Diarrhea in children: What is it & how to cure through foods

Diarrhea occurs when your child has frequent, loose or watery stools. Often, diarrhea in children caused by a virus that infects the lining of the intestines. We can define it as an increase in volume or frequency of bowel habits along with an increase in stool consistency. Sometimes a bacterial or parasitic infection can cause diarrhea in children. It can also occur by ingestion of certain foods, drinks or antibiotics.

Diarrhea in children

Children often suffer from diarrhea. Diarrhea is not a disease itself but a symptom of infection caused by a germ, bacteria, virus or toxin. You should increase in children the dose of antibiotic and lactose intolerance. A common cause of diarrhea in children is, change in the intestinal tract that may also be due to ingesting contaminated food or water.

A child has diarrhea, goes to the bathroom more often than normal. And his/her bowel movements are more “watery” and in some cases may have a fever or vomiting. Usually colitis in a child can be controlled and improved in a few days. If it’s not treated properly, can lead to serious consequences such as dehydration, furthermore in few cases, death. Diarrhea in children can also be caused by any condition that affects the absorption of food in the intestines.

Signs and symptoms of severe diarrhea

Severe diarrhea can be harmful because it causes dehydration. Dehydration is the loss of fluid in the body. Babies can lose a lot of fluid very quickly. Signs of dehydration may include:

Dry mouth

Fewer tears to mourn

Sunken eyes

Often not urinating (peeing) as usual

Dark urine

Fontanelle (the “soft spot” on top of the baby’s head) sunk in infants less than one year

Weakness

Diarrhea in children can last from one to seven days. In this time, give your child to drink copious amounts of water to prevent dehydration. Your child should be eating to stay healthy. During the first months of life, it is normal that many of these babies have very soft stools. If there is a sudden increase in the number of bowel movements, it may be like the baby is having diarrhea, among other signs of diarrhea stools containing mucus or blood count. The foul-smelling stools can also be a sign of diarrhea. If you think your baby has diarrhea continue to breastfeed, but do it more often. Do not stop breastfeeding when the baby has diarrhea.

If diarrhea is severe or if you notice signs of dehydration can provide an oral rehydration solution such as Pedialyte. Give Pedialyte before meals or after meals. The oral rehydration solution shouldn’t replace breast milk.

If the baby does not take to the breast milk, use a dropper to give expressed breast milk or oral rehydration solution. Give 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of expressed breast milk or oral solution every 3 minutes rehydration. Increase the amount as tolerated. If the baby is not thrown up in the course of 4 hours, try feeding again.

Pectin foods are the most recommended for children suffering from diarrhea. Avoid sweets, artificial juices and energy drinks. Feed them healthy, (fiber foods ), including fruits like guava, pear, apple, cooked carrot, banana. In addition, you can include foods that are easily digested and absorbed, for example, refined cereals, precooked noodles and toast.

Other recommendation by specialists to control diarrhea foods are tea, potato, pumpkin, chicken broth, tomato soup, pasta, bananas, garlic, liver, boiled fish (salmon), grilled meat, peach juice or stewed fruits.

Note: It is important to feed foods in small volume and in fraction.