When babies are very young, since the moment that they are born and until they are about 3 or 4 months of age, they may suffer from colic, which means that they will cry with stomach discomfort and pain about three hours a day.
Causes of Digestion Problems in Children
Doctors do not know exactly what determines the colic yet, because there are several explanations. Among them there is the idea that the colic is caused by the adjustments that the baby has to make in order to accommodate with his new stage of life. Crying is the major means of communication until the child is able to talk about the difficulties that he or she has. Until then, children use crying to signal that they have problems which aren’t taken care of yet.
Adopting to Their new Feeding State
Once the baby is born, he begins to be fed differently, when compared with the food that he has gotten for nine months in his mother’s womb. Some specialists believe that the colic is the result of the adjustment to the new food, causing the children to cry because of the gas in their stomachs. Colic may also be caused by a milk allergy, when the baby cannot tolerate a certain milk formula.
Dealing with Colic Discomfort
According to Louis Kraml, Idaho Hospital CEO, colic is usually diagnosed when the children, otherwise behaving normally, start crying during the evenings, from about 6 PM and up to 10 PM. Of course, colics are very frustrating for the parents, who do not know how to help their children feel better and stop crying.
Babies can be walked, caressed gently on their tummies, put on their bellies or simply taken for a car ride, which can distract their attention from pain.
Other digestive problems include diarrhea, which is diagnosed when the kid has a watery stool, or at least stools that are more often compared to the normal. Diarrhea may last for several days, or even for several weeks if it is chronic.
Diarrhea is usually caused by a bacteria, viruses, food intolerance, parasites, or may appear as a side effect when another medicine is prescribed.
Diarrhea Symptoms in Kids
A kid with diarrhea will experience cramps, pain in the stomach area, bloating, will feel nausea, will often use the bathroom, may vomit, have high fever and even blood in the stool. The diarrhea is considered a severe one when the kid starts losing weight and becomes dehydrated, is thirsty all the time. The doctors will usually prescribe a treatment consisting of antibiotics and other medication that helps replace the lost fluids in the child’s organism.
Kids and Food Allergies
Kids may also present food allergies, which are defined as abnormal responses of the organism to certain types of food. Kids may have allergies to milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, soy and many others.
When the allergy is manifested, the kid will experience itching, asthma, trouble breathing, pain in the stomach and diarrhea. Sometimes these allergy cannot be treated completely, so the wisest decision is to avoid eating or having direct contact with the factors that determine the allergy.
When the allergy is present, there is medication that the doctor can prescribe in order to help the child cope with the symptoms. Food allergies may disappear once the kid grows older, and the doctor may prescribe small portions of the food that has once determined the allergy, in order to see if the kid has outgrown it or not.
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