The black diarrhea in babies | The black diarrhea

The black diarrhea in babies

Babies still have a shorter intestinal passage and less stool volume, so an amount of dye ingested with food is more important. A discoloration of the stool can therefore occur more quickly. It should also be noted that babies naturally have more frequent bowel movements, and the definition of diarrhea is therefore different from that of older children and adults: babies are only referred to as diarrhea when they have five or more liquid stools. However, black coloration in diarrhea can always be caused by bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. If the black diarrhea occurs in a baby for the first time or without a recognizable cause, medical advice should still be sought.

Black diarrhea in children

In children – similar to babies – the intestinal passage is even shorter than in adults. Accordingly, children’s bodies react more quickly to overloading with colorants or dietary supplements such as iron tablets. Black diarrhea in children is therefore not fundamentally pathological or in need of therapy.

However, medical advice should be sought – as with such complaints at any age – and bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract should be ruled out if black diarrhea is noticed in the child. This is especially true if these symptoms last longer than several days to a whole week.

All articles in this series:

  1. The black diarrhea
  2. The gastrointestinal bleeding as cause
  3. Which black diarrhea needs treatment?
  4. The black diarrhea in babies