May 25, 2012
Topics A-Z Children's Health Toddler's diarrhoea
Toddler's diarrhoea |
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Dear Ask The Doctor: My son is going to be 3 in December. I can't remember when he has had a normal bowel movement. it's always run and most of the time green. today it was dark black. what could be wrong? Dear Christy:There is a wide variation of causes of diarrhea in this age group. These causes may range from dietary factors (excessive juice consumption), malabsorption diseases, infections or inflammatory bowel disease. Stools vary in colour depending on the foods ingested. Black stools can result from certain foods (blueberries, black liquorice), medications (iron supplementation or bismuth preparations) or rarely bleeding from the gastro-intestinal tract. I would advise attending your son’s family physician for a detailed history of the bowel movements, including timing of diarrhea, characteristics of the stool and associated symptoms including weight loss and a physical examination. He may perform routine blood tests and stool sampling to exclude any underlying organic disease. |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 06 August 2010 ) |
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