What to do about dark stool in a child. Why does your baby have black, dark or gray stool?

Why does a child have dark stool? Is this hazardous to health? These questions are asked by almost all parents who first encounter black feces in their baby.

Darkening of the stool can occur in both a newborn baby and a child aged 2 years, for example, for a variety of reasons, some of which are dangerous to health.

Darkening of stool in infants

For the first 2-3 days after birth, the intestines of each baby contain meconium - dark, odorless stool.

It appears as a result of the baby ingesting skin cells, hairs, water and blood before and during childbirth. Meconium has a viscous consistency and resembles clay or plasticine.

Thus, for 2-3 days the child will defecate with dark stool. After this, the intestines will be freed from the original feces, the stomach will digest the mother's milk, and the color of the stool will normalize to the standard yellowish-brown color.

If the mother has cracks in the nipples and areolas, then during breastfeeding the one-year-old child will receive not only milk, but also blood.

The baby's body oxidizes the iron contained in the liquid, which makes the stool dark. In this case, the mother is recommended to use healing creams based on panthenol or lanolin.

The entry of a small amount of maternal blood into the baby’s stomach does not pose any threat. If there is excessive bleeding, the baby may experience colic and indigestion.

Formula-fed babies may have dark-colored stools due to the high iron content in formulas.

When this microelement enters the body, a chemical oxidation reaction begins under the influence of highly acidic gastric juice, which results in the coloring of feces black.

For the same reason, dark stool may appear in a child after taking various vitamin and mineral complexes.

2-3 days after the baby stops taking these medications, the stool returns to normal.

Some medications cause a child's stool to turn dark. These are various antibiotics (Flexid, Trichopolum, Augmentin), Activated carbon, Ibuprofen, Paracetamol.

The cause may also be medications containing bismuth in their composition.

Often, the side effects listed in the instructions for use of these medications include a possible change in the color of feces to dark. This effect can occur in a child as young as 2 months or as young as 5 years old.

Dark food stool

At 5-6 months, the child is gradually transferred to complementary foods. At first, it is difficult for a child’s intestines to digest something heavier than milk, so some of the food is not absorbed and leaves the body unchanged.

In addition, many foods tend to turn a child’s stool a dark color. First of all, this concerns bananas, which are often fed to children in the form of puree. Mashed apples, which also contain a lot of iron, are also very popular.

At 5-6 months, parents can begin to give their child various vegetables or berries in the form of purees or juices.

Darkening of stool occurs when beets, cherries, sweet cherries, black currants, blackberries, and blueberries are added to the diet.

All of these natural products contain iron, which contributes to the dark coloration of baby's stool. Typically, feces become a normal color two to three days after stopping the intake of coloring berries or vegetables.

Quite often, dark stool staining occurs when eating meat products - liver, kidneys, heart.

Darkening of feces in this case is also associated with a large amount of iron in the organs of animals or birds.

It should be noted that parents are often frightened by dark feces and stop feeding their 5-month-old child such products.

Experts say that eating foods high in iron not only does not harm the child’s body in any way, but is also good for health, no matter how old the child is.

The color of stool depends not only on foods, but also on the production of bile in the body, its amount in feces, and the speed of food digestion. There are cases when dark stool in a 5-month-old baby is normal.

Please note that only dark brown is considered normal, and never black.

Otherwise, you should pay attention to the child’s diet, whether the baby has recently eaten foods high in iron or certain medications, or consult a doctor.

Child health problems

In some cases, dark stool may indicate certain health problems.

Basically, darkening of feces occurs due to internal bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract.

This condition is a cause for concern, since severe blood loss leads to a deterioration in the child’s condition.

The baby may develop iron deficiency anemia, which is characterized by shortness of breath, increased heart rate and further loss of consciousness. If neglected, severe blood loss can be fatal.

Internal bleeding is usually accompanied by other symptoms. The baby becomes lethargic, gets tired quickly, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain appear. In some cases, body temperature may increase.

If the above symptoms are observed along with dark stool, then you should urgently consult a doctor, since internal bleeding is very dangerous to health and is characteristic of gastric or intestinal ulcers, gastritis, diverticulitis (protrusion of the walls of a hollow organ).

In addition, dark stool may indicate the development of Crohn's disease, hemorrhoids, and the appearance of tumors in the colon.

It is extremely rare to find hepatitis or cirrhosis of the liver in children, which also contribute to the darkening of feces.

Quite often, the dark color of stool indicates the presence of intestinal infections in the body. In this case, the feces will be black with a greenish tint and often emit an unpleasant odor.

The child’s health is poor, there is vomiting, which can lead to rapid dehydration, the baby falling into a coma and even death.

If you have such symptoms, you should definitely call an ambulance, and not try to fix the problems yourself or blame everything on iron-containing products.

Having discovered darkening of a child’s stool, parents should not panic, but analyze what their baby has recently eaten.

If there were no foods in the diet that could cause dark colored feces during bowel movements, and no medications with the same side effects were taken, then this is a reason to consult a doctor.

You should definitely visit the hospital if other symptoms of deterioration in health are observed along with dark stool. In some cases, darkening of feces can be a sign of serious illness.

Black stool in a child can cause great concern on the part of his family: “Why does the child have black stool?” “Could it be internal bleeding?” “Maybe he ate something poisonous?” “Did he drink my cup of morning coffee?” - Meanwhile, the child happily jumps around the apartment and does not understand the worries of his family: “What kind of problem have they come up with for themselves?”

If the child’s behavior does not cause you concern - he has a healthy complexion, is moderately active and does not complain about his mood - you can be sure that the cause of the child’s black stool is hidden in the food eaten the day before. But if a child’s black, liquid or hard stool is accompanied by a deterioration in his general condition, this is a good reason to seek urgent help from a specialist.

Let's consider the types of black feces in a child.

1. Parents may notice the first black feces already in the newborn’s diaper somewhere on the third day of his life. This type of stool is called “meconium.” Sticky and black as tar, meconium is a mixture of digested epithelial cells, hair, mucus, bile, water and the newborn's amniotic fluid. All newborn babies pass meconium, so its appearance should not bother you. Over time, the baby's stool will acquire its usual consistency and brownish tint.

2. Black or black-green feces in a one-year-old child may be more surprising. After all, it usually has a completely different color than usual! Analyze what your child ate the day before. If his diet included fruits (apples, bananas), berries (blueberries, blackberries, currants, cherries), juices, vitamins containing large amounts of iron, do not worry, under the influence of gastric juice the iron was oxidized, and at the exit you saw unusual feces color There is nothing wrong with this and there is no reason to exclude such foods from your diet in the future.

Individual black stripes in the child's stool occur as a result of the introduction of bananas to the child's menu, and this also should not be a cause of concern.

Also remember if you gave your child activated charcoal the day before. Its effect is also accompanied by the coloring of stool black. When the course of treatment is over, the color of the stool should become normal.

3. The only case when black stool in a child should cause concern on the part of relatives is black stool as a result of internal bleeding in various parts of the digestive tract. However, in this case, in addition to staining the stool in a specific color, a deterioration in the child’s general well-being is also added. If a child has nausea, vomiting, prolonged constipation, or complains of abdominal pain, dizziness, weakness, it is necessary to urgently seek medical help, since stopping internal bleeding at home is contraindicated. In this case, the change in stool color occurs due to the oxidation of iron from red blood cells.

Under the influence of various circumstances, black feces may appear in a child.

If the baby feels well - eats with appetite, plays actively and sleeps peacefully, then the appearance of unusually colored stools should not bother parents, since the reason for this is nutrition.

But black stool, which is accompanied by fever, loose stools and mucus, requires the attention of a pediatrician.

Causes of black stool

Children of different ages have several reasons for the appearance of black feces. The baby's first stool is black, does not smell and has a consistency similar to plasticine. The stool is called meconium.

The appearance of meconium is explained by the fact that it contains bile, epithelial cells and amniotic fluid, which the newborn baby swallowed during fetal development.

This is a natural phenomenon for a breastfeeding baby, and the dark feces will completely leave the intestines in about three days.

In the future, the infant will defecate yellow and mustard-colored stool, depending on what he eats.

A baby's stool may contain lumps and mucus, but even a small streak of blood should alert parents.

From the age of six months, babies are introduced to complementary foods, which can also be the reason why a child has black feces. Many foods contain iron, which cannot be fully absorbed by the fragile gastrointestinal tract.

Foods that can turn stool black:

• black currant;
• dark grapes;
• bananas;
• cherry;
• apples;
• burgundy beets;
• prunes;
• blueberry;
• blackberry;
• liver;
• blood sausage.

If a child develops black feces after eating the listed foods, then this is a natural process that does not require their exclusion from the diet.

In addition to the color change, black plant fibers may appear in the stool. When feeding iron-containing formulas to infants, parents may notice unusual black stool. The abolition of baby food in this situation is not required.

In addition to nutrition, stool may become dark due to taking vitamin complexes and medications containing iron, or black-colored medications.

Basic pharmaceutical products that change the color of stool:

• vitamins – Complivit, Vitrum;
• Sorbifer and other iron-containing medications;
• Activated carbon;
• De-Nol and all drugs containing bismuth.

Coloring the stool black after taking the listed medications is an absolutely normal process that does not require medical intervention. When the course of drug treatment stops, the stool will return to its natural color.

The most serious cause of black stool in a child is bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. It can occur due to chronic diseases of the digestive system, ingestion of sharp objects, or as a result of taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

In this case, the following symptoms of pathology are associated with the black color: pain in the epigastric region, diarrhea followed by constipation, nausea, vomiting, fever, weakness and dizziness.

If the baby does not feel well, does not play, becomes capricious, lethargic, refuses to eat and sleeps poorly, then he needs the help of a doctor, since the loss of a large volume of blood will lead to severe anemia, and a sharp object (for example, a toothpick) that gets into the esophagus can damage organs adjacent to the gastrointestinal tract and lead to peritonitis.

Health care

If parents see that their baby’s stool has turned black, then first of all they should remember what diet the child had the previous day.

In addition, you should carefully study the instructions for the pharmaceutical drugs you are taking; it may indicate a side effect - a change in the color of the stool.

You should observe the behavior and health of the baby for some time. If, apart from black stool, no alarming symptoms are noticed, then there is nothing to worry about.

Otherwise, you need to visit a pediatrician as soon as possible or call a doctor at home. When a child becomes irritable, capricious, sleeps poorly, eats poorly and refuses to play, parents should be wary.

Mandatory contact with a specialist when black feces appears is necessary in several situations:

• the color of the stool has changed, but the child ate regular non-coloring food for several days and did not take medications that change the color of the stool;
• with loss of appetite, weakness, anxiety and sleep disturbances;
• if there is vomiting, nausea, high fever;
• the presence of diseases of the digestive system - ulcers, Crohn's disease, hepatitis, cirrhosis, cancer and other pathologies.

With ongoing hidden blood loss, parents may notice the following signs of iron deficiency in their child:

• pallor of the skin and mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth;
• increased heart rate;
• dyspnea;
• weakness and loss of consciousness.

If the baby feels very unwell, he should not be given food or liquids. Drinking water is an exception, but you can drink it in small portions of about 50 ml at a time. The child must lie down until the ambulance arrives.

In the hospital, the baby will take the necessary samples: a general blood and urine test, stool for coprogram and bacterial culture, blood biochemistry and to determine its group.

In this condition, it is first necessary to exclude bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract. In addition to laboratory tests, hardware tests are used to make the correct diagnosis.

The baby will be sent for an ultrasound, x-ray, colonoscopy or FGDS. If the blood loss is severe, the child will receive an emergency blood transfusion.

The appearance of dark stool does not always indicate health problems in the child, so it is important that parents remain calm when such an unusual sign appears.

But since a change in the color of stool may indicate a serious pathology of the gastrointestinal tract, you should carefully monitor the baby’s behavior.

If a child develops fever, nausea, vomiting, severe weakness and loss of appetite, then medical attention is needed as soon as possible.

Babies who are starting to crawl on their own need to be especially closely monitored because they may swallow dangerous sharp objects, such as a needle or toothpick.

Black stool in a child has various causes. If the baby is feeling well, he is active and in a good mood, then dark bowel movements are normal physiology. The unusual color of the stool was probably caused by the food he had eaten the day before. But a dark shade can also signal a serious problem in the body. Then it is accompanied by high body temperature, apathy and lethargy, and a general deterioration in well-being. Let's consider the reasons for the appearance of black stools in children of different ages.

Newborns

The first stool of a newborn baby, the so-called meconium, is black and has absolutely no odor. Feces have a viscous and sticky consistency, consisting of bile, water, mucus and epithelial cells digested by the baby in the womb. Also, the original feces may be dark in color due to the ingestion of blood during childbirth.

You should not worry as this is completely natural for a newborn. Meconium is completely eliminated from the body within 2-3 days, gradually being replaced by normal-colored stool. Depending on what the newborn eats, the stool has a mustard or yellow tint and contains white lumps and small amounts of mucus. The stool is liquid in consistency and has a distinctive sour odor.

Infants and older children

After the age of 6 months and the introduction of complementary foods, the baby may also have black poop. This is due to the appearance of foods containing iron in the baby’s diet. The baby's intestines are not yet ready to absorb iron from foods familiar to adults. These include:

• bananas
• apples
• blackberry
• blueberry
• cherry
• black currant
• cherries
• red beets
• prunes
• red grapes
• offal, such as liver
• juices based on the above vegetables and fruits

Do not exclude complementary foods from your baby’s menu just because his stool has become dark in color. Some time will pass, digestion will improve, and the bowel movements will return to their normal color. This also applies to children fed artificial formula. When a formula enriched with iron is introduced, the baby's stool may also become dark or even black. Do not cancel the mixture.

Dark stools may result from taking vitamins that contain iron or certain medications. These include:

• vitamin complexes such as "Vitrum"
• activated carbon
• "Sorbifer" or other preparations containing iron
• "De-nol" and other bismuth preparations

This condition is normal. Once your baby stops taking the above medications, stools will return to their normal color.

The main reason for the formation of black feces, indicating a pathology in the child’s body, is bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. The causes can be both diseases of the digestive organs and, for example, ingestion of sharp objects or bones. Symptoms in this case also include constipation, nausea and vomiting, acute abdominal pain, dizziness and weakness, fainting, high body temperature.

Some medications can also cause bleeding with long-term use:

• drugs that contain acetylsalicylic acid: Ibuprofen, Diclofenac, Aspirin, Indomethacin
• medications that have an anti-inflammatory effect
• drugs that reduce blood clotting

In children, the stool may become dark brown, almost black, if the diet contains cow's or goat's milk, products that contain cow's milk protein. If the baby is restless, he cries or has no appetite, then this is an alarming symptom. Due to the gradual formation of damage to the mucous membrane in the intestines, minor bleeding may begin at first. But in the future, this is fraught with severe blood loss and the risk of iron deficiency anemia.

If you find that your baby's stool is dark in color, the first thing you need to do is remember what food or medications you gave him in the last few days. Carefully re-read the instructions for medications, paying attention to contraindications and side effects. Observe the general condition and health of the baby. If everything is in order and the reason for the unusual color of the stool lies in the properties of the food or medications taken by the child, then you should not worry and carry out any treatment.

Mandatory and immediate seeking of help when black stool appears is required in the following cases:

• If in the last few days the child has eaten regular food and has not taken any medications that can turn the stool black.
• If the baby has no appetite, and also if he is too lethargic or, conversely, restless.
• The appearance of black stools due to vomiting or fever.
• History of the following diseases:

1. gastritis;
2. peptic ulcer of the duodenum or stomach;
3. hepatitis;
4. cirrhosis of the liver;
5. intestinal or stomach cancer;
6. Crohn's disease, etc.

If you notice symptoms of iron deficiency anemia:

1. dyspnea;
2. pallor;
3. cardiopalmus;
4. loss of consciousness.

Do not give food or drinks to your child. The exception is cold water. You must remain in bed until the ambulance arrives. The clinic should do a stool test for the presence of blood to rule out internal bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. In this case, the stool will have a liquid consistency and last from 3 to 5 days. Such semi-liquid black stool with an unpleasant odor is medically called “melena”. Additionally, the doctor may prescribe an x-ray of the upper digestive tract or gastroscopy. If bleeding is confirmed and it is heavy, then intravenous infusion of blood components will be required.

To summarize, we can say that dark feces as such are not dangerous in most cases. However, it may be a symptom of a serious illness that requires timely medical attention. Be attentive to your baby and his health. If you are not sure about the reasons for the appearance of black stools, it is better to play it safe and consult a specialist for additional examination.

A change in the color of stool can indicate many physiological and pathological processes in the body. The color of stool is affected by diet, chronic diseases and various intestinal pathologies.

Monitoring the quality of stool can be important for self-diagnosis. Many mothers complain that their baby has black stool. Such changes can occur for several reasons.

Basic information

Black stool can be a serious symptom

People often pay attention to the nature of their discharge. A change in the color of urine or stool often causes alarm and is a reason to consult a doctor. Normal stools are brown in color because the stool contains bile residues.

If food is digested faster than expected, the stool may acquire a greenish tint due to insufficient decomposition of bile. White stool may indicate blockage of the bile ducts.

In medical practice, black tarry stools are primarily associated with hemorrhage in the esophagus or stomach. The fact is that the blood released in the upper parts of the digestive tract undergoes chemical decomposition during the digestion of food.

It takes a long time before such blood reaches the rectum. As a result, the blood turns black. In contrast, blood released in the lower intestines will have a characteristic bright red color.

Fortunately, bleeding is not the most common cause of dark stool. This color can be the result of food eaten, metabolic characteristics, or diseases. However, any change in a child's stool should be a reason for diagnosis, since the health of the digestive system is of primary importance for a growing organism.

Common Causes of Stool Discoloration

Light yellow stool is often observed in children and is considered normal.

The food eaten travels a long way in the human digestive tract. After swallowing, food substrates almost immediately end up in the stomach.

Digestion in the stomach lasts from two to three hours, after which the food enters the intestines. Intestinal digestion is distinguished by its duration - food can be processed for 6 hours and subsequently deposited in the colon during the day.

Thus, consumed food turns into feces 18-36 hours after consumption. During this time, a variety of factors can affect the color of the stool.

Reasons for color change:

• Changing your diet. Eating beets, tomatoes, beans, green leafy vegetables, and foods with food coloring can affect the color of your stool.
• Medicines. The color of the discharge can be affected by intestinal antibiotics, anticoagulants and other drugs.
• Diarrhea, characterized by watery discharge.
• Constipation. Stagnation of food masses in the colon can lead to a change in the color of the discharge due to the decomposition of individual components.
• Hemorrhoids and anal fissures.
• Rectal cancer.
• Intestinal ischemia.
• Colon polyps.
• Gastritis and gastroduodenitis.
• Inflammatory bowel diseases: Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis.
• Cirrhosis of the liver.
• Celiac disease. With this disease, the intestines do not absorb gluten. The stool may be yellow and greasy.
• Intestinal injury due to ingestion of a foreign body.

The main reasons for the appearance of black stools:

1. Taking aspirin, warfarin, clopidogrel, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and bismuth preparations. Painkillers can also cause bleeding if you have a peptic ulcer.
2. Consuming licorice, blueberries and other coloring foods.
3. Taking iron supplements.
4. Lead ingestion.
5. Bleeding varicose veins of the esophagus.
6. Inflammatory diseases of the esophagus and stomach.

The listed reasons can cause not only a change in the color of stool, but also provoke the appearance of certain symptoms.

Symptoms of various conditions

Food also affects the color of stool

Black stool may not be the only sign of a digestive tract pathology. The following symptoms may also occur:

1. Abdominal pain and cramps.
2. Bloating due to increased gas production.
3. Increased intestinal motility.
4. Profuse diarrhea with bloody inclusions.
5. Nausea and vomiting.
6. Change in stool odor.
7. Poor appetite.
8. Pain and burning in the anal area.
9. Unexpected weight loss.

Some of the listed symptoms indicate dangerous processes in the body. Immediate consultation with a doctor is required if the following symptoms are detected:

• Prolonged unexplained weight loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, sharp pain in the lower abdomen. These signs may indicate an oncological process in the large intestine. However, colorectal cancer is rarely detected in children.
• Prolonged vomiting with bloody inclusions. Bleeding may also be indicated by vomit the color of coffee grounds. Such signs indicate hemorrhage in the upper digestive tract.
• Stopping internal bleeding is possible only in a hospital setting.

Melena

Stool can be different shades for each person

As already mentioned, the appearance of black stools may indicate bleeding in the upper digestive tract.

The red color of blood is due to iron-containing hemoglobin. Any changes in blood color are also caused by chemical changes in hemoglobin molecules.

In the stomach, digestive juices act on the blood, which can cause black stools or vomit the color of coffee grounds. Doctors call this type of stool melena.

It is also important to be able to distinguish signs of bleeding in different parts of the digestive tract. Blood released below the stomach may be bright red, burgundy or crimson in color. This condition is called hematochezia.

The appearance of stool of a different color is explained by the fact that in the intestines food is exposed to the influence of other enzymatic environments. Bright red or scarlet blood almost always indicates bleeding in the colon or rectum.

The appearance of black, tarry stools in the absence of bleeding is called pseudomelena. The causes of this condition are less dangerous and are most often associated with dietary patterns. For doctors, the difference between melena and pseudomelena is an important diagnostic criterion.

Causes of melena:

1. Liver pathologies.
2. Malignant tumors.
3. Dieulafoy's disease (rare disease of the stomach).
4. Erosive esophagitis or gastritis.
5. Varicose veins of the esophagus.
6. Trauma to the esophagus and stomach by a foreign object.
7. Insufficient blood supply to the intestines.
8. Peptic ulcers.
9. Mallory-Weiss syndrome.
10. Vascular anomalies of the esophagus and stomach.

Only a doctor can distinguish melena from a less dangerous anomaly.

Diagnostics

If in doubt, visit a doctor!

A change in the color of stool alone is not a sufficient diagnostic criterion for internal bleeding. The doctor will need to confirm the presence of blood in the stool using various methods.

Sometimes examination of the anal area is sufficient, but laboratory and instrumental diagnostic methods are more often used.

Laboratory methods can detect even small amounts of blood in the stool. The method is called a fecal occult blood test. Special substances are used to detect blood components. To speed up diagnosis, you can collect material for analysis at home.

Once the presence of blood in the stool is confirmed, the doctor will need to determine the cause and source of the bleeding. The most commonly used method is esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

Using this study, it is possible to assess the condition of the mucous membrane of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum. Any damage will immediately attract attention. Other diagnostic methods:

1. Radiography using barium sulfate.
2. Computed and magnetic resonance imaging.
3. Blood analysis.
4. Colonoscopy (endoscopic examination of the intestines).

Accurate determination of the cause of melena or pseudomelena is important for prescribing treatment.

Treatment

Baby has black stool

Treatment options depend on the severity of the child's condition and the cause of the black stool.

Urgent surgery may be required to stop bleeding; however, most often, the appearance of melena in children is not associated with extensive hemorrhage.

Other therapies may be aimed at treating chronic digestive diseases. The following medications can be used for this:

• Intestinal antibiotics.
• Drugs that reduce gastric acidity.
• Anti-inflammatory drugs.

If a child's black stool is caused by a particular diet, prescribing a diet may be sufficient.

The video will explain what the color of the chair means:

Tell your friends!

Share this article with your friends on your favorite social network using social buttons. Thank you!

Parents of a small child are worried about absolutely everything, including the color of the baby’s stool. This is not surprising, because even the color of stool can tell parents or a doctor a lot about the child’s condition.

On a note! Black feces in a child scares many parents, however, in most cases this symptom is absolutely normal. Only in rare cases does black stool in a child become a symptom of a disorder or pathology.

However, parents need to closely monitor the condition of their child and if there are any signs indicating the possibility of a pathological process, they should consult a doctor.

Possible reasons for stool turning black

A child may develop black stools for various reasons. Some factors are normal and do not pose any danger, while others need to be addressed urgently. That is why it is important to understand why a child has black stool. The following phenomena and reasons can affect the coloring of stool:

• Bowel movement in the first days of life. The fact is that babies are not born with an empty intestine, but with meconium inside. This term refers to fecal matter consisting of prenatal hair and epithelial cells, mucus, bile and water. The child swallows these particles along with amniotic fluid. Black feces in a newborn are observed only for the first 2-3 days, then meconium completely leaves the intestines, and the color of the feces becomes yellow.
• Using a mixture with a high iron content. Darkening of the stool can be caused by switching to a new formula that contains a lot of iron. This reaction is absolutely normal, since iron oxidation occurs in the stomach. Next, the substance is mixed with feces and colors them black.
• Introduction of complementary foods. In the first year of life, the child’s intestines are just beginning to adapt to work and external influences. At this time, the digestive system is still learning to digest foods, so the introduced complementary foods do not undergo complete processing. During this period, as a rule, black spots are observed in the stool. In addition, particles of undigested food can also be found among the stool.
• Nutritional features. Your baby may develop dark stools as a result of eating certain foods. For example, beets, currants, cherries, blackberries, and prunes have coloring properties. As well as liver, kidneys, apples, pomegranate and some other foods high in iron. The stool may be completely dark in color or have black specks if the food is not completely digested. In this case, black poop can persist for the next two or three days.
• Application of vitamins and minerals. Doctors often prescribe special complexes for children with a lack of vitamins and minerals. If they contain iron, the child will empty his intestines with black feces. Sometimes a change in the color of stool occurs due to the use of hematogen.
• Taking activated carbon. This substance is not absorbed into the blood and is not digested by the intestines. Activated carbon is a sorbent that absorbs all harmful substances and then removes them out. Parents often note black, fairly large inclusions in their stool.
• Taking medications. Some medications, for example, paracetamol, ibuprofen, antibiotics, as well as products containing bismuth, can affect the color of a child’s stool.

These factors are harmless and go away on their own after 2-3 days. Or after changing your diet and stopping certain medications. However, in some cases, a change in the color of stool is explained by the presence of inflammation or other pathologies in the organs of the digestive system. In this case, the black color of the stool, as well as various grains of sand and specks, are an alarming sign.

Diseases that can cause black stool

Black spots in the stool of an infant, or simply a change in the color of the stool to black, at this age sometimes indicate diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Such pathologies are quite rare in children under one year of age, however, the possibility still exists. Most often, the black color of stool indicates bleeding in the digestive tract, which is a very dangerous deviation from the norm.

Along with bleeding, other associated symptoms are usually observed. For example, internal bleeding is almost always accompanied by nausea and vomiting, general weakness of the body, dizziness, pain in the abdominal area and constipation. Sometimes you can find bloody streaks in the stool if the bleeding occurs in the lower part of the intestine. In addition, sometimes parents notice mucus in their child’s stool. If you notice such symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor or call an ambulance.

If the color of the stool and consistency are normal, and the baby feels well, is not worried and eats normally, it is possible that the cause of small inclusions of blood is a rupture of the anus. This happens to children, especially with constipation. The rupture, as a rule, is insignificant; it’s just that a small artery passes through its place, which was the reason for the appearance of blood in the stool. The most reliable indicator of a baby's health is its condition. When there are painful symptoms inside, children always cry, act restless and refuse to eat. Therefore, black feces in combination with such signs is a very dangerous sign.

How to provide first aid?

If you find other alarming signs in your baby along with black feces, you need to call a doctor and try to alleviate the child’s condition.

1. Firstly, the baby needs to be provided with bed rest.
2. Before the doctor arrives, you cannot give any food, you can only give cold water.
3. It is recommended that you do not throw away stool and show it to your doctor first. Upon arrival, the specialist will examine the baby, provide first aid and refer for additional examinations, for example, stool, urine and blood tests, as well as ultrasound and gastroscopy, which will help identify the cause of the symptom and then prescribe the correct treatment.

Parents whose child already has a history of diseases of the digestive tract should be most concerned about black stool in their baby. For example, if a child has gastritis, peptic ulcer, Crohn's disease, stomach or intestinal cancer. Particular attention to the color of stool should be paid to parents of a child suffering from hepatitis or cirrhosis of the liver.

1. Causes of black stool in a child
2. Black stool in a child due to food and medicine

Black stool in a child can be either normal or a symptom of serious health problems. If the baby has a healthy complexion, he does not complain about anything, is active, cheerful and cheerful, his behavior is the same as always, most likely the reason for the appearance of black feces was the food eaten the day before.

If the black stool is liquid or very hard, accompanied by a deterioration in the child’s well-being and a rise in body temperature, this is a reason to immediately consult a doctor.

Black feces in a child can be a variant of the physiological norm or a sign of a serious health disorder. So, if a child does not feel deteriorated, he is active, cheerful, not apathetic or lethargic, then black feces are most likely a consequence of the food consumed the day before. If black feces are combined with a deterioration in health and a rise in temperature, then the cause of this may be a serious health disorder. In such a situation, you should immediately seek medical help.