The baby’s digestive function is immature, if the mother is not fed or cared for properly, it will easily cause the baby’s diarrhea. What is diarrhea? Diarrhea is a group of diseases characterized by an increase in the number of stools and changes in stool characteristics caused by a variety of pathogens and factors. The disease has a high incidence and is one of the leading causes of death in children under five years of age. Diarrhea can be classified according to the course of the disease: acute diarrhea: the course of the disease ≤ 2 weeks; prolonged diarrheal disease: the course of the disease for 2 weeks ~ 2 months; chronic diarrhea: the course of the disease > 2 months. How to tell if your baby has diarrhea? When the baby’s stool changes in character (watery, burnt stool, mucus, pus and blood) and the number of stools is more frequent than usual, it suggests that the baby has diarrhea. The main effects of diarrhea on your baby’s health When your baby has diarrhea and vomits, he or she will easily lose too many body fluids and become dehydrated, and infants are more likely to become dehydrated when they have diarrhea. How to recognize the severity of dehydration in babies? 1, when the baby has mild to moderate dehydration can appear the following signs: play less than usual, urinate less often than usual (for infants, less than 6 wet diapers per day, suggesting a decrease in urine output), dry lips, cry with fewer tears, fontanel sunken. 2, when the baby occurs severe dehydration can appear the following manifestations: irritability or obvious lethargy, eyes, fontanel obviously sunken, cold hands and feet, urine reduced to only 1 ~ 2 times a day. Home care and treatment of diarrhea? 1. Give your baby early supplementation with appropriate fluids available at home, including oral rehydration solution to prevent dehydration. 2. Continue feeding (or increase breastfeeding) during diarrhea if there is no vomiting, and increase feedings after your baby has diarrhea. 3. Recognize the degree of dehydration and bring your baby to the doctor promptly for treatment with new ORS or intravenous electrolyte replacement solution. 4.Treat your baby with zinc supplementation as soon as possible after he/she is able to eat, with a dose of 20mg/day for 10-14 consecutive days for babies older than 6 months and 10mg/day for babies younger than 6 months. 5.Avoid giving your baby fruit juice or high sugar drinks. What are the conditions that need to take the baby to the hospital in time? 1. Intense diarrhea, frequent stools or large amount of diarrhea; 2. Inability to eat and drink normally; 3. Frequent vomiting and inability to give medication orally; 4. Fever (temperature >38℃ in infants <3 months, >39℃ in toddlers from 3 to 36 months); 5. Obvious thirst and signs of dehydration found, such as sunken eye sockets, few tears, dry mucous membranes or decreased urine output, etc., and altered mental status, such as irritability, apathy, drowsiness, etc.; 6, Blood in the feces; 7. Age <6 months, preterm infants, history of chronic diseases or comorbidities. What methods can be used to prevent diarrhea? 1.For most infectious diarrhea, it is often caused by the hands touching the infectious agent and then touching the mouth. Therefore, good hand hygiene, after toileting, after changing diapers, before handling food and before eating should use hand sanitizer to thoroughly clean the hands in order to effectively remove the hand pathogenic bacteria, is an important way to prevent infectious diarrhea. 2, give the baby rotavirus vaccination. Vaccination can prevent rotavirus-induced diarrhea and vomiting in infants and young children. 3.Promote breastfeeding throughout infancy.