Diarrhea, bloating, cramping & constipation are symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in infants. Read on to learn infant IBS causes & treatment.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Babies
Babies often suffer many serious problems and they become more complex when you follow your own treatments and wait for the problems to vanish by itself over a period of time. Sometimes parents seldom realize that some overlooked matters related to your child�s health can subject to severe results detrimental to baby�s health. One of the common health problems among your babies can be irritable bowel syndrome which is not a very dreadful disease but can lead to crampy pain, gassiness, bloating and change in bowel habits. Babies are more or less fragile beings and even any small infection can adversely affect their health.
Parents have to take notice about any bad health and should fully understand its affects on baby. Sometimes food can be the main culprit and when given occasionally, can trigger the stools to occur more often thus, adding to the syndrome. For the accurate diagnosis of the syndrome, parents need to take the baby to the doctor and get him examined for tests. Tests are mostly carried out by blood sample examinations. In other cases, endoscopy can also be carried out and better diagnosis can be stated for the right treatment. Read on to know more about irritable bowel syndrome in babies.
Causes
- Ordinary activities like eating or distention of gas or other material in baby’s colon can trigger to overact with irritable bowel syndrome.
- Spasms can be pulled out in babies if fed with milk or milk products very often.
- Heredity is also a predisposition to occur in babies as they can inherit this syndrome from the genes of parents or ancestors.
- Mostly large intestine is not able to absorb much salt or water from the food and leads to uncomfortable contraction of colon producing irritable and uncomfortable movements.
Symptoms
- Abnormal passage of stools creating a feeling of emptiness in the stomach.
- Mucus passage.
- Green stool.
- Frequency is abnormal like 3 or 4 stools per day.
- Bloating of abdomen.
Treatment
- Initially babies with this syndrome shouldn’t be given much food to eat, especially milk or sugar rich products as they develop intolerance to sugar and fat rich food. If the symptoms for the syndrome do not disappear over a day or so, the baby should be taken to the doctor.
- A baby suffering from this syndrome should be given water containing ORS which is available at any medical store and is suggested safe by doctors. ORS is given to replenish lost fluids in the baby’s body and the quantity should vary between 1 to 2 glasses a day.
- If parents observe that there is lesser constipation then fiber rich food can be provided to them and in case you figure out that after having fiber food, baby is still in the same condition then do not provide supplements rich in fiber.
- It is advisable to consult a doctor in this condition as it is the question of a baby’s health and they are far more delicate than adults. Thus, complete care and precautions should be taken in these cases.
