A Survey Of The Defecation Patterns In 503 Children From 0 To 72 Months

Objective:To identify the factors(such as age, feeding pattern and gender) affecting the normal defecation patterns of children and the prevalence of childhood constipation.Methods:This study was conducted on the infants and young children who were below 72 months of age recruited consecutively from December 2009 to March 2010. 425 children who were visiting the Child Health Care clinic in Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and 78 children from a local kindergarten were involved. Either of the two kinds of questionnaire(one is below 24 months of age , another is from 24 to 72 months of age) was given to the parents of these children according to the children's age. The defecation patterns, feeding pattern, and the constipation situation were recorded.Results1.The frequency of stools declines with age. From the third month of age, most infants passed stools once a day, gradually approaching adult pattern. At the end of the first year , most children had formed stools like adults. Among the normal children, 1 had one bowel movement every 5 days, 3 moved their bowels every 4 days, 7 passed stools every 3 days. No differences was seen between boys and girls.2.Stool frequency did not change according to the feeding pattern below 6 months of age. In infants aged 0-4 months, the feeding pattern affected stool consistency significantly. Breast-fed infants were shown to pass softer stools compared to formula-fed infants.3. Among the 293 normal children aged from 0 to 72 months, 125 had a regular defecation habit( 42.7%) . Among the 207 normal children aged below 1 year, this number is 77 and 33.8% ( 70/207) formed this habit before 6 month old.4. Among the 503 children aged below 72 months, 57 had constipation(11.3% ). The prevalence of constipation in 7-9 months, 10-12 months and 1-1.5 year group is 19.2%, 23.5%, 19.2% respectively. The prevalence of constipation was lowest in the 4-6 years group. Nearly 60% constipated children still passed stools once a day.Conclusions1. Age and feeding pattern can affect the normal defecation patterns of children.2. Constipation is a common symptom of digestive system in children.3. The diagnosis of constipation was mainly made by the difficulty in defecation.