With the passing of summer, it means that the season has entered autumn, so the autumn diarrhea that makes babies suffer every year and makes moms anxious is about to make a comeback! Today we will talk about autumn diarrhea, so that more mothers can understand it and do a good job in preventing and caring for their babies, so that they can avoid diarrhea.
What is autumn diarrhea?
Fall diarrhea, also known as rotavirus enteritis, is an acute infectious disease of the digestive tract caused by rotavirus. The pathogen is mainly transmitted through the digestive tract, mainly in infants and young children, and is often caused by group A rotavirus.
Characteristics of autumn diarrhea
1, the onset of rapid, fever, cough, runny nose “cold” symptoms.
2, the day of onset of frequent vomiting, vomiting stomach contents and milk.
3, diarrhea within 24 hours, as little as five or six times a day to more than a dozen times, thin stools, clear water-like or egg-flake soup-like, sometimes white rice soup-like, more than no special fishy smell.
The main causes of diarrhea in autumn
1, rotavirus infection: autumn diarrhea is mainly due to rotavirus infection. The source of infection comes from patients, latent infections and people with the virus. Acute phase of the child’s stool contains a large number of viruses, the most amount of virus discharge on the 3rd-4th day after the disease. Rotavirus is highly contagious and can be transmitted through close contact or epidemic.
2. Immaturity of digestive system: Infants and children have immature digestive system, poor enzyme activity, but relatively high nutritional needs and heavy intestinal burden. If improperly fed, it can cause disorders of digestive function, leading to diarrhea.
3, Immune function is not mature: infants and young children’s nervous system, endocrine system, immune function is not mature enough, when there are pathogenic bacteria with contaminated food into the body, easy to cause diarrhea.
The baby who is younger than 6 months old is less likely to suffer from autumn diarrhea because the body is still protected by the mother’s antibodies, and breastfed babies have a lower chance of suffering from autumn diarrhea.
How to distinguish between autumn diarrhea and common diarrhea?
Normal diarrhea: stools are burnt and smells like rotten food. The number of stools suddenly increases significantly and is accompanied by symptoms such as fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, loss of appetite, and cold hands and feet.
Autumn diarrhea: The stools are egg-flake soup-like and have no odor. Some cold-like symptoms appear, such as sneezing and runny nose; fever and vomiting may also appear, and diarrhea will appear after 1~3 days, and the diarrhea is very frequent, with a lot of water in the stool, and then there will be severe thirst and irritability.
Warm tips: suffering from autumn diarrhea, different babies have different number of diarrhea per day, some have to poop five or six times, some have to poop a dozen times. For breastfed babies, it is normal to poop five or six times a day, so you can’t just judge whether your baby has diarrhea based on the number of times your baby poops, but also the shape of your baby’s stool and your baby’s other symptoms. If you can’t tell for yourself, collect the stool and go to the hospital to have the doctor test it to see if there is rotavirus in the stool.
Treatment of autumn diarrhea
1. For babies with mild to moderate dehydration, the preferred treatment is rehydration, and the preferred form of rehydration, is oral rehydration salts. Oral rehydration salts (ORS) is a solution recommended by WHO to treat acute diarrhea combined with dehydration and can effectively correct dehydration caused by diarrhea. In foreign countries, ORS is an over-the-counter drug, and children can choose from a wide variety of flavors and varieties, which are readily available in general supermarkets and pharmacies; however, in the domestic market, there are only two types of ORS for adults and infants: ORS II and ORS III, which are not easily available in general pharmacies and have to be prescribed in hospitals.
Oral rehydration salt usage: ORS III (Bo Ye), 1 packet of powder with 250 ml of water. For ORSⅠ, there are 2 packs of powder in 1 packet, so you should pour the 2 packs of powder into the container and add 750ml of water and shake it well to get the correct ratio of ORS solution. In case of diarrhea, ORS III is preferred for oral rehydration solution, but if there is no condition, ORS I diluted 1.5 times can be used instead. 1.5 times dilution of ORS I makes the concentration appropriate and the safety better, but dilution does not change the bitter taste.
2. If the child seriously refuses to take oral rehydration salt or there is no oral rehydration salt, you can use 750 ml of rice soup + 1.75 grams of salt for the child to take orally in small amounts several times, or use 750 ml of vegetable soup or chicken soup + 1.75 grams of salt for the child to take orally in small amounts several times. If the baby has diarrhea along with symptoms such as violent vomiting, no urine, bloating or increased dehydration, he/she should be sent to the hospital immediately to have his/her fluids and rehydration.
3, autumn diarrhea, the number of bifidobacteria, E. faecalis, Lactobacillus and enterococci in the stool drops significantly, resulting in intestinal flora imbalance. Oral probiotics help restore the ecological balance of normal flora. Montelukast can adsorb pathogens and toxins, maintain the absorption and secretion function of intestinal cells, etc. It can enhance the function of the intestinal barrier and stop the attack of rotavirus, and can be used as an adjuvant treatment for rotavirus enteritis.
4, autumn diarrhea is not recommended for the routine use of antibiotics. Only when rotavirus enteritis combined with bacterial infections are considered is it necessary to give the appropriate antibiotic treatment. In the choice of antibiotics, but also to clarify the type of pathogenic bacteria, and then choose the bacteria most sensitive antibiotic treatment, do not abuse antibiotics.
5, it is not recommended to change the medication frequently. Many parents of babies are eager to cure the disease and use the medicine
After 1 day of not seeing improvement in diarrhea, they are eager to change other drugs. Any drug needs a process to work, and if it is not used according to the prescribed course of treatment, of course, it will not achieve the effect. If the diarrhea is caused by bacteria and the condition does not improve after 48 hours of using antibiotics, consider changing to another antibacterial drug under the guidance of your doctor.
How to care for your baby’s fall diarrhea?
1, during diarrhea, no need to fast. Baby diarrhea, in the end, eat, or not, this is difficult to many parents are concerned about the issue. In the past, there is a view that fasting, that diarrhea should not eat or drink, so that diarrhea will be reduced. Because the more you eat and drink, the more frequent the diarrhea will be. The current view advocates that the baby should continue the original diet during diarrhea, but do not eat new foods or raw and cold foods, and do not force food.
2, consultation clinic often asked by mothers: baby diarrhea is no longer able to eat breast milk? Can I eat formula milk? At present, for the treatment of diarrhea, the recommendation about eating breast milk is as follows: a baby who was breastfed before diarrhea should continue to be allowed to eat breast milk even if he has diarrhea. Not only can you let him continue to eat, but you should also let him eat more. Because letting him continue to eat breast milk is helping him to replenish his energy. So should I continue formula for my baby with diarrhea? This question depends on whether the baby’s diarrhea is caused by lactose intolerance. If it is, the formula can be changed to a lactose-free one. Some doctors now also suggest that you can switch the formula to lactose-free formula for a period of time at this stage to protect the intestines, and then switch back to the original formula when the diarrhea symptoms disappear.
3. To prevent dehydration, when feeding your child oral rehydration salts, follow the principle of small amounts many times, preferably every 2 to 3 minutes, 10 to 20 ml each time. This will give the child 150-300 ml of fluid every hour and will correct his dehydration in about 3 to 4 hours.
4.Protect the buttocks, wash the buttocks after each stool to prevent diaper dermatitis, and then apply some ointment to prevent “red buttocks” from being impregnated with feces and urine.
5, pay attention to rest, as little as possible to take the baby to public places and other crowded places, keep the indoor air fresh, air circulation, in order to reduce the chances of viral infection.
6, children with diarrhea should be well isolated, parents should wash their hands carefully before and after caring for their babies to prevent cross-infection and keep them clean to avoid secondary infection.
7.Children with diarrhea should take zinc supplements for 10 to 14 days (10 mg to 20 mg/day). Zinc supplementation as soon as diarrhea occurs can reduce the duration and severity of diarrhea and the risk of dehydration. Zinc supplementation for 10-14 days can completely replace the zinc lost during diarrhea and reduce the risk of children having diarrhea again within 2 to 3 months.
How to prevent autumn diarrhea?
1. Pay attention to dietary hygiene: dishes should be washed and scalded with boiling water before feeding, and do not eat spoiled food or drink raw water.
2, reasonable feeding, regular rationing: less fat-rich food for babies, more fresh vegetables and fruits to protect the gastrointestinal function of babies.
3, according to climate change, add or remove clothes in a timely manner, avoid overheating or cold, especially to avoid abdominal cold. Pay attention to keep the indoor air circulation.
4, strengthen the child’s physical exercise, enhance physical fitness, strengthen immunity.
5. Vaccine is the most important measure to prevent rotavirus enteritis, especially heavy diarrhea. The rotavirus vaccines currently registered for use are oral attenuated vaccines, which can significantly reduce the incidence of rotavirus enteritis and reduce the incidence of severe diarrhea after vaccination, but cannot completely prevent the occurrence of diarrhea.
6, to develop good hygiene habits.