The child has dark green stool. Why does my baby have green stool? Green foamy stool in infant

Green stool in a child often frightens parents, but there is no need to always panic. The color of your baby's stool shows how his digestive system is working.

In some cases, stool acquires this color as a result of eating certain foods. If nothing bothers the patient, then the green color of the stool is not a cause for concern.

In what cases is green stool normal?

In the first 5 days, an infant's stool is black or olive in color. This type of stool is normal because the baby may ingest blood during birth.

On the 3rd day, light-colored lumps appear in the stool, but in general the stool has a greenish color. This kind of feces is called transitional. The baby's stool will remain greenish in color for up to 10 days.

The pigment bilirubin gives the unusual color to baby stool. As the stool oxidizes, it turns green, which is normal.

The liver and digestive system are not yet fully functional, so the enzymes that are supposed to process food are not fully produced.

The intestines do not yet contain a sufficient amount of beneficial bacteria that take part in the digestion of food.

If the dark green stool becomes liquid, and the child retains his appetite, has no abdominal pain, and sleeps well, then there is no need to worry. Such bowel movements are associated with the nature of the baby’s diet.

Foremilk has less fat content, and fatty breast milk gives the brown color to the stool.

If the mother has inverted or flat nipples or the breasts are too tight, then the baby does not receive enough fatty milk. In this case, normalization of the baby's stool will take a long time.

Babies under 9 or 12 months of age may have green stool. The color of the stool is affected by the foods that a nursing mother eats.

If the diet contains a large amount of parsley, spinach, green pears or apples, cucumbers, then the child’s stool will take on a greenish tint.

In bottle-fed babies, the color of their stool may change as a result of consuming formulas with large amounts of iron.

Such milk formulas include “Nutrilon”, “NAN” and others. Parents should consult their pediatrician. The doctor will select a diet that the child will tolerate well.

New complementary foods affect the change in stool color. After the baby gets acquainted with pears, broccoli and other foods, the stool may take on a greenish tint.

There is no need to worry if the child is feeling well, the baby is sleeping and eating well. After a few days, the excrement will return to its normal color.

It is necessary to pay attention to the child's feces. If, five days after taking a new product, the baby’s stool has not returned to normal and there are pieces of mucus in it, then the new dish should be removed from the menu.

Children over 2 years old often receive food from an adult table. In this case, the consistency and color of the stool may change.

Some babies at this age begin to be given sweets, chocolate, confectionery, others are fed dill, spinach and other products, wanting to fill the body with vitamins.

Parents should review their children's menus as the stool will be green.

Possible pathologies

The reasons for green bowel movements can be serious and indicate problems with the functioning of any organ of the digestive system.

In children under 2 years of age, green feces can be a manifestation of dysbiosis - the balance between beneficial bacteria in the intestines is disrupted.

If your baby is given complementary foods or new juice early, he may also develop this disease.

A previous illness, for the treatment of which it was necessary to take antibacterial drugs, may cause changes in the color of stool. Dysbacteriosis will occur in a child if his mother took antibiotics.

A one-month-old baby begins to explore the world and puts fingers and foreign objects into his mouth. In this case, microbes and bacteria enter his body, which upset the balance in the digestive system.

In this case, the baby's stool may be liquid, foamy, and greenish in color. In some cases, the child may become constipated.

It is worth finding out the reasons for changes in bowel movements if the following symptoms are added:

• stomach ache;
• frequent regurgitation;
• the smell of rot in the feces.

In this case, you need to get tested. It is important to promptly identify an intestinal infection that occurs in the child’s body. Parents should strictly monitor the baby's hygiene.

After all, many mothers and grandmothers lick the pacifier before giving it to the child, but on the surface of the pacifier there can be a lot of microbes that will cause the development of pathology in the child’s body.

The reasons for changes in stool may lie in the influence of opportunistic microbes. When certain conditions are created, such microbes become pathogenic for children under 2 years of age.

If there is overheating or malnutrition, the stool will be foamy, smelly, and the color will change to green.

If hygiene is grossly violated in a family or one of the family members gets sick with salmonella, dysentery or E. coli, then the risk of the child contracting these ailments is high.

In this case, the stool becomes liquid, the child defecates quite often. The stool is often a lump of green mucus, sometimes streaked with blood.

The patient feels the urge to cleanse the intestines, but they turn out to be false. The child feels pain in the abdomen, which manifests itself in the form of attacks. After defecation, the pain subsides, but soon increases again.

In addition to pain, children also experience other unpleasant symptoms:

• decreased appetite;
• body temperature rises;
• lethargy is noted;
• vomiting is possible.

Salmonellosis is an infectious disease that has a rather difficult course in children. The cause of its development may be the consumption of chicken eggs.

The child has a fever, vomiting, headache, lethargy, and no appetite.

With this infectious disease, the small intestine is affected. The patient's stool becomes dark green in color. Parents should urgently show the baby to the doctor, as dehydration occurs very quickly.

Green stool in older children

In children over 5 years of age, the reasons for changes in the color and consistency of stool may be different. One of the main ones is the introduction of new products into the child’s diet.

Don't panic when you see green poop. Perhaps the baby ate spinach, dill, parsley, broccoli or other green vegetables.

If the stool is uneven in color and has green specks, then the child’s menu contains a large amount of sweets. Parents should review their baby's diet and include more healthy foods.

There is no need to panic if nothing bothers the child except the green color of the stool.

Parents should analyze the general condition of the child: determine why the child has green feces, observe the child’s behavior and condition. Only after this should a decision be made on drug treatment.

If you suspect an intestinal infection, you should call an ambulance, as frequent diarrhea and vomiting will lead to very rapid dehydration of the body.

Before the doctor arrives, parents should give the child enough fluids. A child who is 2 years old can drink on his own.

It is necessary to give drinks in small portions so as not to provoke vomiting. Children under 2 years of age should receive liquid by teaspoon or pipette quite often.

If attacks of vomiting and diarrhea occur more often than 5–9 times, then not only fluid, but also salts are removed from the body. They need to be replenished.

To do this, you can purchase Regidron, Oralit or other products at the pharmacy. In addition to saline solution, you can give the patient sorbents.

Smecta, Enterosgel or another drug that has an absorbent effect will absorb toxic substances in the intestines and remove them from the body.

If the cause of green stool was an infection, then sorbents will not be able to eliminate them. To do this, you need to take antibacterial drugs.

It is not recommended to make a decision about taking them on your own - all prescriptions should be made only by a doctor.

The drug should be taken two or three times a day depending on the age and condition of the patient.

If an adult or child’s stool is light brown, yellowish or dark brown in color, then this is considered normal (the person is healthy and has no problems with the gastrointestinal tract). By the color of stool you can determine whether a person is healthy, whether he has gastrointestinal diseases, and how the patient eats. A change in the color of stool is the first sign of ill health.

I'm healthy and my stool is green

In a healthy body, green feces can be a consequence of poor nutrition, in particular foods that contain green dyes or green pigment. Basically, green feces are formed in a healthy person in the summer, when the diet is based on a large amount of vegetables and fruits.

The causes of green stool can be:

• Current antibiotic treatment;
• Dysbacteriosis;
• Gastrointestinal diseases.

Green feces and a rotten smell in a person indicate that leukocytes in the body die, are not removed from the intestines, but accumulate in it and provoke inflammatory processes in the body.

When a patient is diagnosed with dysbiosis, the gastrointestinal tract does not function properly and does not fully digest food. As a result, the foods that have been eaten are not processed in the stomach, but begin to gradually rot, then ferment and negatively affect the entire body and the color of stool in particular.

Stool becomes green due to dysbacteriosis.

Intestinal infections are another disease that causes stool to change its color to green. An infectious disease manifests itself as:

• Vomiting;
• Nausea;
• Increased body temperature;
• Weaknesses in the body;
• Severe pain in the lower abdomen;
• Changes in stool color to green.

Poor nutrition

Poor nutrition is the answer to the question of why stool may be green. If you eat a lot of foods rich in iron, it is not surprising that your stool will be green. But, again, this condition cannot be called pathological. As soon as you change your diet, your health will improve and your stool will return to its normal light brown color.

And an unhealthy diet, containing artificial dyes in large quantities, leads to a change in the color of stool.

Green feces appear when consuming foods such as beans, fruit and vegetable juices, cereals, herbs, dill, onions, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, muesli, any confectionery products containing dyes (in simple words, unnatural sweets ), red fish, meat.

If you have green stool, then reconsider your diet.

Green feces in children

For a baby in the first month of life, green feces are the norm - there is no need to panic or worry about this under any circumstances. A change in the color of stool in a small child can occur at the time of transition from breast milk to artificial feeding (formula) or during the period of introducing complementary foods.

An infection in a child may cause green stool. In this case, the symptoms will be as follows:

• Loss of appetite;
• Weakness, lethargy;
• Moodiness, irritability;
• Increased body temperature;
• Green feces

In all these cases (if such symptoms are present), it is imperative, urgently, to consult a pediatrician and gastroenterologist.

By the way, Green feces in babies under one year of age are common when the baby is teething. Children in this state produce copious amounts of saliva, which has a direct effect on the color of the stool.

Green stool in a teething baby may be a response to increased salivation. In this case, bile is released with increased intensity. As a result, parents are faced not only with green feces in their child, but also with painful colic.

More One reason for the green stool of a small child may be dysbacteriosis.

For reference!

Dysbacteriosis is a pathological condition in which there are much fewer beneficial bacteria in the intestines than beneficial ones. Consequently, the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract is disrupted.

If you have intestinal dysbiosis, you need to contact a pediatrician to prescribe appropriate treatment (drugs containing beneficial bacteria, for example, Linex).

So, green stool in a young child may be associated with:

• Lactose intolerance (breast milk);
• Dysbacteriosis;
• Switching from breast milk to artificial formula or introducing complementary foods;
• With teething;
• With an infectious lesion of the body.

If parents become concerned about the green color of the baby's stool, then they need to show the child to the doctor. Because In some cases, the green color of feces in a baby or infant may indicate intestinal dysbiosis. Green feces in infants may be associated with individual intolerance to milk protein.

Pathologies

Green feces can appear with the following pathologies:

On a note!

If a child or an adult has bleeding in the stomach, then the pressure decreases, the heartbeat quickens, weakness appears in the body, the skin turns pale, and shortness of breath begins.

Green feces are a symptom of blood pathologies and liver diseases.

About treatment

It is impossible, without knowing the cause of green stool, to prescribe some kind of treatment for yourself. Already on the first day of deterioration in your health and the appearance of green stool in you/your child, you should consult a doctor, take a blood test, as well as a test to determine existing infections.

Patients with chronic diseases of internal organs and digestive organs should tell their doctor about this during examination. It is advisable to exclude foods that can impart a green color or reduce its intake.

Depending on whether the patient has constipation or diarrhea, prescribing or laxatives are prescribed, for example, Enterosgel, activated carbon. Antibacterial therapy in this case will also be appropriate.

If there is any internal bleeding, you should consult a doctor. If you do not receive qualified medical care in a timely manner, this can lead to serious consequences, including death.

The reasons for the appearance of green feces can be very different. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to this problem in a timely manner. First you need to undergo an examination and tests and only then begin treatment, if necessary.

While the baby is in the womb, meconium accumulates in its digestive organs. This substance is not yet feces and looks like a homogeneous mass of almost black color without any odor, similar to tar. Meconium contains particles of the mucous membrane of the digestive system, digested amniotic fluid, etc.

After the baby is born, meconium is usually released within 1-3 days. It is called original feces. As soon as the baby begins to receive breast milk or formula, the first feces begin to form in the intestines.

The baby's stool takes several weeks to form. The process takes place in several stages. Thus, transitional stool is a combination of original meconium and mature stool. It usually looks like a yellow-greenish paste with a sour odor. Then he gradually becomes mature. This type of baby feces has a yellow color, a more uniform consistency similar to porridge or sour cream, and the smell of sour milk.

The smaller the baby, the more often feces are released. For example, infants in the first month of life can have stools up to ten times in one day. Over time, the frequency of bowel movements decreases to one to three times a day. Breastfed children sometimes have bowel movements within normal limits once every 1-4 days. This is due to the fact that human milk is almost completely absorbed by the baby’s digestive system and feces accumulate in small quantities and slowly. If nothing bothers the child (no bloating, no pain), then such stool can be considered normal.

If the baby is on artificial or mixed nutrition, then his stool is not much different from the bowel movements of an infant. Sometimes “artificial” feces have a thicker consistency and a dark, almost brown tint. The smell may also be different and be more like an “adult” one. Evacuation in children who are completely bottle-fed should occur at least once a day. Lack of stool for more than one day is considered constipation and requires intervention.

What does the color of stool mean in children?

Yellow feces in a baby are the best option. But it is worth remembering that in infants the color of feces may change depending on what the mother eats. Over time, the child receives complementary foods, which means the intestines react to it by changing the color of the stool. Let's look at the main changes in stool color, as well as signs of what they may be.

White stool in a child

Let's look at the main reasons that cause white stools:

• Gallbladder pathology. Such violations may include bends, twisting, and obstruction of the ducts. As a result, bile is not able to enter the gastrointestinal tract in normal quantities. Bile is one of the main pigments that are responsible for the color of stool. Therefore, in its absence, the stool becomes lighter and even white. Only a doctor after an ultrasound examination can confirm or refute the presence of gallbladder pathology.
• Hepatitis. The inflammatory processes that occur in the liver during this disease can affect the shade of stool, discoloring it. In addition, the urine becomes darker in color. To determine this disease, it is urgent to undergo a comprehensive examination.
• Dysbacteriosis. This disease is a consequence of an incorrect ratio of the number of microorganisms in the microflora of the digestive organs. An unbalanced composition of bacteria affects the color of stool, making it white. In such cases, the stool liquefies and becomes foamy. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, and weakness.
• Pancreatitis. A disease accompanied by inflammatory damage to the pancreas. The stool becomes white and profuse. There is also increased body temperature, nausea, and vomiting.
• Rotavirus infection. This is a disease that can also affect the digestive organs. Pathological microorganisms can discolor stool and affect its consistency. The stool may be clay-like, liquid, vomiting and symptoms of ARVI appear.
• Whipple's disease. This is a fairly rare disease, the causes of which are not fully understood. A symptom of this disease is frequent white stool mixed with mucus, blood, and an unpleasant odor. The pathology is also accompanied by inflammation of the joints, increased body temperature, and anemia.

Also keep in mind that white stool will appear if there was an X-ray examination with barium sulfate ingestion.

Green stool in children

Also, dark green feces in a baby may appear due to malnutrition. It is also called “hungry stool”. A baby is malnourished if there is no weight gain or loss, and also if he has rare urination.

Green feces also appear in case of improper breastfeeding. The baby can only eat “fore milk”, get full of it and leave the breast. At the same time, hind milk is fattier and more nutritious, so it is important that the baby empties the breast completely. A nursing mother can eat a lot of greens, and then the baby will also have greenish stools.

Also, green feces may be evidence of pathological inflammatory processes occurring in different parts of the small intestine. When taking antibiotics, the stool becomes greenish because many dead white blood cells accumulate in the intestines due to inflammatory processes in the body.

With such a dangerous disease as dysentery, the feces also turn green. This intestinal infection is accompanied by high fever, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and body aches.

Another cause of green stool in a child may be a disease of the hematopoietic organs. When red blood cells break down, hemoglobin is converted into bilirubin. Entering the intestines in large quantities, this substance gives the stool a greenish tint. If the child is under one year of age, then unchanged bilirubin can independently enter the intestines and not be processed there. If no dangerous signs are observed, then this phenomenon is within normal limits.

Light-colored stool in a child

1. Age-related changes. If a newborn baby defecates with dark meconium, then over time his stool becomes lighter.
2. Changes in the diet of a nursing mother. If the child does not eat complementary foods, but eats only mother’s milk, then the mother should think about what she ate and what product could affect the lightening of the baby’s stool.
3. Changing formula milk. Formula-fed babies may have lighter-colored stools when their diet changes.
4. Introduction of complementary foods. When receiving the first “adult” food, the baby’s stool may become lighter in color as a reaction to complementary feeding. Also, the color of the stool may change with the introduction of new complementary foods that were not previously in the diet.
5. Deviations in diet. This reason occurs in older children when they consume large quantities of dairy products, as well as plant foods. In addition, light-colored feces are also observed with a high-carbohydrate menu. Rice and potatoes in large quantities can affect the color of stool and lighten it.
6. Teething. This is a difficult period in a baby’s life, which also affects the color of his stool. The stool may become thinner and lighter in color. As a rule, this goes away on its own within a few days.
7. Taking medications with calcium and antacids. Certain remedies include substances that affect the digestive organs, causing stool to change color. These are usually drugs to relieve diarrhea.

Dark-colored stool in children

Also, the color of a baby’s stool may become darker if the nursing mother ate foods high in iron: apples, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cherries. Also, taking activated carbon by a nursing mother or an older child can cause dark stools.

The only life-threatening option for a child when the stool turns dark is bleeding of internal organs. In this case, it is important to pay attention to the consistency of the feces. They become tarry. The child feels very bad, and it is difficult not to notice.

The nature and color (gray, black-green, yellow, brown, liquid) of undigested food remains can tell a lot. These factors are used in medical practice to diagnose a patient along with special tests. What does green stool indicate in a person? Is this shade of stool dangerous? The color of feces is particularly influenced by a person’s diet, as well as the state of the gastrointestinal tract, especially the gallbladder and liver. Any dysfunction of these organs or inflammatory processes are reflected by a change in the color and consistency of stool.

Causes of green stool in adults

When the color of stool changes, a person involuntarily pays attention to the state of his health. The stool will be greenish if food with added green dyes has entered the esophagus, or a large amount of greens predominates in the adult’s diet, for example, in the summer. That is, the condition and shade of stool is directly affected by diet.

But in most cases, changes in stool are associated with serious pathologies of the body: diseases of the liver and biliary tract, dysbacteriosis, and malfunction of the pancreas. The source of infection is inhabited by leukocytes, and after their death, the feces acquire a green tint. The inflammatory process is accompanied by characteristic symptoms: pain and cramps in the abdomen and intestines with an admixture of a swampy, putrid smell of feces, anemia, diarrhea.

Why is my baby's stool green?

In newborns, olive-black stool is considered normal at birth and in the first month of life. Meconium is a variant of the passage of first-born, mush-like, black feces. After three days, the baby’s feces acquire a dark olive tone, and approximately 5–10 days after birth, the color of the feces is close to the natural light brown shade. Therefore, parents of the baby should not have any special reasons for concern, unless the baby’s well-being has sharply deteriorated.

The reason for the greenish color of the stool in a baby is the immaturity of the liver, digestive organs, and the secretion of liver enzymes (bilirubins), which are not involved in the digestion of food. This occurs from insufficient nutrition when the baby does not completely empty the breast. After all, it is not the “front” (first) milk that is considered the most valuable, but the “hind” milk, enriched with nutrients. The timing of the “maturation” of the liver is influenced by the presence of pregnancy pathology, the method and timing of childbirth, and the start of breastfeeding.

What does dark green stool mean in a baby?

When a child is bottle-fed, the cause of the appearance of greenish feces is considered to be a nutritional mixture that is not suitable for the body or a change in it. If a change in the color of feces does not lead to other symptoms (fever, lack of appetite, a strong odor during bowel movements, the presence of mucus or traces of blood among the feces), this indicates the occurrence of a serious infectious disease, which should be diagnosed by a pediatrician without wasting time. In older children, greenish feces indicate lactose deficiency or dysbacteriosis.

Green stool: a sign of what disease?

Taking antibiotics orally for a long time and taking certain foods (large amounts of greens, green apples) causes stool to turn greenish. But after a few days, the color of the feces returns to normal. Otherwise, the green tint of the stool indicates the presence of certain diseases associated with disruption of the digestive system and intestines.

You need to know that bile itself is bright green, and as it passes through the small intestine it gradually loses its saturation and acquires a yellow-brown tint. If the function of the release of bile is impaired and the latter enters the intestines long before food is digested, then the feces indicate this with “greens”. Also, a green tint to bowel movements occurs due to the influence of the following factors:

• food poisoning;
• salmonellosis;
• Giardia;
• rotavirus infection;
• individual intolerance to lactose, fructose;
• food allergies;
• celiac disease;
• malabsorption syndrome;
• Crohn's disease;
• ulcerative colitis;
• thyrotoxicosis (increased levels of thyroxine in the blood plasma due to impaired thyroid function)
• gastroesophageal reflux disease;
• disorders of intestinal innervation in diabetes;
• disturbances in the absorption of bile acids in the small intestine;
• inflammation of the small intestine;
• surgical removal of the ileum.

What to do or what treatment to take?

Let's figure it out, when do you need a doctor? The feces have “turned green” from eating foods that would give such a color, then there should be no alarm - the color change will occur to the usual shade in a day or two, if nothing else bothers you. The same thing is observed from long-term use of antibiotics. If your health has sharply deteriorated, you suffer from colic, spasmodic pain in the abdomen, intestines, there is vomiting, diarrhea, greenish feces for more than 5 days, the temperature rises, qualified medical help is needed immediately.

Before your doctor comes, use the following tips:

• Probiotics will help restore the intestinal microflora: Lactobacterin, Bificol, Bifidumbacterin (tablets, rectal suppositories, capsules, powder).
• If the appearance of green stool was preceded by poisoning, then the best assistant is activated carbon. The drug is taken with plenty of liquid.
• For diarrhea and severe vomiting, take Regidron.

Video: Causes and treatments for green, loose stools

The first reaction to the appearance of green stool should not be panic; first, it is necessary to determine the possible cause of the appearance of stool of an uncharacteristic color. You can find out what to do first and how to help a patient with greenish loose stools by watching Elena Malysheva’s educational video:

Green stool in a child is something that often worries parents. There are many reasons for such changes in stool: both ordinary physiological and pathological. Newborn babies are a separate issue; their bowel movements can be very surprising to unprepared parents, so it is necessary to understand everything in order to keep the situation under control.

In babies, all the gastrointestinal organs finish forming in the womb. Until children are born, they swallow amniotic fluid, their own secretions, and particles of their own desquamated skin. All this, entering their body, is processed, and as a result, original feces - meconium - are formed in the intestines.

As soon as the baby is born, in the first day and the next few days, feces come out; it has a marsh-green color and can be pasty or mushy in consistency. This is the absolute norm.

When a child receives his first food, and most often this is breast milk, a portion of bacteria enters his stomach, and they already begin to establish the digestion process. The stool gradually changes color to yellow, and then, after a while, when nutrition is improved, to brown.

Causes of green stool in children under 1.5 - 2 years old

Since the gastrointestinal tract is initially immature and does not have enough enzymes to process food, some malfunctions are possible, which will be accompanied by green feces.

The following factors can affect the green coloration of stools:

• changing the diet of a nursing mother (if breastfeeding is natural);
• replacing the mixture with another;
• excess sugar in the mixture;
• excess iron in the mixture;
• indigestion in a baby;
• introducing the first solid food into the baby’s diet;
• teething, when a child pulls various objects into his mouth and thus introduces bacteria into the stomach.

Here you have the opportunity to track the child’s reaction and eliminate some of the reasons yourself, for example, choose a suitable formula, adjust your diet, or postpone the introduction of complementary foods.

If after such changes the stool still remains green, consultation with a specialist is necessary, because perhaps the reason lies deeper.

For reference! If a breastfed baby is not properly applied to the breast and sucks out only the liquid front milk, but not the richer rear milk, then his stool may be more liquid and have a green color. Therefore, it is so important that the baby drinks the rear nutritious portion of mother’s milk.

Change in stool color in children over 2 years of age

Older children no longer feed on formula or breast milk; their diet contains a lot of foods. Stool may turn green when eating foods such as:

• green vegetables and fruits;
• Red beans;
• sea ​​fish;
• red meat;
• juices, chewing gum and sweets with dyes.

However, foods are not always the source of green stool; the reason may lie in:

• helminthic infestation;
• lactase deficiency;
• allergic reaction to certain food groups;
• enterocolitis;
• infectious disease;
• taking specific medications and vitamins;
• congenital pathology of the gastrointestinal tract.

If the stool is green, but the child is cheerful, cheerful and there are no additional changes, most likely there is no cause for concern. You should be alert if you experience the following symptoms:

• temperature increase;
• chills, cold sweat;
• nausea, vomiting;
• diarrhea;
• poor appetite;
• child's lethargy and moodiness;
• abdominal pain;
• the presence of impurities of blood, mucus, pus in the stool;
• the appearance of a rash;
• bloating.

Abnormal stool color combined with blood and mucus in it indicates inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Fever, vomiting and diarrhea indicate either acute poisoning or an infectious disease.

Therefore, it is necessary to immediately consult a doctor, since the child’s body in this case begins to dehydrate, and the infection and toxins spread further.

Intestinal infections: classification

What to do if your child's stool is green

As mentioned above, if there are no additional symptoms, you can either take a wait-and-see approach or try to cancel some innovations in the diet.

If alarming symptoms are present, you should consult a pediatrician, who, in turn, can refer you to a gastroenterologist, allergist and immunologist.

In order to understand the cause of the child’s condition, it will be necessary to undergo tests:

• blood;
• urine;
• feces;
• anal swab.

In a conversation with doctors, it is necessary to talk in detail about the child’s reactions to food, his diseases (if any), and what new things the baby has tried recently.

In some cases, children undergo an ultrasound of the gastrointestinal tract; they are prohibited from undergoing other procedures such as colonoscopy and endoscopy.

Based on the test results, the doctor makes a diagnosis and prescribes treatment.

Treatment

If the child’s condition worsens, he begins to vomit and have frequent diarrhea, it is necessary to give him special solutions, for example, Regidron, before the ambulance arrives, to normalize the water-salt balance in the body. You can also give any sorbents that are available in your home medicine cabinet, for example, simple activated carbon, Polysorb or Smecta. They will absorb at least some of the toxins from the intestines.

Attention! Giving any additional medications (especially to infants) without the consent of a doctor is dangerous, because the cause of green stool and general malaise is unknown.

If a child is admitted urgently by ambulance with a diagnosis of green stool and vomiting, he can either be assigned to an infectious diseases department with closed boxes or to an intensive care ward.

Depending on each case, the following procedures can be performed:

The doctor may prescribe:

• antibiotics;
• antiviral drugs;
• absorbents;
• enzymatic agents;
• probiotics and prebiotics;
• antifungal agents;
• antibacterial drugs;
• anthelmintic drugs.

After stabilization of the child’s condition, it is necessary to organize the child’s nutrition. Breastfed babies should be put to the breast more often and given boiled water from a bottle to replenish lost fluid. The beneficial substances in mother's milk will help improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

Formula-fed babies need to choose a suitable lactose-free formula.

Children over the age of one year need to establish a gentle diet, which will include vegetable purees and soups, low-fat fermented milk products, water-based cereals, unsweetened compotes, black tea, and fruit juice.

Don’t be immediately alarmed by the appearance of green stool in your baby, because it often happens to adults, too. Monitoring the general condition of the child is the main task of parents. Then, even in the event of suspicious changes in the baby’s body, it will be possible to promptly provide assistance.

Video - A child has green stool: reasons, what to do