Time of Passage of First Stool in Newborns in a Tertiary Health Facility in Southern Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: The first stool passed by the newborn, the meconium, is different from the ordinary stool both in its nature and its implication. Delayed or non.passage of the meconium may represent a number of clinical conditions. In this study, we sought to identify what should be considered delayed passage of meconium in our babies.

Aims and Objectives: To investigate the timing of passage of first stool in Nigerian neonates and whether it is influenced by gender, birth weight, maternal age, and parity.

Materials and Methods: A proforma was designed to obtain the following data: Maternal age, parity, mode of delivery, Apgar score at 1 min, birth weight, gender, and interval between delivery and passage of first
stool among normal newborn babies delivered at the obstetrics department of our center in August and September 2010.

Results: One hundred babies out of 393 delivered during the period of the study were included in the study. There were 63 (63%) males and 37 (37%) females. The interval between delivery and passage of meconium ranged from 0.5 to 54 h; mean, 16.2 (SD = 10.57). This was not  influenced by gender, weight, maternal age, and parity.

Conclusion: Non.passage of meconium beyond 48 h of life could be considered delayed. We therefore, recommend that clinicians should re.evaluate newborns, for hitherto unrecognized conditions, if after 48 h
they have not passed first stool.

Keywords: First stool, meconium, nigerian newborns, timing