Digestive System for Kids
On this page we answer everything you want to know about the digestive system. How does the digestive system work? Is it true we are what we eat? How does the body store energy? What does the digestive system look like inside? How does the body break down food? What happens in our body if we eat junk food? Are there really germs in our guts? Why do we fart? What’s poop supposed to look like? Why do some kids use the toilet more often? Watch the videos below to find out the answers to these questions and more!
Journey inside your body to see how digestion works
Doctor: I’m Dr. Lara Hart, a gastroenterologist, which means I specialize in the digestive tract. Do you have any questions?
Girl: Doctor, people say that we are what we eat. Is that true?
Doctor: It’s kind of true. When you eat food, your digestive system breaks it down into tiny parts, known as nutrients. Vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and carbohydrates are types of nutrients. Once your digestive system breaks them down into small enough parts, they go from your digestive tract, often called the gut, to your blood, where your body can use them to build or repair muscles, bones, skin, and every other part of you!
Boy: Okay, that’s cool.
Doctor: You get energy from some of those nutrients, which your body can use right away to walk, run, dance, talk, and even to keep your heart beating and lungs breathing. And if you don’t use the energy right away, your body can store it for later.
Boy: Wait, but how does the body store energy?
Doctor: It stores it in your liver and, for the longer term, in your fat cells. That way, you still have energy even if you haven’t eaten recently.
Girl: What does the digestive system look like?
Doctor: It is one long winding tube that starts at your mouth, enters the esophagus, the stomach, then small and large intestines, and ends at your bum, where waste comes out as poop. Your stomach and intestines do most of the work breaking down food and using its nutrients, but there are many other organs and processes involved.
Boy: How does it break down food?
Doctor: It begins with your mouth, where your teeth tear and crush food into smaller parts and your saliva moistens it until it is small and smooth enough to be swallowed. When you swallow, the esophagus pushes food down into your stomach by contracting and relaxing in a wave-like pattern called peristalsis.
Boy: What happens to food in the stomach?
Doctor: Here, super strong acid and special types of proteins called enzymes help break down the food and your strong stomach muscles squeeze and crush the food, even though you don’t feel this happening. At this point, the food looks like a gross smoothie. We call this chyme, and it continues its journey by moving into the small intestine and then into the large intestine.
Girl: So, how long does it take to finish?
Doctor: In healthy kids, it usually takes a day from when you swallow food to when you poop out the waste, but it could take as long as three days.
Girl: Three days!
Doctor: Yes, food spends about two to five hours in your stomach. Then two to six hours in the small intestine, which releases more enzymes to finish breaking down the food. Throughout the small intestine, nutrients move from the gut to the blood. Since a lot of liquid is left over, the large intestine’s job is to finish absorbing the water, which your body uses, peeing out the excess. There are also many good bacteria here, and they help digest any remaining food. It takes ten hours to two days to go through your large intestine, which is also called the colon. Anything left over in your colon after your body takes what it needs leaves your body as poop.
Boy: How can I keep my digestive tract healthy?
Doctor: If you eat nutritious foods, then this will give you a good chance for better overall health. To keep your digestive tract working well, make sure you exercise, drink water, and eat plenty of healthy foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, fish, and lean meat such as chicken.
Girl: What about if we eat junk food?
Doctor: Sugary and fried foods aren’t very nutritious, so it’s best not to eat too many of these.
Doctor: That’s all the time we have for today kids.
Girl & Boy: Thank you, Doctor Hart.
Doctor: Your parents can learn more by visiting badgut.org and they can donate to the Gastrointestinal Society if they wish.
What’s poop supposed to look like? And other questions
Doctor: I’m Dr. Lara Hart, a gastroenterologist, which means I specialize in the digestive tract. Do you have any questions?
Boy: Are there really germs in our guts?
Doctor: Yes, in your digestive system there are many microorganisms, such as bacteria, and other germs, which are so tiny you can only see them with a powerful microscope. Some are good. They help us digest food, make vitamins, and offer other benefits. Others can make us sick if too many live in our digestive tract. Ideally, the good ones and bad ones live in harmony together.
Doctor: Eating foods high in fibre, such as veggies and fruit, can feed the good bacteria so they can fight off the bad ones.
Girl: Why do we fart?
Doctor: Passing gas, or farting, many times a day is normal. For example, if you swallow air by drinking through a straw, it must come out somewhere. If you don’t burp, it will come out the other end as farts. Bacteria that live in your gut also make smelly gas.
Boy: My poop looks weird sometimes, what’s it supposed to look like?
Doctor: Your poop can tell you a lot about your health. Normal poops are soft, shaped like a log, and pass with no pain. However, some people have diarrhea, which is when your poops are mushy and watery, and you might feel gut pain and use the toilet a lot.
Doctor: Some people have constipation, which is when poops are too hard and dry and it can take a long time for you to go, with lots of straining and pushing. They can be small like rabbit pellets or wide and clog the toilet.
Girl: One of my friends uses the washroom a lot, but I didn’t want to embarrass them by asking them why.
Doctor: It’s normal to have diarrhea or constipation now and then, but people with digestive conditions have them most of the time. I’m not sure if it is the case with your friend, but for kids with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, for example, they have an inflamed digestive tract and painful poops can rule their day.
Girl: That must be hard.
Doctor: Yes, it can be. Sometimes kids with these inflammatory bowel diseases miss school or other fun activities because they aren’t feeling well. They stay in the hospital sometimes too and might need medication to feel better.
Doctor: Some children have cyclic vomiting syndrome, which causes them to throw up if they’re stressed, and other kids have irritable bowel syndrome, a chronic functional condition, which might make them have constipation, or diarrhea, or both.
Doctor: That’s why it’s important to be kind to one another, because you never know what your friends or classmates might be going through.
Girl & Boy: Thank you, Doctor Hart.
Doctor: Your parents can learn more by visiting badgut.org and they can donate to the Gastrointestinal Society if they wish.