BABY DIARRHEA

Too frequent and watery bowel movements are known as Diarrhea. Mostly caused by virus, other reasons for diarrhea in a baby can be an allergy, a bacterial infection or medication. The dangerous thing is that diarrhea can cause dehydration. It is normal in newborns to have 12 small bowel movements a day that reduce to about once a day by 3 months. A sudden increase in frequency of infant's bowel movements along with its water content can be diarrhea. In case of diarrhea, babies need as much feeding as they like. Consult your doctor about giving the baby Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) to restore fluids and essential electrolytes like sodium and potassium in the baby.

Tell the doctor about the baby stool frequency, color and other details for better diagnosis. Visit the doctor immediately, if the baby has bloody diarrhea, high fever, bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain or dehydration or the baby is vomiting or losing weight. You can identify dehydration by symptoms such as dry eyes and mouth, lethargy and fewer wet diapers. For older infants and young children who eat solids, you should give lots of liquids and fluids and small amounts of food that combine fiber and fat as both these contents bulk up the stool and slow down the frequency of diarrhea. Thus, water loss with stools is reduced and risk of dehydration is decreased too.

You may give yogurt to the baby as it contains bacteria that are good for digestion. Giving children oatmeal mixed in little milk or formula also helps in controlling diarrhea. Babies who are vomiting may be given clear fluids with salt and/or sugar such as diluted juice but steer clear of anti-diarrhea medications for babies less than a year old as they may hinder with the body processes of eliminating virus or bacteria through diarrhea and prolong the infection. They may also be harmful for children and have side effects.