1 The first feces of the newborn

After birth, the state of the baby's health is assessed not only by external signs. A lot can tell the state of feces. Its consistency, smell and color are a sign of how the newborn's digestive system works.

During the first hours of their lives, the child releases meconium. This is the first discharge that the intestines produce after intrauterine processing of prenatal hair, intestinal epithelial cells, prenatal hair, mucus and the like. The appearance of meconium is green or has a greenish-brown hue.3-4 days after birth, the baby has a transitional chair of olive color. In the feces you can see lumps of curdled milk.

According to the norm in a child who is breastfed or artificial feeding, the color of stool must be from yellow to brown. If you change the color of the stool to green or some other color, the parents must determine all possible causes of it. In the event that there is no logical explanation for the child's health, parents should bring the child to the hospital for further examination.

2 The first year of a child's life

A green chair in a child in the first year of life is not always a cause for anxiety. The food of the baby is the breast milk of the mother, which can change the color of the stool, as well as its consistency. The diet of a nursing woman should include enough vitamins and essential microelements. When a nursing mother abuses this or that product, it affects the baby's not yet fully developed digestive system.

When the child is 1 month old, his feces with normal functioning of the intestine should already be yellow. If this is not the case, but the baby feels normal and there are no other signs of the development of the pathological process, the solution can be covered in the hormones that are contained in the mother's milk. Their level can fluctuate for no apparent reason.

Feces can turn green as a result of the oxidative process due to a lack of enzymes produced by the liver.

In addition, the intestine of a month-old baby is not yet populated with enough bacteria necessary for its proper functioning.

Low-fat milk, used by the child, also stains green feces. In addition, such milk makes the bowel movements liquid.

The older the baby, the easier it is for him to perceive new food. You can not accurately foresee how long a woman will have breast milk and she can feed her baby. When a child is 2 months old, in the absence of pathologies, the color discoloration can occur due to the transition from breastfeeding to artificial mixtures. Parents should be prepared for the fact that not all baby food is the same. The likelihood of experimenting with the selection of a child's mixture, that is, changing the mixture until there is the most optimal option, is quite high. The same can be observed in a three-month-old child. In addition to green feces, the infant may experience symptoms such as bloating or colic. In children who do not consume mother's milk, feces of green color, with its normal consistency and corresponding odor, can result from incomplete digestion of iron( which is contained in the mixtures) by the intestine.

3 Pathology

To understand why a child has a green chair is not easy, especially when he does not yet know how to speak or express his thoughts fully. Therefore, parents should always monitor the physiological changes in their baby and, if necessary, seek help from a pediatrician.

A sign of pathology in children under the age of one is not only a discoloration of the stool. The general condition of the baby is a good indicator of his well-being. If a child becomes moody and sluggish, refuses food or has a fever, these are all symptoms of the fact that the baby feels bad.

Symptoms indicating a hazard:

• a frothy green stool that exudes a fetid odor;
• liquid green stool with frequent urges to the defecation process;
• greenish-black feces having a putrefactive odor;
• mucus in the feces of green;
• impurities in the blood in stool;
• worsening the general condition of the baby.

In most cases, a liquid frothy stool in children 3 months and older indicates a deficiency of nutrients in the body. The reason for this is low-fat milk. But with this problem, only the color and consistency of feces change, not the smell. In the event that, in addition to the above changes, the feces of the child exude the fetid smell, it is necessary to contact the doctor. This symptom can cause inflammation in the digestive system. It is possible that the child has a damage to the intestinal mucosa, which can lead to suppuration. As a rule, if the intestinal integrity is violated in the feces, one can notice an admixture of blood and mucus.

4 Children over the age of one year

If, at three months, the green feces in the child in most cases indicate a process of digestive system disorders, in children aged 1 year or more this symptom most often characterizes the presence of an infectious disease.

Other factors provoking a change in color of feces into green:

• congenital abnormalities of the digestive system;
• infectious diseases;
• disruption of the endocrine system or immune pathology;
• colitis;
• lactose deficiency;
• is a staphylococcal infection;
• weak immunity;
• helminthic invasion;
• taking certain medicines;
• is an allergy.

It should be understood that a green chair, no matter how old the child is, should have a logical explanation of its origin. On its basis, appropriate measures will be taken.

5 First aid

All parents should know what to do if the child has a liquid green stool with an unpleasant odor. Knowing the information that can cause the cause of the green stool, you can provide timely help and thereby prevent the worst consequences.

With all the signs indicating that the green stool was provoked by more serious factors than the incorrectly selected mixture or the introduction of a new product into lure, the child needs to pass a number of tests. Help the baby can be provided only after the exact cause of such a violation of the digestive process has been established.

The study will require an analysis of the feces of the child. With the help of laboratory studies, the state of the intestinal microflora is established and the composition of feces is revealed, which provoked a change in color. During the diagnosis all nuances are taken into account( consistency of stool, homogeneity, presence of impurities, frequency of defecation, etc.).

According to the received data, a treatment plan will be drawn up. For example, if a child has been diagnosed with dysbacteriosis, special nutritional supplements containing prebiotics and probiotics are prescribed for his treatment. In more serious circumstances, when a baby is diagnosed with an infection or pathology of the gastrointestinal tract, treatment is performed in a hospital environment under the constant supervision of doctors. To make attempts to self-treatment, especially in children of the first year of life, is strictly prohibited.

If parents doubt the correctness of their reasoning about the cause of green feces, they should contact the doctor with this problem. It is better to visit a doctor once again and make sure that everything is in order, than to miss the key moment and lead to pathological changes in a small organism.