The baby cries and has another watery pile in the diaper? Diarrhea in infants can have many different causes - poor diet, cystic fibrosis, an impending infection, virus or allergy. What should you know about baby diarrhea?
1. How do I know if my child has diarrhea?
Odiarrheauchildrenbottle-fed whenbabygives back more often than usual a few or a dozen liquid or semi-liquid stools with pathological contents, e.g. undigested food remains, blood, mucus or pus.
Breastfed babies suffer from diarrhea, when the baby is clearly producing more stools than usual. They can be watery, foamy, odorless, and sometimes blood-tinged or mucus-colored. Diarrhea in a child may be accompanied by fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, lack of appetite, malaise.
2. What causes diarrhea?
Very different, the most common are:
- viruses (almost half of the infections are caused by rotaviruses) and bacteria (e.g. staphylococci, Salmonella or E. coli), as well as parasites, including worms, e.g. lamella, pinworms, human roundworm
- stale food
- allergy to a dietary component or intolerance to e.g. cow's milk, lactose, gluten (proteins found in some grains, e.g. wheat or oats)
- dietary mistakes (e.g. giving the baby bloating vegetables)
- teething
- antibiotics (they eliminate the so-called good bacteria from the baby's digestive tract, thus disturbing the microbiological balance in the intestines)
- cystic fibrosis (a rare inherited disease)
- abnormal education of the large intestine
- diarrhea may also be a symptom of an impending infection.
3. How can you prevent diarrhea?
In order to prevent diarrhea, you must observe safe food storage (fridge, closed containers), careful preparation of meals and basic hygiene rules (wash your hands before each contact with the baby, especially before feeding or preparing a mixture, wash the bottles and dishes in hot water with detergent), carefully check the freshness of the food given to the child, do not allow contact with sick people.a protective preparation, e.g. Lakcid, Lacidofil, Trilac, which restores the proper composition of the intestinal microflora. Up to 6 months of age, babies can be vaccinated against rotavirus diarrhea (the vaccine is prescription).
4. Can diarrhea occur in different ways?
Yes, diarrhea could be:
- mild - more like indigestion; the child feels well, has no fever, does not vomit, has a few foamy, loose stools;
- medium-heavy - the toddler cries, makes from a few to a dozen watery poops a day, may have a fever and vomit;
- severe - the child vomits, refuses to drink, makes a dozen or so loose poop with a lot of mucus and gases, has a high temperature and symptoms of dehydration;
- toxic - the toddler passes a lot of stools with an admixture of blood or mucus during the day, has a high fever, vomits, is dehydrated;
- chronic - lasts longer than 10-14 days, the child passes a few watery stools a day, often immediately after eating, usually has poor appetite, abdominal distension, high gas.
5. Is diarrhea dangerous for babies?
Yes, because frequent stools, especially if it is accompanied by vomiting, makes the baby lose more fluid than he drinks. The body has less and less water and electrolytes necessary for proper functioning. Symptoms of dehydration are collapsed fontanel and eye sockets, crying without tears, dark urine followed by no saliva, no saliva, dry lips and tongue, pale, cool and not very flexible to the touch skin. If you notice signs of dehydration in your baby, see a doctor as soon as possible. Severe dehydration is life threatening. Any infant with diarrhea should be checked by a doctor (and any child under 2 years of age with severe diarrhea). He recommends proceeding. If the diarrhea is severe or toxic, your child must go to the hospital as soon as possible. There, he will be given an irrigation drip, which will provide his body with the right amount of water and electrolytes.
6. What do you need to change in your child's diet during diarrhea?
If you are feeding a formula, change to a dairy-free formula after consulting your doctor. Breast-feeding should not be stopped during diarrhea. For an older baby, you can serve vegetable soup with lean meat, mashed cooked carrots and potatoes mixed with a spoonful of chicken or veal meat, or rice gruel in water. Don't give sugar in any form, raw fruit, dairy or eggs.
7. How should you take care of the skin under a diaper?
It is easy to get chafing during diarrhea - then the stool is acidic, because ofwhich irritates the skin faster than usual. Therefore, check frequently, even every half an hour, whether there is another pile in the diaper. While changing your baby's bottom, wash your baby's bottom thoroughly, preferably with warm, boiled water, or with wet wipes, making sure that the remains of feces do not remain in the folds of the skin. Then dry it thoroughly and lubricate it with ointment or cream to prevent chafing. If, nevertheless, rash turns into diaper dermatitis, painful for the baby (it becomes very red, has small blemishes), a doctor's help will be required. The pediatrician will prescribe an antibiotic ointment for the baby. It is necessary to prevent infection. After all, irritated skin is constantly in contact with bacteria in urine and feces.
8. What should the baby drink then?
In the first four hours of diarrhea, the child must be watered with rehydration fluid (eg Gastrolit). The baby should drink a lot - it can be your milk, and if you are not feeding, boiled mineral water, chamomile or dill tea (unsweetened!). He must not be given regular tea. Juices are also inadvisable, because sugar enhances fermentation in the intestines. When your little one vomits, give him / her to drink frequently, but in small portions. Write down how much he has drunk and how many stools he has given so that the doctor can determine the indications for a possible drip.
9. Are there any preparations that can shorten diarrhea?
Yes, but babies are only allowed to give them after consulting a pediatrician. Probiotics are effective to shorten diarrhea and soothe vomiting, and preparations containing mineral s alts to prevent electrolyte loss. If your doctor determines that the diarrhea is caused by bacteria, he or she will prescribe an antibiotic or a sulphonamide. If parasites are the cause, he will prescribe anti-parasitic drugs.
"M jak mama" monthly