Abstract

It has been commonly believed that children in developing countries pass stools that are very different from those of developed countries. A community based study on defecation frequency, stool weight, and consistency was conducted in a cohort of 300 Myanmar (Burmese) children aged 1 to 4 years. Most (80.3%) children opened their bowels daily and none passed more than three stools a day. The mean (SD) defecation frequency was 6.98 (1.94) times a week and total stool weight was 596 (221) g a week. The majority (61%) of children passed soft stools. At all ages, there was no significant difference in the defecation frequency, stool weight, and consistency between boys and girls, those on adult style diet and those partially weaned, and between age groups.