The scoop on poop! You probably swore you would never, EVER talk about poop before you were a parent, right? We all did! Now it’s time to chat about the gut immune brain link and how it affects your child(ren).
When you were pregnant, you probably vowed that you would never be the kind of parent who talked about poop. Like so many good intentions, that one probably lasted less than 24 hours of becoming a mum, and you probably now talk more about the contents of your little ones nappies than about films, books, or politics. Good gut health is fundamental to your child’s well-being and your child’s nappies can tell you a great deal of what is going on inside.
When your baby is not sleeping, feeding properly or in distress, you need to look for clues of what is going on. A mum’s natural instinct is pretty sharp and many mummies quickly make the connection between what they see in their babies’ nappies and their feeding patterns, mood and sleep.
If your little one has digestive issues for more than two weeks, then it is important to get this checked out. If you see any blood or mucous please see your GP immediately. If you draw blank here then do seek help from a Naturopath or Nutritional Therapist to check nothing more is untoward.
Typically an out-of-sync gut has pretty obvious symptoms. These can be dark, smelly or explosive poo. Nappy contents can be multi-coloured from undigested foods and this is a sign of poor digestive enzyme production. Yellow, fatty stools are signs of poor absorption. Gut pain, which is the main reason why babies don’t sleep, maybe from burning acid in the throat or from regurgitated milk. Many babies and toddlers strain to push a poo out and can get very bunged up, which can be painful too.
There may also be more subtle issues such as bloating, belching or smelly wind or simply your little one insists on sleeping on their tummy. There are also some seemingly unrelated issues such as persistent coughs, wheezing or itchy skin that often stem from an out-sync gut function known as leaky-gut.
Once weaning has been fully established, you should easily be able to roll the contents of a nappy into the toilet and the stool should be a mid-brown hazelnut colour. If your child has more than three dirty nappies a day or less than one every day it is also important to establish what is going on.
The hottest topic in the nutrition world at the moment is the link between gut, immunity and brain health. The balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut is known as the microbiome. It is important to ensure there are optimal levels of good bacteria in a baby’s tummy for them to be able to develop a good, strong immune system and be a contented baby. If the baby is being breastfed, then the mum’s microbiome is also incredibly important and mum should be ensuring that her gut is working well too.
One round of antibiotics during pregnancy for mum or shortly after the birth for mum or baby can wipe out the essential good bacteria needed for a healthy microbiome. A caesarean-section or a stressful birth may mean starting out life with not enough beneficial bacteria and this can really knock the gut and immune system out of balance. This is why many people are now recommending beneficial bacteria supplements and fermented foods to help keep everything in perfect equilibrium.
It is thought that if your child’s digestion is working optimally then this will also have a positive impact on their immune system, mood and learning. If your child’s gut is out-of-sync you may well find that your youngster is more prone to catching more infections that last for longer. These bad infections often mean further antibiotics, which knocks out the gut even more and can trigger a roller-coaster effect on the child’s whole system. Very often this can affect sleep patterns, appetite, and healthy food choices and may ultimately mean more extreme meltdowns and separation issues. If these issues persist the child is much more likely to struggle with speech and language development, co-ordination and social skills, although some kids are lucky and it only affects their immune system.
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Great and timemy Article for us, thank you. Our 10 month old has had bronchilitis and our 4 year old has glue ear so both have been on and off amoxicillin. I’m giving half a teaspoon of udo probiotic powder to the baby and teaspoon to our 4 year old but could you point me to any recipes you recommend to help me repair gut health? Also do you prefer any other brand of pro biotic? Also what’s your take on pre biotics?
Hi Claire, It sounds like you are doing some great things to support your children. My bone broth recipe is one of the most important gut healing foods and we use this in soups, as gravy, in risottos and Asian noodle soups. Some people even drink it for breakfast! There are hundreds of different probiotics on the market and every child needs different strains, so I cannot recommend without meeting your kids. Most people find that rotating probiotics every month or so helps hugely, so do think about changing brand every so often. It is important that they have been stored correctly in the fridge so be careful where you source them from. Prebiotics can be very helpful and will eventually help their guts to produce their own good bacteria. Some kids with significant gut problems like bloating and gas cannot tolerate them as they can produce more gassiness! I hope this is helpful. Lucinda
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