Have you taken some time to observe the bowel habits of your child? They can speak a lot about their internal body processes. They can tell you more about their general health status. Some symptoms that include anxiety, poor memory, seizures, or migraines might point at a problem in the gastrointestinal tract. Fecal matter is a waste product that should be completely excreted from the body. Here are a few symptoms that you should look out for:

  1. Constipation

This is when a child has difficulty in passing stool. You might observe this if they take abnormally long in the washroom- if they have not carried any reading materials that might keep them busy. If you also observe pellet shapes stools or they have a feeling of not completely emptying their bowels.

This might be a cause of food reaction such as lactate or gluten intolerance. The indigestible food products might cause the constipation. This might also be caused by eating a lot of unprocessed grains in their diet. Also a child who has chronic stress might have a shutdown of the digestive system causing constipation. They might also be having a deficiency in the useful bacteria in their stomachs that aid in the digestion of foods.

What to do:-

You can increase their intake of processed grains. Weetabix ensures that your child passes stool properly as digestion is improved. You might also consider removing some foods from their diet if you think that they are causing the reactions, e.g. wheat or dairy products. I would also recommend that you increase the amount of greens in their food e.g. kales. With the advice of your physician you might also want to give them probiotics that increase the amount of beneficial bacteria in your stomach.

(b) Undigested food in stool

This is when you check your child’s stool and find food substances from the previous meal. The food materials might be in their original state or slightly digested. Digestion begins in the mouth when food is chewed.  This might be because you child feeds when in a hurry such as in the morning on their way to school or during bedtime. That means that they do not completely chew their food. They might also have a deficiency of the digestive juices in their stomach, leading to incomplete digestion of their food.

What to do:-

Creating a proper schedule for meal times at home is essential. Thus, let your child eat their food in peace and chewing all the components properly. It also encourages family bonding as there is time set aside for togetherness. You can also give them gentle bitter tonic with the advice of your physician. It encourages the production of gastric juices for digestion.

(c)Floating poop

Have you ever tried to flash your child’s stool over two times and it still floats or sticks in the toilet bowl. They might be having fat remnants in their stool. This might be due to intake of too much fat in their diet or incomplete digestion of the fats. This might be due to inadequate production of bile salts from the gall bladder.

What to do:-

You might need to give them some organic dandelion root tea. This will improve the fat digestion for them and poop will not float anymore!

Lots of Love,

Ruguru Kimani!