Overview
Intussusception is a serious condition in young children where one part of the bowel slides into the next, like a telescope folding in on itself. This blocks the bowel and can cut off its blood supply. It is a medical emergency that classically causes sudden, severe waves of tummy pain in an otherwise healthy infant or toddler.
Symptoms
- Sudden episodes of severe tummy pain, often with the child drawing up the knees
- Pain that comes in waves with calm periods in between
- Vomiting, sometimes green-coloured
- Stools that look like red currant jelly (mucus and blood)
- Becoming pale, floppy, drowsy, or unusually sleepy
Causes & risk factors
- One segment of bowel sliding into the adjacent segment
- Often no clear cause, sometimes following a viral illness
- Occasionally a lead point such as a swollen lymph node or polyp
- Most common in infants and toddlers, especially under two years
Treatment & self-care
This is an emergency requiring immediate hospital assessment. Care generally involves urgent imaging and a procedure to reduce the bowel back into place, with surgery if needed, all directed by hospital specialists. Seek emergency care without delay if it is suspected.
See a doctor urgently if
- Your child has sudden, severe, repeated episodes of tummy pain — seek emergency care
- You see red, jelly-like stool or blood in the nappy or stool — emergency
- Your child is vomiting repeatedly, especially if green — emergency
- Your child becomes pale, floppy, very drowsy, or hard to wake — emergency
- Your child has a swollen, tender, or hard tummy — emergency
This condition can be an emergency. If any of the signs above are severe or getting worse, go to the nearest emergency room now or call your local emergency number — do not wait for an online consultation.