Introduction
Teething causes many different symptoms in children. These may include a change in bowel movements. Typically, the bowel movement becomes more fluid, and from a water content of 75% or more in the bowel movement one can speak of diarrhoea.
An increased amount or frequency of bowel movements can also be noticeable. In addition, there is often a change in the color of the defecation. For example, foamy or whitish deposits may be noticeable. and teeth in babies
Why does teething cause diarrhea?
Diarrhea is a very common symptom that can originate in different parts of the digestive tract. When teething (i.e. when the first teeth break through the gums) there is an increased production of saliva in the mouth. The saliva is swallowed down to a large extent, but “drooling” teething children typically produce more saliva due to the high salivary flow.
The portion of saliva that is swallowed down can now change the digestion in the intestine. This can result in a different stool composition with a larger amount of fluid, which can lead to diarrhoea. The color of the bowel movement can also change, and in rare cases, the odor can also change.
The swallowed saliva not only has an influence on the digestion. The baby’s saliva must also be excreted again. This can make itself felt in the form of slimy to liquid deposits on the diarrhea. In addition, many children generally react to teething with changes in the digestive tract, so that the intestines produce more liquid stool, also due to the general irritation.
How do I distinguish diarrhea caused by teething from an infection?
In contrast to teething, an infection is often accompanied by other symptoms. For example, gastrointestinal infections often cause fever (when teething, increased body temperatures may occasionally occur, but in most cases these do not exceed the limit of fever = 38.5°C). In addition, children with a gastrointestinal infection usually have ǘbel smelly diarrhea.
In addition, the bowel movement can take on a greenish or yellowish color. When teething, a lighter coloration of the stool with mucilaginous deposits would rather be expected. Both when teething and with infections, children are often cranky and not very lively.
They also often have less appetite than usual. However, the appetite is reduced when teething because of the unpleasant to painful feeling in the mouth. With gastrointestinal infections, on the other hand, children show increased sensitivity in the abdomen.
