Green hard stool in a child. Dark green stool: what does it mean? What to do if the contents of the diaper are green

Parents may be wary of a change in the nature of their child's stool. In particular, a lot of experiences appear due to the acquisition of a green color by a chair. In what cases is such a change in color normal, and when should the child be shown to the doctor?

Possible reasons

In infants and newborns

Various factors influence the color of a child's stool - this is the type of feeding, and the mother's diet (if the child receives breast milk), and the replacement of the mixture, and the immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract of young children. The body of a small child is not yet fully prepared to digest food - it does not have the right amount of bacteria, and the right amount of enzymes is not released.

The first stool of a newborn is green (dark green in color), it is called meconium. Such feces are very thick and are the norm for the first days of a baby's life. The green shade of the stool of the breastfed baby is also a variant of the norm.

During the period when the baby is teething, the feces can also turn green, as the baby pulls toys into his mouth and gnaws them. Bacteria that enter the intestines can cause a violation of the microflora.

The stool may be green as a result of bacteria entering the body.

The reasons for the green color of the feces of newborns and infants can also be:

Excess sugar in the diet.
Indigestion (both in the baby and in the nursing mother).
Changes in mom's diet (if the baby is breastfed) For example, not enough dairy products in the diet, eating green foods, and foods with artificial additives.
A large dosage of iron in the mixture (if the baby is bottle-fed).
Breast sucking only foremilk.
The beginning of the introduction of complementary foods.

In older children

The color of the stool in an older child may change due to the use of certain foods, indigestion, or excess sugar in food.

Other causes of green stool in older children are:

Infectious diseases with intestinal damage.
Worm infestations.
lactase deficiency.
Allergic reactions.
Enterocolitis.
Congenital diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
Taking vitamins, iodine, iron, chlorophyll and other dietary supplements.

The most common cause of green stool is the baby's diet and is not a cause for concern.

Foods that can cause dark green stools- green vegetables (onions, dill, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, broccoli), licorice, red beans, candies with dyes, fruit juices, red meat, muesli, cereals, sea fish. After eating these products, the stool may turn green within five days.

Due to the consumption of dyes, the stool can turn bright green.

Additional Symptoms for Anxiety

The appearance of blood or mucus in the stool should alert you.

Such signs should be the reason for a visit with the child to the clinic. The presence of blood and mucus in the stool may indicate an inflammatory process in the intestines. Elevated temperature, combined with abundant and frequent greenish stools, is characteristic of infectious lesions of the gastrointestinal tract. If you do not pay attention to such symptoms in time, there is a risk of dehydration of the child's body and the spread of infection.

What to do?

First you need to figure out what are the possible reasons for changing the color of the child's stool. In this case, it is more important to pay attention not to the color of the bowel movements, but to the well-being of the child. If his appetite, sleep and general condition are normal, and you are only worried about the green color of his feces, you should not worry.

If a new formula is the cause of the green color of the stool, it is recommended to replace it with another food that the baby will digest better. In cases where food, dietary supplements and food coloring are the cause of the change in stool color, nothing needs to be done. Provided that, in addition to the unusual color of feces, there are no other alarming symptoms.

Prevention

Preventive measures against green stools in young children are:

Compliance with the diet of a nursing mother.
Careful choice of artificial mixture.
Timely introduction of complementary foods.
Compliance with the diet and preventing overeating.
Careful introduction of allergenic foods into the diet.
Regular visits to the pediatrician.

Green stool in a child is a common phenomenon that causes almost all mothers to be puzzled. A change in the color and consistency of feces is characterized by several reasons. Green stools are sometimes considered normal, but in some cases, feces of this color are a sign of an illness. It is impossible to guess when a symptom is the norm, and when it is a disease, without visiting a pediatrician and taking tests. Therefore, a timely examination by a doctor will help to accurately determine the cause of problems with the baby's stool.

To understand why a child has green stools, you can use the reasons that affect color changes. There are a lot of factors, they can be divided into 2 groups: the norm and the disease. Do not immediately panic, you need to calm down and go to the doctor.

Harmless Factors Affecting Stool Color

The baby's body, along with feces, removes a special substance - bilirubin, it is he who colors the feces in a greenish color. The following factors influence the color of the stool:

The diet of a mother who feeds a newborn with breast milk.
High iron content in formula milk during artificial feeding.
The hormones in breast milk also affect the color of stools.

It is important to know that on the first day of life, green feces in a child are considered normal if there are no secretions with mucus in it.

Dangerous factors affecting the color of feces

The following symptoms should make you worry about the health of the baby.

When the first symptoms appear, you should immediately consult your doctor. The specialist will conduct an examination and give an answer to the question why the child has a green stool.

Green, frothy, foul-smelling stools.
Diarrhea in the form of liquid feces of a dark green color.
Green stools with a rotten smell.
Stool green with mucus and capricious behavior of the child.
Discharge of blood along with green stool.

A green toilet with foam indicates a nutritional deficiency in the child's body. Green feces may indicate an infectious disease. When breastfeeding, the introduction of new foods into the mother's diet will help correct the situation. It is not necessary to change the menu drastically, it is necessary to approach this issue with caution. After the introduction of a new food, you need to observe the reaction of the baby, especially his stool. If the bowel movements returned to normal and took on their usual shade (yellow, yellow-brown), then your child is fine, but it won’t hurt to go to the pediatrician.

If a newborn is fed with milk formulas, then a doctor's consultation is required so that he can recommend the ideal mixture for the child. If, when changing porridge, the stool does not return to normal, it is worth taking a stool test to identify harmful bacteria (E. coli, etc.).

If you notice that a child has gray-green stools with blood and mucus, it means that the baby has big problems with the digestive system. This happens if the mother does not monitor her diet during breastfeeding or the newborn has an infectious disease.

It is important to pay attention to some of the symptoms that may occur along with stool problems:

drowsiness and weakness, a sharp weight loss;
constipation or, conversely, diarrhea, the child's legs are pressed against the stomach;
poor appetite for any food, as well as refusal of breast milk;
coli, discomfort, slight fever, lethargy.

The age of the child affects the causes of these symptoms. For example, if children under the age of two years have such signs, then most likely it is an infection, and in a baby under the age of 3 months, such symptoms indicate problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

To determine exactly why the child has green feces, you need to take an analysis to the laboratory, and then the result of the study will give you a diagnosis.

Toilet problems in older children

The cause of green feces in children from 2 to 7 years old can be infectious diseases. Symptoms are exactly the same as in newborns. A common diagnosis at this age is intestinal dysbacteriosis. Imbalance in the body can occur for several reasons. Basically, this is malnutrition or taking antibiotics, which tend to disrupt the microflora of the young intestine, thereby causing a gray-green stool in a child. This disease can manifest itself in different ways, but the main thing is that the prescription of medications must be done by a specialist. Here is a list of the most common diseases that have green stool as a symptom:

Infectious diseases (rotavirus, etc.).
Worm infestation, diarrhea.
Allergy, congenital pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, enterocolitis.

It is possible to identify these diseases only when contacting the laboratory, therefore, when the first symptoms appear, there is no need to delay going to the clinic, otherwise it will lead to serious complications and the purchase of expensive medicines.

If the baby is not examined in time, then in the future it will lead to serious pathologies. First of all, it completely disrupts the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. If symptoms such as nausea and vomiting appear, it is imperative to go to the hospital, because such symptoms can lead the child's fragile body into a state of dehydration. If the disease is not treated, it will turn into a more complex form. In severe cases, this leads to the spread of inflammatory processes, putrefaction in the organs. It is better to visit the doctor once again and make sure that everything is fine and the child is completely healthy than to miss an important moment. This can lead to pathological changes in an underdeveloped organism.

Children of absolutely all categories and ages need to be taken to the pediatrician more often. The health of the child depends entirely on your behavior.

It can be difficult for new parents to judge the needs and well-being of a newly born little man. The body of a newborn differs in many respects from the body of an adult, and some phenomena that are quite common for a newborn cause excitement and anxiety on the part of parents. Therefore, it must immediately be said that a green stool in a baby is not always a bad sign. However, in any case, for personal peace of mind, it is better to consult a pediatrician.

Green stools can be normal in both a newborn and an older child. So, the green color is the natural color of meconium - the original feces, which is a partially altered epithelium and amniotic fluid swallowed by the child. After 3-5 days, the color of the feces changes to yellow-green, and by the age of one month to mustard. Green stools may appear as a result of changes in the intestinal flora or when new foods are included in the diet.

Green stool while breastfeeding

The stool of a breastfed infant often has a thin consistency with white lumps of curdled undigested milk. If earlier it was light brown, then there may be several reasons for the appearance of greenery.

. This is the most common cause of green stools in a newborn. Since the microflora of the digestive system of the baby is in the formative stage, it happens that instead of beneficial microbes, pathogenic or conditionally pathogenic microflora begins to multiply in it, which causes dysbacteriosis and difficulties with digestion of food, which results in the child's green stool. As soon as the balance of microorganisms returns to normal, the green stool of the child will also disappear.
Imbalance of foremilk and hindmilk. It arises in connection with the lack of fat-rich hind milk by the child due to rapid fatigue from sucking or the mother's restriction of time at the breast.
The baby's body is not yet producing enough digestive enzymes, and green stools indicate difficulty digesting nutrients.
The reaction of oxidation of the components of feces in air.
Taking certain medications. This is especially true of antibiotics that can disrupt the natural intestinal microflora.
Together with feces in infants, it can be excreted, traces of which in the feces disappear by three to four months of age.
Features of the diet of the mother of the child. So, if a mother eats a lot of green fruits and vegetables, then it is quite possible that some of the coloring substances can penetrate into mother's milk, then into the child's body and color his stool green.

Green stools with artificial feeding

Green stool can cause an increased iron content in the mixture, which, reacting with surrounding substances, gives it a green color. Therefore, when introducing the mixture, it is necessary to monitor the reaction of the child's body and, in case of deviations, inform the pediatrician, who will help you choose a more suitable option for the child. As with breastfeeding, the appearance of green stools can be observed while the child is taking certain drugs, due to imperfect production of digestive enzymes and excretion of bilirubin along with feces.

Green stools on introduction of complementary foods

Green stools can occur if the baby's digestive system is not yet ready to accept complementary foods. That is, it is quite natural if you give green vegetables or fruits as complementary foods, you will find that the baby's feces have acquired a green tint. It’s just that the child’s digestive system has not yet fully coped with the breakdown of new food for it, and it comes out partially undigested.

Green stool as a cause for concern

Green stools in and of themselves are not a cause for concern, but if there are changes in the child's behavior and stool characteristics in combination with it, a specialist should be consulted urgently. What is worth paying attention to?

poor sleep of the child and weakness;
excessive capriciousness;
the baby presses the legs to the tummy;
loss of appetite;
poor weight gain or decrease;
the appearance of vomiting;
diarrhea or constipation;
temperature rise;
skin reactions in the form of a rash, irritation;
bad breath;
bloating.

Changing the characteristics of the chair:

the appearance of foam in combination with a sharp, fetid odor;
liquid frequent bowel movements;
black-green stools with a putrid odor;
stool with mucus and deterioration in the health of the child;
green stool with blood in it.

Each of these signs serves as an alarming signal of a malfunction in the body. The admixture of blood is most often found with constipation or damage to the intestinal wall, especially if there is also mucus. The liquid and foamy consistency of the stool indicates a lack of nutrients. An unpleasant odor indicates an inflammatory process in the intestines.

Green stools in combination with the above signs of unhealthy baby can be observed with:

infectious diseases;
congenital pathologies of the digestive system;
diarrhea
helminthic invasions;
enterocolitis;
allergies;
features of artificial nutrition.

What to do if the child has green stool

Bifidumbacterin;
Lactobacterin;
Hilak Forte;
Acipol.

Important! By itself, green stools are not a cause for concern, but if, in addition to green stools, the child has other signs of illness, then an urgent need to contact the clinic.

At the same time, it is not at all necessary to give these drugs to a child who is breastfed - they can be taken by the mother. Together with the mother's milk in the amount necessary for the child, they will then enter the child's body. It would be useful to temporarily remove from all foods that can cause allergies and limit the consumption of green fruits and vegetables.

If, in addition to the green stool, other violations are observed - constipation or diarrhea, then measures must also be taken to eliminate them. With diarrhea, do not allow dehydration - let's drink water, children's tea or decoctions based on dill seeds, fennel, anise. In case of infections or pathological changes in the gastrointestinal tract, treatment in a hospital is mandatory.

Prevention measures

Limit the intake of foods that can cause allergies while breastfeeding, especially under the age of a baby under three months.
Organize breastfeeding properly so that the baby receives both foremilk and hindmilk.
Introduce complementary foods in a timely manner.
When new foods appear in the baby's diet, watch for possible manifestations of allergies.
Reception of special nutritional supplements that normalize the intestinal microflora.
Don't overeat. and
Visit your pediatrician regularly.

In contact with

Improper diet can lead to green stool for several reasons. Among them, it is worth highlighting the consumption of greens, foods rich in iron and artificial dyes in a separate group. Green feces in a child and an adult may appear as a result of eating:

green leafy crops - lettuce, dill, onion, broccoli, spinach, savoy cabbage;
black licorice;
vegetable puree as part of baby food;
fruit juices;
caramel with dyes;
cereals and muesli;
red meat and sea fish;
red beans.

Dark green stools may persist for up to five days after taking the above foods. Additives or artificial colors can give bright green stools.

In infants, green feces can persist throughout the first month of life. This is due to the adaptation period and breastfeeding. If the feces at the same time acquire an unpleasant pungent odor, and the baby's body temperature rises and appetite disappears, then an infectious disease should be suspected and medical attention should be sought.

Green feces in infants are not uncommon during teething. In this case, the formation of a shade is imprinted by excess saliva. In response, a sufficiently large amount of bile is thrown out, which can cause abdominal cramps and green feces.

In newborns, green feces may be residual effects of the discharge of original feces. But with prolonged jaundice, additional studies of liver function and should be carried out. Sometimes in infancy, thus, intestinal dysbacteriosis and intolerance to milk protein are manifested.

What causes green stool in an adult?

In the vast majority of cases, the green color of adult stool comes from the numerous nutritional supplements that we like to take without consulting our doctor first. Many of them can be harmful to health. But most dietary supplements simply cause various side effects. Green stools may appear if you are taking:

iron supplements;
herbal laxatives;
seaweed and chlorophyll;
vitamins and minerals;
iodine preparations;
sorbitol and fructose.

Pathological causes of green feces in children and adults

If we exclude the alimentary factor, then there are a number of other reasons for the appearance of green stools. These factors may be associated with disorders of the intestines and other related organs and systems.

It is worth knowing that in its natural form, in which bile is secreted from the cavity of the gallbladder, it has a rich green color. When passing through the intestines, it gradually changes its color, taking on a dark brown color. If the bile passes too quickly, then it retains its original color and stains the feces with a green color.

This may help;

food poisoning;
lamblia;
salmonellosis;
rotavirus infection;
intolerance to lactose, fructose;
malabsorption syndrome;
celiac disease;
Crohn's disease;
thyrotoxicosis - an increased level of the hormone thyroxine in the blood, usually due to an autoimmune thyroid disease;
violation of intestinal innervation in diabetes mellitus;
violation of the process of absorption of bile acids in the small intestine;
inflammation of the small intestine, mainly due to Crohn's disease;
surgical removal of the ileum.

You should consult a doctor if green stools are accompanied by severe pain along the large and small intestines. If the body temperature rises and vomiting occurs. If green stools are observed for more than five days.

You should be checked for dysbacteriosis, carriage of shigella and.

What to do if you have green stools?

Green bowel movements due to food eaten or medications and nutritional supplements taken are normal and do not require any action. In all other cases, especially if symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, constipation, weight loss or general malaise are present, you should see a doctor because you may have a serious illness.

Nature has endowed the human body with an amazing feature - to independently control the work of all systems and organs, to visually report any malfunctions, manifested by skin rashes, or through natural waste. After all, it is not in vain that, with any disease, diagnosis begins with a study of urine and stool tests.

The color, texture and smell of feces are one of the main indicators of pathological changes in the body.

A kind of indicator that reflects the work of the gastrointestinal tract, liver and gallbladder is green feces in humans. It is the inflammatory processes in the digestive system that are characteristic of such a manifestation.

Causes of green stool in adults

The main role in changing the usual color of feces is played by bilirubin fat-soluble compounds that are part of the main structure of bile and penetrate into the gastrointestinal tract along with it.

Green stool in an adult

At the normal speed of food moving through the intestinal tract, bilirubin is oxidized, it pigments and turns the feces brown.

If the digestion process is disturbed or the processed food moves too quickly through the intestinal tract, bilirubin that has not had time to oxidize comes out in a natural, non-oxidized form, giving the feces a green color.

Several factors can provoke the cause of the manifestation of green feces in an adult. Among the main causes are iron-containing foods and medications containing an inorganic iron compound.

green vegetables, leafy salads, fruits and juices from them;
red varieties of fish and meat;
red bean varieties;
foods and drinks containing food coloring;
sweets based on licorice syrup;
iron supplements;
medicinal preparations based on seaweed;
multivitamin complexes;
preparations for iodine deficiency, sugar substitutes.

Pathogenic factors

In addition to products and drugs, the manifestation of green feces in an adult is also affected by pathological disorders in the gastrointestinal tract due to:

The development of inflammatory processes in the gastrointestinal tract causes a massive death of leukocytes, which give a green color to the feces. This process is accompanied by:

a sharp pain symptom in the peritoneum;
diarrhea
green mucus in the feces with purulent inclusions;

Green mucus in the feces is provoked by many factors, let's pay attention to the main ones:

1) Various intestinal infections in many cases are accompanied by mucus with a hint of green. Fermentation bacterial flora, feeding on carbohydrates, develops fermentation and putrefactive processes in the intestines. This disrupts the function of the intestinal mucosa and causes increased secretion of intestinal mucus.

2) IBS - is characterized by a symptom-complex of functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. For a month, mucus in the feces can be noted, among many pathological symptoms. Fever and fever provoke a change in the color of feces.

3) In medicine, three types of hemorrhoids are noted with the formation of a unique mucus with a touch of green that accumulates around the anus.

4) Tumor neoplasms in the intestines of the first degree and accumulation, can manifest themselves as yellow or greenish discharge from the anus with mucus clots.

5) Contribute to the formation of this pathology - congenital intestinal fermentopathy or hereditary pathologies of the structure of the upper inner lining of the jejunum.

6) Congenital intolerance to the protein components of gluten (celiac disease) and milk sugar.

7) Hernial protrusions of the intestinal walls, provoking stagnation of food.

8) Gene mutation. Manifested by the development of atrophy of the glandular layer of the intestinal walls and the development of progressive fibrosis (cystic fibrosis). Due to the release of thick viscous mucus, greenish feces are formed, sometimes gray-green feces.

Causes of dark green stool and symptoms of diseases

Such a symptom is a harbinger of problems in the body, a sure evidence of infectious processes in the intestines. It is often a symptom of the initial form of dysentery.

Manifested by loose stools, pain in the abdomen, fever and impaired thermoregulation (temperature), followed by the addition of clinical infectious symptoms.

The darkening of green stools is preceded by small, chronic forms of bleeding, provoked by malignant tumors in the gastrointestinal tract or ulcerative pathologies. They contribute to the incomplete oxidation of iron compounds in the intestine, which gives the feces a dark green hue.

Dark green stools of a normal structure can manifest themselves due to the development of various pathological changes in the liver that reduce its functionality (fibrosis, hepatosis, etc.). This is due to the lack of formation of red blood cells due to the breakdown of their main component - iron-containing proteins (hemoglobin).

If the liver fails to timely utilize decayed proteins, it throws them into the duodenum, where iron compounds can be oxidized completely or partially, forming dark green feces.

Such a pathology is also noted with a combination of bleeding processes in the upper gastrointestinal tract with an acute form of dysbacteriosis, which provoke an incomplete amount of food processing, accompanied by its fermentation and purulent decay of food elements in the intestines.

Yellow-green feces: formation processes

The inconsistency of the processes of regulation of absorption and digestion of carbohydrates from the fibers and the connective tissue membrane of plant foods leads to functional disorders in the jejunum and pancreas.

Their enzymes do not cope with their duties, as a result of which a syndrome of fermentative dyspepsia develops with the formation of yellow-green feces.

This coloration of feces in breastfeeding children is considered the norm. In older children, feces acquire a yellow-green color when the child's diet is not appropriate for his age.

Or when eating too much food with which the still insolvent gastrointestinal system is unable to cope, while the structure of the feces changes, it becomes watery, frothy or mushy, covered with mucus.

Green feces in a child

Green feces in a child has its own characteristics of manifestation. In many cases, it is not considered a sign of pathology. In infants of the first, adaptive, month of life, feces of this color are the physiological norm due to the baby's addiction to breast milk.

In another case, when the child is artificial, violations in the color scheme of children's feces can be caused by milk mixtures. At the same time, both the consistency and the smell of feces change.

During the feeding period, careful monitoring of what the child eats, in what quantity, and what medications are attributed to him is necessary.

A greenish tint to the stool is very common when a child's teeth begin to erupt.

During this period, intense salivation in response causes a large release of bile into the stomach, affecting the shade and color of the feces. May be accompanied by colic and painful cramps in the baby's tummy. With the growth of the child, the number of provocative factors that cause the green color of feces increases.

For the most part, they are similar to the reasons inherent in adults. Green stools and a sharp deterioration in the child's condition require immediate diagnosis to determine the cause and appropriate treatment.

The reaction of the body in children can manifest itself as a serious problem - dehydration, since such changes are almost always accompanied by frequent diarrhea. It could be anything:

salmonellosis or dysentery;
escherihoses, lactase deficiency;
or intestinal dysbiosis.

Such pathologies can be suspected when mucous formations are detected in the feces. It is necessary to pay special attention to this in order to detect the disease in time.

What to do if green stool appears?

With a similar symptom, the first thing to do is to identify the cause. If you feel normal, there are no negative changes in the body, you should adjust the diet and exclude possible provocative medications.

If this applies to infants, the diet should be reviewed by mommy. Over time, the chair should improve.

If there are any symptoms that cause discomfort and deterioration in general well-being, manifested by: severe pain, weakness, fever and fever, gas accumulations in the intestines or mucus in the feces, an urgent visit to the doctor is necessary.

Only after a thorough diagnosis, the doctor will be able to determine the cause of the disease and draw up an effective treatment plan.