A newborn baby makes his entrance into the world with immature bodily systems. As your child begins his outside life, he'll eat, cry and need diaper changes as you would expect. New parents are not always prepared for the bumps in the road that come long with having a new baby--including tummy troubles. Most young infants experience gastrointestinal problems of one sort or another, many of which are transient and easily remedied.
Spitting Up
Spitting up is a common stomach problem that newborns experience, according to Children's Hospital in Boston. Minor spitting up or reflux after a feeding is generally not cause for alarm in small infants; the regurgitation is most likely due to a immature lower esophageal sphincter, or LES. The LES is the muscle at the base of the esophagus that separates the esophagus and the stomach. A newborn baby's LES may be slow to mature, and does not yet seal of the stomach effectively, letting milk, formula or stomach acids back up. Severe cases of reflux may require medications.
Projectile vomiting can be due to a condition called pyloric stenosis, according to the American College of Gastroenterology. Stenosis means "narrowing" and the pylorus is the bottom section of the stomach. If your baby has pyloric stenosis, food cannot progress through the small intestine and is regurgitated. The condition is treated with surgery.
Diarrhea
Like older children and adults, newborns can also suffer from diarrhea. After the first few days of life, a newborn's stools are no longer thick and sticky, but tend toward pasty or soft in consistency. Viruses, lactose intolerance or non-specific stomach upset can cause a young baby to have watery stools. Boston's Children's Hospital explains that a newborn baby can become dehydrated very quickly during a boat of diarrhea, and should be treated by a pediatrician as soon as possible.
Constipation
The hard stools or infrequent passing of stool that is constipation can affect a newborn, though this gastrointestinal ailment is not as common in newborns as in older children. The Louisiana State University's Comprehensive Care Clinic explains that constipation in infants is most often due to structural or congenital defects in which the colon is malformed, or the nerves in the colon do not stimulate the bowels to excrete waste. MayoClinic.com reports that babies who are born with Hirschsprung's disease may require surgical removal of the affected area of the gastrointestinal tract as part of treatment.
Gas
Gastrointestinal complaints in newborns include gas, and many medical experts, including those at Children's Hospital and Louisiana State University, associated gas as a possible cause or effect of colic. Colic in newborns can be a distressing situation for new parents, a time during which their babies cry for hours at a time and are seemingly inconsolable. Whether the cause for crying is gas pains, or if babies develop gas from swallowing air as they cry, can be debated. Your pediatrician may recommend simethicone drops to promote easier passage of a newborn's gas.
References
- Children's Hospital Boston: Newborn Gastrointestinal Problems
- American College of Gastroenterology: Common Gastrointestinal Problems in Pediatric Patients
- Louisiana State University Comprehensive Care Clinic: Common GI Problems of Infants and Children
- MayoClinic.com: Hirschpsrung's Disease
- KidsHealth From Nemours: Pyloric Stenosis
