How Does Constipation Affect a Toddler?
Physical and Emotional Effects of Constipation
Constipation can affect a toddler in both emotional and physical ways. Physically, constipation causes pain in a toddler. Emotionally, it can cause fear. Once painful constipation takes hold, the toddler will probably be afraid to try to pass his stool. This leads to the toddler trying to keep it inside his bowels, causing the rectum muscles to become weak and the stool to become hard. When the hard stool finally does go through the rectum, it can cause bleeding and pain. This is scary to a baby, and the cycle begins all over again. Luckily, you can keep your toddler from developing constipation by knowing and avoiding the common causes of constipation.
Causes and Prevention of Constipation
Poor diet can cause constipation, especially a lack of low-fiber foods in the diet. Toddlers need lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains in order to avoid becoming constipated. If your toddler eats too much dairy, try adding some apples with that cheese or replacing the daily breakfast yogurt with oatmeal and raisins.
Toilet training can also cause constipation. If your child feels pressured to perform, she may try to hold her stools rather than have an accident. Watch for signs that your toddler is trying to avoid having a bowel movement: Red face, straining and grunting are all signs of this. Try to reassure your toddler that accidents happen and see if you can find other ways to reduce the amount of stress she is feeling over toilet training, such as allowing her to have "breaks" during the evening.
As stool is held inside the bowels or not completely emptied from the bowels, (another common problem in toilet training toddlers), the buildup of fecal matter can lead to the colon stretching, which causes painful cramps. This can make a toddler even more reluctant to have a bowel movement.
Another common cause of constipation in toddlers is dehydration. If a child is not getting enough liquids into his system, his body will absorb fluids from the fecal matter, leaving them hard, dry, and difficult to pass. Finally, a lack of activity can also cause constipation in toddlers.
Symptoms of Constipation
If you think your toddler might be constipated, watch for the following signs. She might have dry and hard stools that seem painful upon passing. She might also have a tiny amount of blood in her diaper. Alternately, she might actually have very liquid stools. If hard stools are blocking the lower intestine, only liquid stools can get through. Rather than diarrhea, this can actually be a sign of constipation. Other signs include less than three bowel movements per week and an excessive amount of belching or passing gas. Behaviors that may indicate constipation include hiding or squatting to have a bowel movement, grunting, straining or crying when passing the stool, and fear of using the toilet.
If you see these signs, take steps to help your toddler by giving her more grains, fruits and vegetables, by helping her become more active, and by reducing the amount of stress in her life by sticking to regular naps whenever possible, for example.
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