Light feces in children can appear when they have any problems in the body. Violations of the internal organs can be immediately noticed by the color of feces and its consistency. But do not immediately panic. It often happens that this is the result of food eaten.
Feces of a newborn baby
It should be noted that children may have a different shade of bowel movements depending on age. A newly born baby has feces called meconium. It has an almost black color, viscous in consistency. A similar situation can be observed for four days. After meconium, feces of a light color arise. Children who have recently been born have yellow or white blotches in the feces and also some mucus. This is the norm.
Feces of children under three months
Consider other causes of light feces.
Experienced doctors talk in great detail about why a child's stool color may change. After the baby is born, seven days later, the bowel movements in it may acquire a yellowish or light brown color. And the consistency of feces becomes liquid. A healthy child has uniform bowel movements that smell like fermented milk products. Similar bowel movements are observed up to three months. In addition, green and mucous blotches may appear in the feces. For infants, this is considered the norm.
Why adult feces are light, consider at the end of the article.
What factors affect stool color?
Feces acquire a certain color depending on the amount of the bilirubin enzyme that is found in the feces. This enzyme is produced by the liver. Together with urine and feces, bilirubin leaves the body. Light stool may be due to improper production of the enzyme. In this case, you need to do a urinalysis. If she has a dark shade, you should seek help from a pediatrician.
The color of feces may also depend on the food that was consumed. Children under one year of age usually eat breast milk. Based on this, their bowel movements have a light shade and a liquid consistency. The more milk the baby consumes, the more white his feces becomes. After some time, the diet of the child will change, and his bowel movements will gradually darken and harden.
You also need to know that the feces in a child whose diet is based on mixtures will be denser than normal. And its color can vary from yellowish to gray. This can happen if new foods are introduced into the diet. When the baby turns one year old, he will be able to consume beets in small quantities. In this case, feces will also take a dark shade.
The causes of light feces should be determined by the doctor.
White feces
Why does the child have feces of light, almost white? In this case, the eaten foods affect the color. Especially if there was a lot of calcium in the diet. For example, a young mother, who is worried about her child and his bone strength, begins to give the baby a very large amount of cottage cheese, milk, etc. The result of eating a large amount of white foods is white feces.
Very light, almost white stool can often be caused by foods that contain a lot of carbohydrates. Also, bowel movements can change color when a child's teeth are cut. At such a time, feces can become not only white, but also liquid. White feces can be a consequence of hepatitis. But only a doctor can identify this pathology, because the symptoms of such a disease are manifested not only in the color of feces.
What is important to pay attention when the stool has changed its color?
Often light feces in a child is the result of malnutrition. Especially when the baby is overfed with milk, fat cottage cheese and sour cream. But, one way or another, if the child's stool color changes, you should carefully monitor the accompanying factors. It is necessary to analyze the diet, assess the general condition of the child and see if the teeth are cut.
Be sure to check if there is a temperature and vomiting. At such moments, you need to know if the child has lost his appetite and if his sleep is disturbed. If there are any deviations from the norm, in this case, light feces can become a signal of a developing disease. And then it will be necessary to show it to the pediatrician.
Causes
Why does light feces appear in a child? There are many reasons for this. The most basic are:
- Rotavirus infection. In this case, the child has a fever. There is diarrhea and vomiting. First, the stool becomes yellow, the next day it will look like clay. For the same reason, there is light-colored feces in an adult.
- Flu. Feces acquire not only a light color, but also a grayish tint. Such changes in stool occur on the third or fourth day of the disease. Sometimes feces can lighten, even if the child has already recovered. This is such a special reaction of the body, which is trying to free itself from the remnants of drugs.
- Stagnation of bile. Due to the presence of bile, feces become darker. Therefore, if the color of the stool becomes light, then the cause is stagnation of bile. You also need to consider the anatomical features of the child. It happens that the bile ducts are bent or twisted.
- Whipple's disease. Such an ailment is not known to many and is quite rare. But the main symptom of this pathology is frequent bowel movements. They can happen up to ten times a day, or even more. In this case, the color of the feces becomes light gray. Has a foamy or pasty consistency.
- Pancreatic inflammation. In most cases, the disease affects adults. But the child is not immune from pancreatic inflammation either. But basically this ailment affects children from 4 years. With such inflammation, feces brighten, and additional symptoms appear.
- The reaction to pharmaceuticals. Children are usually very susceptible to drugs. Therefore, the color of bowel movements may change as a result of taking antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic drugs.
Dysbacteriosis
Light feces can appear in a child due to many diseases. These include dysbiosis. Such a disease can occur even in very young children. Dysbacteriosis is called an imbalance in the intestines. The causes of this pathology can be diseases that the mother of the child suffered during pregnancy, or the child took antibiotics and antibacterial drugs. An important role here is played by the nutrition of the child and mother. When dysbiosis occurs, the stool is very light in color, which has an unpleasant sour smell.
Hepatitis
Light bowel movements also result from hepatitis. But such a disease has other signs. The child also has nausea, lethargy, and appetite is lost. The first such symptom is the dark color of urine. Then the feces begin to lighten. At first, the chair acquires a light yellow tint, and then turns completely white. It may also have a grayish tint.
Children under one year of age may develop hepatitis B, especially if the child has become a carrier of a viral infection. This type of hepatitis has a latent period. The disease can form slowly, about six months. At the initial stage, the child's urine darkens and the feces begin to lighten. Then the appetite disappears, and sleep disturbances occur. Then vomiting occurs and the temperature rises.
Light feces in a child of two years may also be a sign of hepatitis A. In this case, the child's skin may not immediately turn yellow. First urine begins to darken, then feces turn white. Other signs of the disease are similar to hepatitis B.
What to do when a child has light-colored feces?
Feces of a light shade in children of two years may be due to nutrition. At this age, children are already given a varied meal. The child's body can react differently to such a change in nutrition, and therefore the feces can become light in color. If the child does not have a fever, vomiting or other signs of the disease, then this means that the child needs to be watched for several days. At such a time, products containing pigment should be excluded from the diet. If no changes have occurred, and the color of the feces has remained the same - light color, then you need to show the child to the pediatrician. If the urine has become dark and the bowel movements have turned white, then this is an alarm. Even when other signs of the disease are not observed, such as vomiting, nausea, fever, the child still needs to be shown to the doctor.
Even a three-year-old child has the opportunity to get dysbiosis or hepatitis. The child may also develop gall bladder problems. Only the doctor can identify the exact cause of this phenomenon.
Medicines are prescribed for children, although they are gentle, but they can also cause light bowel movements. In such cases, you should analyze at what time the feces began to change. If, in addition to the color change, there are no other symptoms, then you need to wait a couple of days. If the stool does not return to normal, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Fecal Changes in Adults
Feces of a light color in an adult. What are the reasons for this? It directly depends on the food eaten the day before. So, for example, light food will color the stool in a light shade (milk, dairy products). The next time the color stabilizes, if these products are excluded from the diet.
The causes of feces of a light color in an adult are presented below.
The usual brown color of feces is due to bilirubin, a component of bile. And a violation of the process of its entry from the gallbladder into the intestine can lead to clarification of feces.
There are a number of pathologies in which feces can become light yellow.
It:
- Hepatitis is an inflammatory disease of the liver. It can be infectious, toxic, alcoholic.
- Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas due to malnutrition, alcohol abuse, infections of internal organs, and the use of certain medications.
- Oncological diseases of the digestive system. Malignant neoplasms on the internal organs are asymptomatic. The first signs appear when the tumor is already quite large. Symptoms: abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea, vomiting, lack of appetite, a sharp decrease in body weight.
- Cholecystitis is an inflammatory process in the gallbladder, accompanied by acute abdominal pain, decreased appetite, nausea, and fever. Feces are liquid, sometimes with the remnants of undigested food.
- Crohn's disease is an inflammatory process that encompasses the entire digestive tract.
Why can light feces in an adult be?
This phenomenon may also occur due to some drugs:
- antibiotics;
- anti-inflammatory drugs;
- medicines for gout.
If light feces in an adult appeared for the first time, then you should not panic. You just need to watch your bowel movements for five days.
Absorption of mainly plant foods can also lead to light feces in an adult. This is not a disease and there will be no harm to health. If there is an accelerated passage of digestive masses through the colon, the stool will turn light brown. Adding protein to the diet and fractional nutrition will help normalize the digestive tract.
In order to exclude diabetes, you need to consult a physician and do a blood test.
Caution should be taken if the occurrence of feces of a light color in an adult is regularly or periodically repeated. A single case is not considered a serious symptom. Most likely, this is due to the nature of the diet.