and greyish stools.

- Although the color and consistency may be affected by the mother's diet . In general, this type of stool does not indicate bowel problems or malabsorption.

Greenish creamy food

If the faeces are slightly green and the texture is uniform and creamy, it is normal .

- The color, sequence and frequency of bowel movements vary from one child to another.

– Sometimes the stool is less formed - this is normal. and which have a mucous consistency: this indicates an accelerated intestinal transit.

(You are interested in: green baby poop)

Yellow feces and droplets: diarrhoea.

If your child has this type of stool, very yellow in color and very thin in consistency, you should consult your pediatrician . What else needs to be kept in mind?

- If this disorder is associated with loss of appetite, vomiting and weight loss, is gastroenteritis is an intestinal infection often caused by rotaviruses.

– Due to fluid loss resulting from various bowel movements, the child is at risk of dehydration.

– The first step you should take is to offer oral solutions. which guarantee an excellent supply of water, mineral salts and sugars.

– Taking probiotics, which restore the intestinal bacterial flora, can cut the duration of diarrhea in half.

Brown and resistant feces: new foods

When foods other than milk are introduced into a child's diet, feces are usually brown. , more persistent and "smelling". What do these changes in the child's bowel movements indicate?

- So everything is fine . This is the type of stool in children who have switched from milk to solid foods.

- Color and texture change depending on new foods that are introduced into the diet.

- When introducing new foods, even if they are fruits and vegetables (high in fiber), the baby may become slightly constipated or that your bowel movements are a little slower. No problem: your body gets used to the new diet. Soon it will stabilize again.

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Faeces of various colors and textures, with undigested food

If your child has a different colored stool with visible food debris, contact your pediatrician. What could it be?

- If this type of stool, alternating with short periods of constipation, but the child is growing regularly, it may be chronic non-specific diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome .

– The pediatrician must rule out other bowel diseases. which may present with the same symptoms as gastroenteritis .