Why does a baby have diarrhea?
Many mothers have been troubled by this question. They not only do not understand the real cause of a baby's diarrhea, but also do not know how to deal with it, so they hurriedly take the baby to the hospital. In fact, when encountering a baby with diarrhea, mothers should be bold and careful, and make a preliminary judgment on the baby's condition based on the symptoms of diarrhea. To learn how to judge the baby's condition, we must first understand the cause of the baby's diarrhea. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the main reasons for a baby's diarrhea are as follows:
The first reason for a baby's diarrhea: food or utensil contamination, causing the baby to eat food with bacteria and causing gastrointestinal infections.
Babies may also have diarrhea due to digestive disorders caused by diseases other than digestive tract diseases (such as colds, pneumonia, etc.). If it is acute viral or bacterial diarrhea, the stool is mostly yellow water-like or egg-drop-like, and it may be accompanied by fever, vomiting, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalance. What are the causes of a baby's diarrhea? In a few cases, there may be mucus or bloody stools, showing symptoms of infection, and this situation requires prompt medical attention.
The second reason for a baby's diarrhea: irregular feeding, excessive feeding frequency or excessive feeding amount.
Irregular feeding increases the burden on the gastrointestinal tract; adding complementary foods too quickly or consuming too many different foods, as well as eating too much greasy and residue-containing food, result in incomplete digestion of food; the stomach and intestines cannot form conditioned reflexes for timed secretion of digestive fluids, leading to reduced infant digestive function, and so on.
The third reason for a baby's diarrhea: excessive consumption of fruit juice
Drinking too much fruit juice (especially fruit juice containing sorbitol and high-concentration fructose) or too many sugary drinks may also make the baby's stomach uncomfortable and the stool loose. Giving the baby less of these foods should result in improvement within about a week. It is not recommended to give fruit juice to babies under 6 months old. After 6 months, the daily intake of fruit juice should not exceed about 113 to 170 milliliters. Improper preparation of formula milk can also cause a baby's diarrhea, so when preparing the milk, water should be added in proportion.
The fourth reason for a baby's diarrhea: diarrhea caused by exposure to cold
If the food the baby eats becomes cold, or if the environmental temperature is too low or too high, the child may also have diarrhea. Sudden changes in climate increase intestinal peristalsis due to coldness; hot weather reduces the secretion of digestive fluids; due to thirst, excessive sucking of milk increases the burden on the digestive tract, all of which can easily induce diarrhea. The stool is thin or watery, without pus, blood, or sour odor. If not controlled in time, it can easily lead to intestinal infections. Because the overall and gastrointestinal immune function of babies is relatively low, as long as the food or utensils are slightly contaminated, it can cause diarrhea. Babies with low resistance are prone to respiratory infections, which can also cause diarrhea when they have colds, pneumonia, otitis media, etc.
Analyzing the diarrhea of babies, pediatric diarrhea is a disease caused by multiple pathogens and causes. Most of the patients are babies under 2 years old, and infants aged 6 to 11 months are particularly susceptible. The peak of diarrhea mainly occurs from June to September and from October to January of the following year. Summer diarrhea is usually caused by bacterial infections and is characterized by mucous stools with a fishy smell; autumn diarrhea is mostly caused by rotavirus, and watery or porridge-like stools are common, but without a fishy smell.
The incidence of diarrhea is second only to acute respiratory tract infections, and if not treated in a timely and effective manner, the mortality rate is also high. The important cause of death is dehydration and electrolyte imbalance caused by diarrhea.
If the baby's bowel movements increase in frequency, the color and consistency of the stool change significantly, then mothers need to pay attention. Based on clinical manifestations, a baby's diarrhea can be classified as mild or severe. Knowing the cause of a baby's diarrhea, mothers must want to know the treatment methods for a baby's diarrhea! So, what should we do for a baby aged 0 to 1 year with diarrhea? Please continue reading!
Treatment method one for diarrhea in babies aged 0-1 year:
If the child's loose stool is relatively mild and there are no other symptoms, it is probably due to exposure to cold or slight indigestion. At this time, the child needs to be dressed warmly, especially his abdomen, to prevent coldness, and then drink a little salt water.
Treatment method two for diarrhea in babies aged 0-1 year:
Peel an apple, cut it into pieces, put it in a pot with a little water, boil it, pour out the apple soup after about five minutes, let it cool down, and give it to the child to drink; or you can directly squeeze apple juice, and then heat it slightly before giving it to the child to drink.
Treatment method three for diarrhea in babies aged 0-1 year:
If you want to feed the child something, you can consider temporarily feeding rice soup, and you can make carrot soup to go with the rice soup.
Treatment method four for diarrhea in babies aged 0-1 year:
Change the baby's diaper or diaper to a clean one at any time, thoroughly clean the baby's lower body with warm water, keep it clean, and even apply some antibacterial ointment.
Treatment method five for diarrhea in babies aged 0-1 year:
If the child has severe diarrhea, with frequent episodes and accompanied by vomiting, fever, and other abnormal conditions, then be sure to take the child to the hospital for examination and administer some nutritional fluids.
These are all the introductions from the author. I wish your baby a speedy recovery!
