Know more about prebiotics, your weapon against your child’s bowel complaints

When it comes to children, bowel movement problem is not something parents joke about. In fact, most of the mums would agree that they end up having a discussion about it at least once a day. An infant may not pass stools for a few days without being overtly affected. However, once they start having solids, constipation causes a lot of distress.

Hard stools can cause injury to the delicate digestive system of the baby. This may lead to anxiety when it comes to passing stools. Likewise, the other end of the spectrum might be traumatic for the children too. After they are potty-trained, it becomes distressing to go to the toilet frequently. Many times, this is accompanied by pain in the abdomen. This causes them a similar type of anxiety.

Bowel movement problem: Impact of FGIDs on families

Functional Gastrointestinal Disturbances like regurgitation, infantile colic and constipation are quite common in childhood. In fact, 1 in 2 children suffers from some form of FGID in the first few years of life^1,2.

This causes a significant effect on the family. It increases the hospital visits, sleep disturbances in babies and the family members, not to mention the stress it adds to the life of working parents. Mums, have you not tried everything just to make the baby stop crying?

But this is not all. Recent evidence suggests that babies who suffer from FGIDS early in life tend to suffer from gastrointestinal disturbances in late childhood as well³.

Bowel movement problem: What is the role of prebiotics in all this?

You may have heard about probiotics. Well, prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that promote a healthy microbial flora in the intestines. You heard us right. Bacteria are important to maintain the health of the intestine. In fact, some useful bacteria are known to produce Vitamins in the body!

One such prebiotic mixture is galacto-oligosaccharide, long-chain fructo-oligosaccharide

(GOS-LcFOS). GOS-LcFOS are found in special baby formulas. It is one of the most studied prebiotic that helps in the formation of soft, bulky stools.

The oligosaccharide mixture passes undigested to the intestines. There, it is processed upon by the good bacteria in our intestines. This leads to the addition and retention of water in the stools. The digestion of the oligosaccharides by the bacteria leads to the formation of gas, making the stools lighter. In addition, there is a formation of short-chain fatty acids. These help in the peristaltic movement of the bowels.  

The prebiotic GOS-lcFOS mixture works in three ways.

• It strengthens the barrier of the intestine. This prevents harmful bacteria from entering easily in the blood stream⁴.
• It also promotes flourishing of the good bacteria in the intestines. This, in turn, prevents the proliferation of harmful bacteria, thereby maintaining the health of the gut^5,6.
• And lastly, and most importantly, they provide the necessary roughage for the stools to be formed. This results in a consistent soft bowel motion, avoiding distress to the baby⁶.

The results are apparent. Soon after the introduction of this prebiotic in the children, the stools become more consistent. Thus, it corrects both constipation and diarrhoea.

Ensuring good bowel motion in children

Here are 3 things parents should do to ensure that the bowel movements are proper

1# Diet

Ensure that the child has a balanced diet. He needs adequate roughage to form good stools. So, don’t forget to include fruits and vegetables in the diet. Certain foodstuffs cause either constipation or more frequent stools in individuals. Keep a food history journal to see if your baby has any kind of intolerance towards any particular food ingredient.

2# fluids

Ensure that the baby gets plenty of water and fluids. This will keep your child from developing hard stools. If the stools are hard, try introducing a few sips of water with every meal.

3# Use prebiotics

Prebiotics, especially GOS-LcFOS are proven to improve the quality of stools. This leads to an overall improvement in the quality of life of the child and in turn, makes the mother’s life easier. Mamil has a patented GOS-lcFOS mixture(9:1). This has shown not only to improve the bowel movement of your child but also has proven effective against allergies.

So, mums, what are you waiting for? Switch to Mamil today and notice the difference in your baby’s bowel movements.

References:

1. Iacono G, et al. Dig Liver Dis, 37(6): 432–8, 2005.
2. Vandenplas Y, et al. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr, 61(5): 531–7, 2015
3. Partty A, et al. JAMA Pediatr, 167: 977–8, 2013.
4. J Knol et al. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 2005; 40:36-42 
5. J Knol et al. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 2003; 36:130 
6. Moro et al. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 2002; 34:291-295