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What Causes Dark And Painful Stool In An Infant?
Hi. My 6-7 month boy is on Formula S26 no.2 and is having dark grey stools which sometimes are very hard, and sometimes painful. I feed him banana purity food no. 1 during the day. Could this be causing the dark grey stools or is there something else to worry about. He doesn t have a fever, diarreha or anything that I can see wrong with him.
Tue, 21 Apr 2020
Hi,
How long he is having this problem?
Constipation can make stool hard and dark coloured. In this case, treating constipation will take this back to normal.
For such cases, i used to give bisacodyl suppository once to relieve rectum, and advise parents to give fibre rich items like oats,vegetable mix and fruit juice. Most babies will respond to this, otherwise needing a short course of laxatives. In later case, we should rule out hypothyroidism too. Your doctor will guide in this.
If his stool is persistently grey even after relieving constipation, urine is yellow or if there is jaundice, let us get his serum bilirubin done to rule out obstruction to bile flow.
Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Muhammed Aslam T. K., Pediatrician
How long he is having this problem?
Constipation can make stool hard and dark coloured. In this case, treating constipation will take this back to normal.
For such cases, i used to give bisacodyl suppository once to relieve rectum, and advise parents to give fibre rich items like oats,vegetable mix and fruit juice. Most babies will respond to this, otherwise needing a short course of laxatives. In later case, we should rule out hypothyroidism too. Your doctor will guide in this.
If his stool is persistently grey even after relieving constipation, urine is yellow or if there is jaundice, let us get his serum bilirubin done to rule out obstruction to bile flow.
Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Muhammed Aslam T. K., Pediatrician
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