Kindspech – What is that?
The first stool of the newborn is colloquially called child’s spit. Doctors refer to it as meconium, which comes from the Greek “mekonion” and means “poppy juice”. The meconium is usually excreted by the newborn within the first 48 hours after birth.
It is characterized by a greenish to black coloration, which is caused by the increased content of biliverdin, a breakdown product of the red blood pigment (hemoglobin). Biliverdin is not a digestive product in the true sense of the word, but rather a mixture of thickened bile and components absorbed with the amniotic fluid, such as hair or skin cells. The accumulation of this meconium begins very early during pregnancy, approximately in the tenth to fourteenth week of pregnancy.
Proper stool excretion only begins when the newborn baby is fed in the form of breast milk or substitute milk. If meconium does not settle within the first two to three days, a pediatrician should be consulted. A lack of meconium can be an indication of a disturbance of the intestinal passage or even an obstruction (ileus), which in turn requires further intervention or later clarification of the cause.
An ileus is an intestinal obstruction. In the case of an intestinal obstruction, the intestinal passage is prevented. This leads to an accumulation of stool and food.
Symptoms are vomiting, severe abdominal pain and stool retention. Failure to treat an intestinal obstruction leads to fatal peritonitis. A meconium ileus is an intestinal obstruction caused by the meconium. If a newborn baby defecates within the first days of life, this is not worrying, but rather a sign of a well-functioning intestinal and excretory system.
Function of the meconium
Meconium is used to excrete toxic substances that are broken down by the liver, as well as bile. Residues of drugs consumed during pregnancy can be detected in the meconium.
Smell of child pitch
Although the child-spittle has a greenish-black color and therefore the assumption is obvious that the smell is just as characteristic, it is odorless. This can again be explained by the fact that meconium is not a real digestive product and therefore does not contain any intestinal bacteria that could cause an impressive odor. The stool, which is deposited after the child’s spittle, smells depending on the food intake. If the newborn baby is breastfed, the stool has a rather sour smell, whereas babies who are given a replacement milk have a bowel movement that smells rather unpleasant.
All articles in this series:
