Constipation is a common problem in children of all ages. An infant or child with constipation may have bowel movements less frequently than normal, hard bowel movements, or large, difficult, and painful bowel movements. Generally, constipation is defined more by what the bowel movements look like than how often they occur! Even if a baby defecates every day, if stools are hard then it is constipated.

The frequency, consistency and volume of feces vary depending on the infant’s age and nutrition. A neonate has commonly several bowel movements daily (up to one defecation after each meal), while as the baby grows up, the number of defecations/day usually decreases. Stool consistency is usually creamy in neonates and small babies, while gradually it becomes denser in older babies. In some cases, stools of babies may be hard or pellet-like irrespective of frequency, while in other cases, consistency is soft but defecations may be infrequent (1-2 defecations per week or every ten days). In both cases, babies suffer from constipation. Most common symptoms in cases of severe (or not) infantile constipation include recurrent episodes of discomfort, abdominal bloating, contraction of the baby’s thighs and flexion towards the abdomen, perianal irritation and anal fissure, even poor food intake and/or vomiting in cases of very severe constipation.