How do parents know if their babies are fed properly and if their digestion is normal? The frequency and texture of baby’s stools often reflect the condition of their digestive function. Parents who pay attention to the observation of the texture, color and frequency of baby’s stools, and correctly identify normal and abnormal stools, can help to detect the abnormalities of the baby’s digestive tract at an early stage, and provide valuable clues for diagnosis of diseases. Usually, the stools of babies in the first few days of life are uniform, dark green and sticky, and become too stools (normal phenomenon). Babies who are fed mother’s milk within the first month of life tend to have yellow stools, which change from yellow to yellow-green or green as they get older. By the age of 5 months, most of the stools are yellowish-green or greenish. However, babies fed infant formula, especially whey protein and iron-enriched formula, tend to have green stools. After babies add food, the feces will gradually turn brown. The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Pediatrics Feng Bin Breastfeeding baby stool is more diluted, delicate, golden yellow color, slightly sour taste, no foam, 3-8 times a day; breastfeeding children stool is yellow or golden yellow, uniform as ointment-like, but no odor, stool more often, generally 2 to 4 times a day, some as many as 7-8 times, which is called physiological diarrhea. Parents do not have to worry, this is a normal phenomenon, to children grow to a certain period of this diarrhea will automatically disappear. Ordinary formula-fed babies, generally speaking, easy to dry stools, the color of egg yolk, slightly foul-smelling, more than human milk-fed babies stool, defecation less often, 1-3 times a day. However, if you choose a baby formula containing prebiotics, the baby’s stool will be closer to the shape of breast milk stool. A normal stool 1, fetal stool fetal stool is mainly composed of water, accounting for about 72%, by the fetal intestinal shedding of epithelial cells, bile, concentrated digestive juices and swallowed amniotic fluid composed of a few hours after birth (generally within 10 hours) the first discharge of fetal feces, dark green, a little shiny, very much like the summer pavement by the sun melted tar, no odor, after eating 2-3 days of gradual transition to the baby normal The feces of breastfed children are dark green and a little bright, like the tar that dissolves on the road in the summer sun. Breastfed children’s feces are golden yellow in color, mostly in the form of uniform paste, with occasional tiny milk clots and a sour smell, 2-3 times a day. Even if the stools reach 3-5 times a day, but the stools do not contain much water and are in the form of paste, they can be considered normal. 3, artificially fed children’s feces with cow’s milk (including powdered milk), goat’s milk fed babies, feces are light yellow, mostly formed, containing more milk clots, alkaline or neutral, more, smelly, 1-2 times a day. 4, mixed feeding children feces breastfeeding plus cow’s milk feces and cow’s milk feeders similar, but more yellow, soft. After adding cereals, eggs, meat, vegetables and other complementary foods, the fecal character is close to that of adults, once a day. 5, some infants and young children stool more often but the amount of less, and more green mucus. Among them, there are fewer milk petals, indicating that the child’s food intake is too large, and the amount of milk should be gradually reduced. There are also reduce the amount of milk is still diarrhea, this may be hungry diarrhea, should be appropriate to increase the amount of milk. 6, with milk-fed children if the stool is too hard, odor, indicating that the amount of milk fed too much, less sugar, should be added to the milk some sugar; such as sugar excess, the baby stool with foam, more dilute yellow, acidic taste, should be appropriate to reduce the amount of sugar, increase the amount of milk. II Abnormal stools Without changing the amount and type of food, if the baby’s stools suddenly increase in frequency, are egg-shaped, have a lot of water, have a fishy odor, or have mucus, pus or blood in the stools, then it is an abnormal stool and should be seen by a doctor promptly. A small amount of abnormal stool should be kept and brought to the hospital for laboratory tests to assist treatment. 1. Foamy stools When eating too much starchy or sugary food, the food in the intestinal lumen can increase fermentation, resulting in dark brown watery stools with foam. 2, the strange smell of the stool when eating too much protein-containing food, these proteins can neutralize the stomach acid in the stomach, which reduces the acidity of the gastric juice, so that the protein can not be adequately digested and absorbed, coupled with the decomposition of the bacteria in the intestinal lumen of the metabolism, these babies are often the strange smell of the stool. 3, shiny stool when eating too much fat, in the intestinal lumen will produce too many fatty acids to stimulate the intestinal mucosa, so that intestinal peristalsis increased, the result is the production of yellowish liquid and the amount of stools, sometimes shiny stools, and even can be sliding in the potty. 4, green stool if the stool is green, stool volume is small, mucus, is hungry diarrhea. In addition, some children who eat formula milk, discharged feces is dark green, the reason is that the general formula milk are added to a certain amount of iron, these iron through the digestive tract, and after contact with the air, it is presented as dark green. 5, eggdrop soup-like stool viral enteritis and pathogenic E. coli enteritis of small patients often appear eggdrop soup-like stool. 6, tofu scum-like stools are often seen in mycobacteria caused by enteritis. 7, watery stools are often seen in food poisoning and acute enteritis. 8, gray-white stools due to various causes of biliary tract obstruction patients will discharge gray-white stools. In medicine, it is called clay-colored stool. In addition, eating too much milk or too little sugar, fatty acids and food minerals in calcium and magnesium combination, the formation of fat soap, feces can also be grayish-white, hard, and accompanied by a foul smell. 9, tar-like stool due to the upper gastrointestinal tract or small intestinal bleeding and stay in the intestines for a long time, due to the destruction of red blood cells, hemoglobin in the intestinal tract and sulfide combined with the formation of ferrous sulfide, so the feces is black; and because of ferrous sulfide stimulate intestinal mucous membrane secretion of mucus, and make the feces black and shiny, so it is known as tar-like feces, most commonly found in gastric and duodenal ulceration, chronic gastritis caused by bleeding. Normal people eat animal blood, pig liver and other iron-containing food can also make the feces black, and taking bismuth, charcoal powder and some Chinese medicines and other drugs will also make the feces black, but generally gray-black color without luster, do a negative occult blood test can help identify. 10, bright red blood stool blood color bright red not mixed with feces, only adhering to the fecal surface or after defecation, blood drops or jets, suggesting that anal or anal canal diseases, such as hemorrhoids, anal fissure, intestinal polyps and rectal tumors caused by bleeding. 11, jam-like stool dark red jam-like stool is seen in intussusception; dark red jam-like pus and blood stool is seen in amoebic dysentery. 12.Mucopurulent blood stool is commonly seen in bacillary dysentery, Campylobacter jejuni enteritis. 13, wash meat water-like blood stool and have a special fishy odor seen in acute hemorrhagic necrotizing enteritis.