Patient's question:
How does a four-day-old baby have a bowel movement every time after drinking formula? The baby is four days old and is being fed both formula and breast milk. Most of the time, she is given formula because there isn't much breast milk. Why does she have a bowel movement every time after drinking formula?Previous treatment and effectiveness: On the first day, she had a bowel movement several times, and within a day, she had seven or eight bowel movements.
What kind of help is desired: Recently, many of her bowel movements have had rice grain-sized particles. Is it because she isn't digesting well?
Doctor's answer:
This symptom of newborn nausea and vomiting should first be considered a lack of digestive enzymes in the infant's gastrointestinal tract, requiring a visit for a digestive enzyme test.The suspicion is that the newborn has lactose intolerance. Breast milk contains lactose, but the infant's intestines are naturally lacking the enzyme to metabolize lactose. As a result, lactose that enters the intestines cannot be digested or absorbed, leading to hypertonic nausea and vomiting. It is also not ruled out that the nausea and vomiting may be caused by the mother's nausea and vomiting or organic inflammation of the newborn's digestive tract. It is recommended to switch to a lactose-free formula for feeding to see if the symptoms improve. If they do, it indicates a lactose issue. If not, further digestive tract examination is necessary.