Recognize the four faces of fall diarrhea: Face one: the “everyman”. The virus that causes fall diarrhea is called “rotavirus” and has been the leading cause of acute diarrhea in children under the age of 5 for half a century. Face two: the “punctual gentleman”. I say it’s punctual because in Guangzhou autumn diarrhea strikes every October, November and December on time, and it usually attacks babies between 0.5 and 2 years old. Saying it is a gentleman means that when a baby encounters “it” for the first time, it may be aggressive and the baby’s diarrhea symptoms will be heavy; when the baby encounters it for the second time in the coming year, as it has already known, the autumn diarrhea will behave very gentle and tender, and the baby’s diarrhea symptoms tend to be lighter. Faces three: “fierce killer”. When faced with a baby suffering from fall diarrhea, doctors are most concerned not about the diarrhea, but about the baby’s dehydration and electrolyte disturbances due to diarrhea, and that excessive dehydration can cause shock and even death. Fall diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children, and on average, one child dies of fall diarrhea every 20 seconds worldwide. Face #4: “The thief who won’t go home empty-handed”. After experiencing a bout of fall diarrhea, babies tend to lose a significant amount of weight. Fall diarrhea is something that can steal a baby’s nutritional status, as well as a month of growth and development. Therefore after the baby is well, parents should pay attention to the baby’s nutritional supplement. Q: Why doesn’t the doctor prescribe antidiarrheal medicine when the baby has diarrhea a dozen times a day? A: Autumn diarrhea, which is common in children within 2 years of age, is caused by rotavirus infection, with an incubation period of 1-3 days, and starts with a fever of about 38 degrees Celsius, followed by vomiting and then diarrhea, with watery diarrhea, which can be 10-20 times a day in severe cases. There is no specific medicine for rotavirus. In outpatient clinics, parents often want doctors to prescribe medicines to stop their babies’ diarrhea immediately. However, rotavirus can damage the intestinal mucosa, so doctors will prescribe medication to protect the intestinal mucosa, such as Simethicone. Doctors are more concerned about preventing dehydration than stopping diarrhea, and will usually advise parents to drink more water for their babies. Q: I feed my baby plain water, but he just won’t drink it, what should I do? A: It is not necessary to stick to plain water, but drinks, porridge and soup can be given to your baby as long as he is willing to drink. Do not feed too much at a time, easy to cause baby resistance, to a small number of times, as long as there is an opportunity to let the baby drink. Compared with plain water, rice soup water with salt has a higher absorption rate and can replenish electrolytes and nutrients lost due to diarrhea. Alternatively, parents can also give their babies hypotonic oral rehydration salts with water prescribed by the doctor. Q: We went to the doctor yesterday and the baby is still pooping today, do we need to go back to the hospital? A: The criterion to determine whether you need to take your baby to the doctor again is not that your baby is still having diarrhea, but whether your baby has symptoms of dehydration. If your baby urinates significantly less than before, cries without tears, has dry skin and lips, has cold extremities, and has patterned skin, all indicate that your baby may be dehydrated and needs to be taken to the doctor immediately. The degree of dehydration will be assessed by the doctor. Babies who are severely dehydrated even need to be kept in the hospital, which may rapidly develop into shock and require immediate resuscitation. Q: Why does my baby’s little butt still ulcerate even though we wash it with water after every poop? A: Babies with fall diarrhea can poop 10-20 times a day in severe cases. Excessive washing and wiping may instead cause the baby’s skin to break down and subsequently cause infection. Since babies with fall diarrhea mainly have watery stools, use a soft tissue or cloth to gently wipe their little butts dry after they poop to keep their butts as dry as possible. Some families use a “magic lamp” to shine on the baby’s butt, but someone must be there to supervise and control the temperature and distance to avoid the baby being burned. Q: Old people say that if your baby has diarrhea, don’t give him anything to eat and let his stomach and intestines rest fully, it will get better faster. Does this make sense? A: The old concept that it is best to fast when you have diarrhea is not true. Babies can still eat when they have diarrhea, but it is best to choose foods that are easy to digest. Babies with fall diarrhea will vomit the first day and then turn to diarrhea symptoms, so it will not affect their appetite too much. After a bout of autumn diarrhea, babies tend to lose a significant amount of weight. Fall diarrhea is something that can steal the baby’s nutritional status, as well as a month of growth and development. Therefore parents should pay attention to the baby’s nutritional supplements after the baby has recovered from the illness. Q: Why does my baby still suffer from autumn diarrhea even after receiving rotavirus vaccination? A: After receiving rotavirus vaccination, babies may still get sick, but the symptoms are often mild, which is what we call the “gentlemanly” side of rotavirus. Therefore, you cannot say that the vaccine is useless. Q: A neighbor’s child had fall diarrhea but has recovered, can I let my baby play with him? A: It is also important to note that prevention of fall diarrhea does not depend only on the vaccine, but also on adequate measures. For example, “fecal-oral transmission” and “droplet transmission” are the main ways of transmission of autumn diarrhea, so during the high incidence of the disease, especially in the first month when the weather has just turned cool, you should take your baby less often to places with a lot of people, especially children of the same age. Babies are very active and love to suck their fingers, so you should pay attention to washing sofas, bed sheets, floors and other places often, especially to ensure that the toys your baby touches are not contaminated by feces, and that your child washes his hands after playing with toys.