Almost every baby has experienced diarrhea more than once, especially younger babies. Therefore, diarrhea is one of the most common "four diseases of childhood" for babies. When babies have vomiting and diarrhea, mothers are very worried and wish their babies could recover quickly! So, what should you do when your baby has diarrhea? What are the symptoms of baby diarrhea? What foods are good for babies with diarrhea? Today, I will answer these questions one by one for all the mothers!
Reasons why babies are prone to diarrhea?
1. Because babies aged 1-2 years grow rapidly, their bodies require more nutrients and calories. However, their digestive organs are not fully developed, and they secrete fewer digestive enzymes. Therefore, their digestion ability is weaker, making them prone to diarrhea.
2. Because the nervous system has poor regulation function on the gastrointestinal tract, any slight change in diet, such as not adapting to added complementary foods, adding too many types of food in a short period of time, feeding too much at once, sudden weaning; or improper diet, such as eating indigestible protein foods; low temperature accelerating intestinal peristalsis, too hot weather reducing secretion of digestive fluid, large temperature difference in autumn, and easily catching a cold, all can cause diarrhea.
3. Because the overall immune system and gastrointestinal immune system are relatively weak, any slight contamination of food or utensils can cause diarrhea; babies with low resistance are prone to respiratory infections, and when they have a cold, pneumonia, or otitis media, they can also have diarrhea.
When your baby has these symptoms of diarrhea, mothers need to pay attention.
When your baby has symptoms of diarrhea:
1. Mild symptoms: The baby has 5-8 bowel movements a day, possibly accompanied by slight fever or vomiting. The stool is yellowish-green, sticky, and resembles egg drop soup. The baby may also have slight abdominal distension and increased bowel sounds.
2. Moderate diarrhea: The baby has 10 bowel movements a day, with watery stools that have a sour and foul odor. The baby may also have a moderate fever.
3. Severe symptoms: Frequent diarrhea, with 8-15 bowel movements a day, watery and abundant stools with a sour and foul odor. The baby may be irritable, sleepy, listless, and may even experience coma, convulsions, blood and mucus in the stool, sunken anterior fontanelle, dry skin and lips, etc.
4. Some patients may experience obvious dehydration, acidosis, and electrolyte imbalances, such as low potassium or magnesium. Most cases of baby diarrhea are caused by improper feeding and dietary imbalance, so the following methods can not only provide nutrition but also stop diarrhea.
What should you do when your baby has diarrhea
The main causes of baby diarrhea are digestive tract infections and digestive dysfunction caused by misuse of medication. When faced with diarrhea in newborns, new parents need to know how to handle it.
1. Strengthen buttock care: Diapers should be changed in a timely manner. After each bowel movement, clean the baby's buttocks with warm water, and then apply some vegetable oil or tannic acid ointment to protect the skin and prevent diaper rash.
2. Avoid excessive use of antibiotics and antidiarrheal drugs: Most autumn diarrhea is caused by viruses, and antibiotics are often ineffective. Moreover, diarrhea itself helps to eliminate viruses and toxins from the body. If antidiarrheal drugs are used, the viruses and their metabolites may be absorbed by the intestinal wall, aggravating the symptoms of poisoning.
3. Feed on a regular schedule and in a fixed amount: You can give the baby some apple juice and carrot water to help reduce excessive moisture in the intestines.
4. Pay attention to climate changes, adjust clothing in a timely manner, and keep the abdomen warm. After each bowel movement, clean the baby's anal area with warm water, change the diaper frequently, and handle the stool promptly and wash hands to prevent repeated infection.
What foods are good for babies with diarrhea
1. Adjust the diet: If a breastfed baby has diarrhea, do not stop breastfeeding easily. At this time, you can shorten the duration of each feeding and let the baby drink only 1/2 to 2/3 of the milk, because the first half of breast milk mainly contains substances such as protein. The second half of breast milk mainly contains substances such as fat, which is not easily digested. Therefore, you can squeeze out this part of the milk and discard it. If the baby is fed with milk, it is not suitable to feed whole milk at this time, but skim milk instead. Skim milk can be made at home by boiling milk and cooling it down, then using a chopstick to remove the layer of cream on the surface and repeating this process three times. However, after the baby's diarrhea improves, it is not recommended to continue feeding skim milk to avoid malnutrition.
2. Foods that help stop diarrhea:
- Rice soup: Grind rice flour or rice cake into powder, fry until it turns yellow, add an appropriate amount of water and sugar, then cook it into a paste. When rice flour is mixed with water and heated, it becomes a paste extract. This extract is easily digestible, and its carbonized structure has good adsorption and antidiarrheal effects.
- Carrot soup: Carrots are alkaline foods. The pectin they contain can promote the formation of stool, and they can adsorb bacteria and toxins on the intestinal mucosa. Carrot soup can be made by washing the carrots, cutting them in half, removing the stems, cutting them into small pieces, boiling them until soft, filtering the residue with gauze, and finally adding water (500 grams of carrots to 1000 grams of water) and sugar and boiling it.
- Apple puree: Apples are also alkaline foods. They contain pectin and tannic acid, which have adsorption, astringent, and antidiarrheal effects. Take a fresh, soft-textured apple, cut it in half, and scrape it into a puree with a spoon.
Baby diarrhea often threatens the baby's daily life and causes panic for mothers. Many mothers do not know what to do when their baby has diarrhea. In fact, mothers do not need to be too afraid. Baby diarrhea is a very common condition. I have already provided solutions to the symptoms of baby diarrhea, what to do when your baby has diarrhea, and what foods are good for babies with diarrhea. I hope these can be helpful to all the mothers.
