Archive for July, 2011

Constipation in Babies

The first bowel movement a baby experiences is within 24 hours after his arrival to the world. Many babies suffer from constipation once they are breastfed or switched to baby formula foods. Even when you start feeding the baby solid food, it may cause constipation in newborns. Constipation in infants is extremely common and may be treated easily.

Constipation is the compactness from the stools and the difficulty of passing them. Newborns pass soft stools that have consistency of a seedy mustard, when breast fed. Once the baby is fed baby foods, they’ve fewer, firm and dark stools. An infant who has been introduced to solid food diet, may pass stools once every three days or everyday.

Signs and symptoms of Constipation in Babies
You are able to understand if your baby is suffering from constipation by checking for an additional signs and symptoms of constipation in babies.
Constipation in newborn babies is visible once the baby passes firm stools under daily. Also, if the baby strains and has difficulty when passing them it means he is suffering from constipation.
If you see dry hard stools in the nappy.
If your baby draws the legs on the abdomen, gets red-faced and grunts while passing stools.
If you observe blood streaks within the stool.
Infrequent stools that is seen with abdominal discomfort.
Causes of Constipation in infants
There are many reasons for constipation in babies. Constipation in new born babies is lesser as breast milk is easily digested. They might face constipation just in case mom has consumed foods that cause constipation in her own and this gets used in the infant because of breastfeeding. Also, when the mother is producing less milk, the baby will be fed less milk, resulting in less bowel movement, which may be thought as constipation.

Infants who are fed formula milk might have constipation. Formula milk take very long time for you to be digested and certain ingredients in the food could cause constipation. Whenever a breastfed baby is introduced to solid food he maybe vulnerable to constipation. The stomachs become used to easily digested breast milk and take time to process the solid food. This slow digestion process leads to constipation in babies.

Another cause of constipation in babies is dehydration. If the baby is not getting enough fluids then the body absorbs fluids from the food eaten or even the waste in the bowels as well. This will cause hard, dry stools that are hard to pass.

Food allergies, botulism or even hypothyroidism can be a cause of constipation in babies. You need to go to the doctor and find out if you will find underlying medical conditions that are causing constipation in your baby.

Constipation in infants Home Remedies
You are able to ease the going number 2 of your babies and toddlers by using some infant constipation remedies. You should start feeding less levels of milk and increase the number of baby feeding times. This helps the kid to digest milk easily. You should boost the quantity of water intake when the baby is fed formula milk. This rise in water intake will help in better absorption in the intestines.

During a warm bath, give a stomach massage to the baby that energizes the intestines, assisting him to pass stools. You can also get your child during a bowel movement and permit gravity to assist pass the stool with ease. If the baby is straining throughout a bowel movement, lay the infant on the back and push the knees towards the chest. This helps put some pressure on the stomach and assist in a easy bowel movement.

You may also try using glycerin suppository offered at local pharmacies and instill it within the rectal vault. This helps within the bowel movement.

Constipation in infants Treatment
If your baby is suffering from constant constipation, you need to visit your pediatrician for treating your child medically. The pediatrician may recommend laxatives to treat constipation in babies. He may also recommend flax oil to be added like a natural remedies for constipation in newborns.

You might introduce strained foods containing high fiber such as apricots, prunes, peaches, plums, pears, peas, spinach within the diet of babies of 4 months to Twelve months to help relive constipation in infants.

In infants younger than 4 months, feed them one to two ounces of diluted juice like grape, prune or apple prune. You can look at other available choices as a treatment for constipation in infants with recommendation and consultation of the pediatrician. Babies resume normal bowel movement in some weeks as soon as their bodies are adjusted to the change in feeding habits.

Heart Murmur in Babies

Heart murmurs aren’t anything but abnormal sounds produced by heart. When parents notice heart murmur in their baby, they panic a lot. But they should make a note that, heart murmur in infants is extremely common in most cases isn’t a contributing factor to concern. Almost every kid experiences heart murmur once in his/her lifetime. Let’s first know very well what a heart murmur exactly is.What’s Heart Murmur in infants?
Human heart beats in a rhythmic pattern, creating a lub dub sound. This sound is generated because of the blood flowing into and from the heart. In medical terms, heart murmur can be defined as abnormal sound produced by blood, when it passes through the heart blood vessels. Normally once the blood flows through the heart vessels, it doesn’t make any noise. But sometimes, the blood circulation can make disturbing noises in which the lub dub sound is combined with some swishing sound. Many a times, heart murmur in infants is a manifestation of normal changes that take place in the blood flow of baby’s body, after its birth. These sounds could be heard by using stethoscope. Mostly, heart murmur in babies isn’t a serious problem and also the heart is within an ordinary state. In few cases, it’s really a consequence of some heart disorder. Find out more on kids health.

Do you know the Reasons for Heart Murmur in infants?
A heart murmur could be innocent (functional), congenital or heart defect. There aren’t any specific symptoms of innocent heart murmur in infants, other than unusual sound produced by the heart. But if the reason for heart murmur is of congenital type, then few serious symptoms could be observed. These include breath shortness, feeding difficulty, chest infection, etc. In 90% cases, heart murmur in infants are of functional type. Hence, parents should not panic and worry once they come across the murmur sound within their baby’s heart. Let’s check out what causes heart murmur in infants. Read more on, heart murmur in infants.

Innocent Murmuring: Innocent murmuring, is easily the most common type of hear murmur noticed in babies. This is also known as functional heart murmur and it is an indication of healthy and normal heart. This type of murmur could be noticed numerous times, throughout the childhood. There is no special treatment required for this type of heart murmur. Innocent heart murmur, since the name suggests, do not pose any threat towards the child.

Congenital Heart Murmur: This can be a rare and serious type of heart murmur, that can be a characteristic of some heart problem. One out of 100 babies can have congenital heart murmur. If the doctor finds the heart murmur is really a reason for some heart problem, then he/she may ask to do certain laboratory tests like electrocardiogram, chest X-ray or echocardiogram. The health of mom while pregnant may influence the health of the baby. If the mother experienced German measles, diabetes or if she was an alcoholic, then the risk of congenital heart murmur increases.

Common Heart Defect: Common heart defect is a result of structural disorder of a baby’s heart. Here heart murmur is a consequence of some structural problem in the heart. You will find different types of heart defects. Included in this are, valve abnormalities, cardiomyopathy and septal defects. Septal defects result from holes contained in one’s heart walls. The outlet may cause flow of extra blood to the heart, that further results into murmur. Cardiomyopathy is really a heart muscle disorder, in which the heart muscles are abnormally thick and weak, resulting into impaired functioning of the heart.

What’s the Strategy to Heart Murmur in Babies?
The therapy for heart murmur depends on the reason. Innocent or functional murmur doesn’t need any kind of treatment. If congenital or common heart defect are diagnosed after the laboratory tests, then the parents have to approach a pediatric cardiologist. With respect to the symptoms observed, the pediatric cardiologist offers the appropriate treatment, which will regulate the proper blood circulation within the heart. Medication and surgery are two main areas of the treatment.

Heart murmur in infants, is very common and it is not often a result of any serious health problem. Thus, if parents notice such symptoms within their baby, they should not worry and consult a pediatrician in the earliest to confirm the cause of the heart murmur.