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Constipation%20in%20children Signs and Symptoms
Introduction
- A delay or difficulty in bowel movement persisting for ≥2 weeks causing significant distress
- A common digestive problem, not a disease, and usually not serious
- Constipation in children generally 1st occurs in the toddler stage, between ages 2 and 4 years, with studies showing variation in gender-specific prevalence
Etiology
- Factors that may cause constipation:
- Pain
- Dehydration
- Psychological issues (eg depression, attention-deficit disorder, sexual abuse)
- Toilet training
- Fever
- Dietary and fluid intake
- Cow’s milk protein allergy
- Medicines (eg opioids, antidepressants, anticholinergics)
- Family history of constipation
- Withholding that may result from ignoring the urge to defecate due to toilet phobia, being too busy, toilet unavailability, and pain from bowel movement
- Changes in routine (eg travel, stress, hot weather)
- Medical conditions (eg intestinal, rectal or anal, metabolic or endocrine diseases)
Signs and Symptoms
- Absence of bowel movement for several days (may be normal in breastfed infants)
- Encopresis - soiling of undergarments due to the involuntary leakage of feces
- Large, hard, and dry stools or frequent small pellets
- Irregular stool texture
- Foul smelling wind and stools
- Blood in stool
- Pain while defecating
- Excessive flatulence
- Withholding or straining to stop passage of stools
- Abdominal pain
- Distension or discomfort
- Poor appetite
- Crankiness or unhappy, irritable mood
- Lack of energy
- Body malaise
