Any obstruction to the removal of residual food from the small intestine or colon leads to many health problems in children. Intestinal obstruction in children can be one-off, but can also be chronic, in which case it requires specialised treatment and is very often associated with a change in the child's diet.

Causes and symptoms of bowel obstruction in children

Intestinal obstruction (constipation) is nothing more than a mechanical obstruction in the digestive tract involving the bowel. In children, this occurs when the intestinal contents cannot be freely expelled (do not move through the digestive tract). Many parents refer to this as intestinal torsion. There are many causes of intestinal obstruction in children, ranging from an abnormal diet to bowel closure, inflammation in the abdominal cavity, abdominal adhesions or an incarcerated hernia. Symptoms indicative of bowel obstruction in children include:

• gas retention
• retention of stool;
• stabbing and twisting abdominal pains, very often occurring and then subsiding and reappearing;
• lack of bowel movement for three or four days;
• hard abdomen;
• vomiting;
• nausea;
• abdominal bloating;
• difficulty or complete inability to defecate despite feeling a push;
• occasionally diarrhoea is also a symptom.

photo: panthermedia

Very often, these symptoms are accompanied by an unwillingness to eat and weakened intestinal peristalsis. A child with a suspected intestinal obstruction should be taken to hospital as soon as possible and referred to the surgical ward.