1 Dependence of color on food

Without cause, the color of feces in crumbs will not change. If the baby has a white chair, but feels well, he does not have fever, does not have a stomach ache, there are no complaints, you do not need to panic and stuff him with medications. You just need to wait a couple of days. Very often white stools become normal again by themselves.

Just parents need to think about whether they are feeding their child correctly.

There are many reasons why feces can change color, but the main one is the presence of stercobilin in them. It is he who imparts a shade to feces.

Each age has its own peculiarities, when it is not necessary to panic because of the appearance of a light chair. In a nursing baby, stools are always light, or rather light yellow, with a sour smell, which indicates breastfeeding. Also, infants can sometimes have white diarrhea. It can be during the teething, and can depend on the mixtures that feed the crumbs.

For babies up to a year in the absence of complementary foodsthey are breastfed) feces usually light yellow and liquid. For babies, such bowel movements are considered normal. But if they become almost colorless, you need to inform the pediatrician about it.

Feces can change color for several reasons. If the baby is transferred to artificial feeding, the color of his feces changes. If the baby is fed only breast milk, the reason for the appearance of a light chair lies in what the mother ate the day before.

In children after a year, stool color may depend on the foods they ate. So, the use of beets makes the feces red, meat products - dark brown, carrots - orange. Admission of fatty dairy products - home-made sour cream, milk, cream, cottage cheese - will make the stools light yellow.

The same color will have feces if the baby eats a lot of sweet.

If after all the eaten the baby feels well, he does not have a stomach ache and normal temperature, do not worry, you need to observe the excrement within 2-3 days. After changing the menu, this symptom disappears.

When a young mother discovers a white stool from her child, the first thought comes to her that it is hepatitis. It is these feces that are the main symptom of this serious disease. But it must be remembered that in case of hepatitis, in addition to white stool, the color and urine should change( become dark yellow or brown). Also the child should have other signs: yellowing of the eyes and skin proteins, bloated stomach and pain, lack of appetite, fever, nausea. If there is nothing of this, then the reason is in something else. But it's better to be safe and see a doctor, because hepatitis is a dangerous disease. If it is not detected on time, it becomes chronic. A person with hepatitis is dangerous to others, because the disease is contagious.

2 Causes of the phenomenon

Physicians identify several reasons why stools in babies can change color and turn white. In addition to the already mentioned hepatitis there are several other factors affecting the color of children's excrement.

Rotavirus infection. It begins with the appearance of weakness, accompanied by pain in the abdomen, nausea, vomiting, sweating, fever, and possible diarrhea in the child.

After 2 days from the time of infection the stool becomes white, intoxication takes place. A change in the color of stool is a protective reaction of the body. Sometimes it happens that the feces turn white after the illness. So the body reacts to the medicines that the child treated.

Another cause of white stools can be stagnation of bile. After all, the brown feces becomes due to the enzyme secreted with bile. With a strong stasis of bile, the color of the bowel movement becomes white. This happens when anatomical abnormalities associated with the gall bladder - its twisting or bending, which is equally dangerous.

Bend of the gallbladder can also occur when lifting weights by the child, with prolonged stress, eating disorders, cholecystitis.

Inflammation of the pancreas can also cause discoloration of the stool. In this case, there are severe acute pain in the left hypochondrium.

Too fatty food can also become a reason for failure of the gastrointestinal tract, which will be expressed as light feces. The child's body can not absorb a large amount of fat, especially if the food is cooked in oil.

If the food contains a lot of calcium, feces can also change color and even consistency. Therefore, the child's nutrition should be given due attention.

Some medicines can change the color of feces. Antibiotics, which are administered intramuscularly, discolour feces. After a long reception of antibiotics in children, there may be a dysbacteriosis - a change in the microflora of the stomach and intestines with the predominance of pathogenic bacteria. This is another reason for the formation of light faeces. This condition is manifested by constipation, diarrhea, the formation of a light stool with mucus, loss of appetite, restless sleep, weight loss. When these symptoms occur, you should not engage in self-medication, you should consult a gastroenterologist.

Drugs such as Paracetamol, Laspal, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Diclofenac cause a discoloration of the stool. If there is a side reaction to the drugs used, you should notify the attending physician about this in order to avoid complications from the liver and gastrointestinal tract.

Light diarrhea can appear even in the period when the teeth are cut. The karapuz during this period is capricious and does not sleep well, fever, has swollen and reddened gums, reduced or lacks appetite. In this case, you need to be patient and wait for the appearance of teeth.

To relieve the condition, it is necessary to give the child an anesthetic. When the teeth break through, the child's diarrhea will stop and the stool will become normal.

But most often the discoloration of feces and their consistency is the result of malnutrition.

3 When should I go to the doctor?

The chair does not always become normal in itself.

If other symptoms are added to the white stool, you should seek medical help.

These symptoms include:

1. Dark color of urine, which may indicate hepatitis.
2. White diarrhea. Frequent( more than 10 times a day) and white diarrhea can cause dehydration of the body, and for children this is dangerous.
3. If pain medication does not help to get rid of abdominal pain.
4. Together with diarrhea, nausea and vomiting are present, which is a great danger.
5. Body temperature is 38 ° C or more.
6. Malady and weakness when the baby is lying down and does not even want to move.
7. There is a constant desire to drink.

If you have the above symptoms, you should immediately contact a doctor who will put the correct diagnosis and help the child.

A white chair can be not only in children, but also in adults. The cause of a white stool in an adult is a violation of the intake of bile in the intestine. This disorder can be caused by hepatitis, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, dyskinesia of bile ducts, bending of the gallbladder.

With cholecystitis, in addition to light feces, painful sensations in the epigastric region may be of concern, especially after taking an acute or fatty. In addition, nausea, vomiting, and lack of appetite may be present.

The disease can appear as a complication after a disease - angina, flu or gastritis. Often cholecystitis occurs due to excessive entrainment of fried and excessively fatty foods in combination with a sedentary lifestyle, neglect of fruits and vegetables.

When an exacerbation of Whipple's disease, which often affects adult men, there is also a light diarrhea with splashes of blood. This disease is extremely rare, but it manifests itself quite acutely. Simultaneously with diarrhea, these patients are diagnosed with lymph node enlargement, polyarthritis, anemia.