When is the right time to do a child's stool examination?

The existence of problems in the digestive system of children sometimes cannot be detected with the naked eye. Various examinations are needed to ensure the health condition of the child's body, one of which is through a fecal examination. As with other types of medical examinations, it is also recommended that a stool test be carried out at a certain time when it is needed. So, when should your little one undergo a stool test?

What is a stool examination?

Stool examination is a test that makes the stool the main sample to make it easier to diagnose if there are problems with digestion. Although it is often considered as waste that needs to be removed, feces can actually provide important information about the health condition of the body.

Whether it attacks the intestines, stomach, rectum, or other parts of the digestive system. Normally, the stool that leaves the body is not accompanied by blood.

However, if this happens, it is a sign that something is wrong with the child's digestive system. That is why a stool examination is needed in children, especially to diagnose disorders of the digestive system.

This is because viruses, bacteria, and parasites that enter the body can develop and endanger children's health. It is not impossible, children can experience diarrhea accompanied by the appearance of blood in the stool.

When is the best time for children to have a stool examination?

Doctors usually will only recommend the child to do a stool examination when the child's body's natural stool contains blood. Or when the child has severe diarrhea that has been going on for a long time and doesn't go away.

However, the exact time the child performs this examination cannot be determined just like that. It is the doctor who will suggest the best time for the examination according to the health condition that is being experienced by the child.

Furthermore, this stool examination will help assess whether these types of bacteria, viruses, or parasites can infect the digestive tract, especially the intestines.

In fact there are many microscopic organisms such as good bacteria, which live in the intestines to facilitate the process of digestion of food. However, it will be a different story if the intestines are infected with dangerous bacteria, viruses, or parasites.

This condition can certainly lead to health problems that are not trivial. On this basis, it is important to do fecal examination in children. Various health problems that can be detected through a stool examination include:

Allergy or inflammation in the body, for example when a child has an allergy to cow's milk.
Digestive tract infections due to bacterial, viral, or parasitic attacks.
Indigestion due to difficulty digesting sugar, fat, or certain other nutrients.
Blood appears in the digestive tract due to ulcers or other problems

Apart from analyzing the blood, the stool sample also checks the contents in it, for example the fat content. Supposedly, fat is digested completely in the intestine so that the feces that leave the body will not contain fat.

However, in certain conditions, fat is difficult to absorb completely. In the end, the stool that comes out still contains fat in it. The results of this stool examination are then used by doctors to help diagnose a disease.

In some cases, this stool examination can also be accompanied by other medical tests to confirm the child's health condition.

How to do a child's stool examination?

The stool test is carried out by placing a loose plastic wrap on the edge of the toilet or to be precise underneath. So when a child defecates, the feces can immediately be accommodated in the plastic. Use gloves to pick up the plastic, then seal it tightly.

The health worker will examine the stool sample in the laboratory, and the results will come out for approximately 3-4 days. Several things that are assessed in the examination of children's feces, such as:

Check for blood in the stool

The appearance of stool in the stool is usually caused by diarrhea or bleeding in the digestive tract. However, in less dangerous cases, blood can also be caused by strong pressure when pushing, causing injury to the anus.

This test to test blood in the stool is called the fecal occult blood test (FOBT).

Check the types of bacteria that cause disease

A stool sample in the laboratory can be cultured to detect the growth of disease-causing bacteria. This process is carried out for approximately 48-72 hours, by placing the stool sample into an incubator.

If the result is negative, this means that there are no bad bacteria growing in the stool. In other words, the child's body is free from disease caused by bacteria.

Check for parasites

If your child has symptoms of intestinal disease or diarrhea that don't go away, a stool examination will help detect any eggs or parasites that have developed.

When the result is positive, it means that there is indeed a parasitic infection in the child's body.