What is a Normal Bowel Movement in a Child

Featuring Dr. David Israel, BSc, MD, FRCPC

Duration: 1 minute, 22 seconds

The normal part of bowel motion is very diverse from a child to a child from an adult to adult.

And what we need to know that 95% of children would have a bowel motion at least every other day, if not more frequent than that.

While saying that, having bowel motion every three or four days, if you have no other symptoms, and if you're comfortable, that may be normal too, especially if we're talking about babies, or breastfed babies. They can go for more than a week without bowel motion and still pass soft, normal stool.

So it's not just the frequency, it's the whole picture that we want to look at. There is no one and only normal bowel motion that is perfect. Most people have soft to firm stools that are very easy to eliminate. One go to the washroom, stay there for five or ten minutes and relieve themselves with no difficulty, that would be normal.

Anything different, if it's excessively loose or explosive or gassy or if it's very difficult to eliminate, should be thought as something they should be questioning and inquiring and discuss with a family physician.

Presenter: Dr. David Israel, Pediatrician, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Pediatrician