In clinical practice, we often see children with prolonged diarrhea who have undergone various treatments, but the results are not too good and the stool examination is not too problematic. So, what is the cause of such diarrhea? What does TCM know about this kind of diarrhea? There are several types of diarrhea in TCM, so let’s analyze and recognize one of them first. Let’s look at a case first. Case 1 Ms. Wang’s son is 8 months old. A month or so ago, the child suffered from autumn diarrhea, which was not serious at the time and was not dehydrated. It was thought that the diarrhea would get better in a few days. However, more than a month has passed, and all the medications that should be taken have been taken, what with the use of Similac and Pepcid, and the use of Deng Gui navel patch, and even some traditional methods have been used. The stool is not watery, but a little bit thinner than a paste, and the amount of stool is not too much, but the stool always smells sour and foul. Because of the prolonged illness, the child’s weight loss is very fast, this month, the child’s weight loss of more than 2 pounds, parents are really distressed. Later, a doctor suggested switching to diarrhea formula. After the formula was changed, the diarrhea seemed to get a little better at first, but within a few days it became the same again. It’s been more than a month since he got sick, and his energy has dropped significantly. He is not as playful as before, and he seems to be in a bad mood, crying a lot, and his appetite has decreased, and he doesn’t want to eat milk very much every day. Because of the diarrhea, the parents almost stopped the supplementary food. In order to ensure that the child can get some nutrition, we all try our best to coax the child to eat more milk every day, but the child does not want to eat at all. We had no choice but to eat less and more during the day, so we waited until the child was in a daze before going to bed or ate after waking up during the night, but even with this effort, the child’s milk supply was still significantly lower than before the illness. On one side is diarrhea, and on the other side is refusal to eat, what should be done? Parents can be really worried. During diarrhea, you should eat less. When a child has diarrhea, his or her appetite tends to drop, which is actually a normal phenomenon. Not to mention diarrhea, we look at children with fever, how many appetite is good. Why does the appetite drop when there is an illness? As we said before, when external evil comes, our positive qi, like the troops of the country, has to rise up to fight against the evil qi. When the positive qi goes to fight the evil qi, the back side will be relatively empty and the spleen and stomach functions will be affected. When the organism is attacked by external evil, it must be first to reject its outside, and only when the evil goes can it be safe, which is the instinctive reaction of the creature. Anyone who has had a small dog or cat at home knows that when a small dog or cat is sick, their most direct response is to fast, eat nothing and rest quietly. Why? To reduce the diet, reduce the gastrointestinal burden, reduce consumption, in order to facilitate a rapid recovery from the disease. Why is this not true for children? In fact, a short period of decreased appetite is a form of protection for the organism. Eating less or not eating for one or two days does not have much effect on the body. Once the disease is healed, the appetite will be restored quickly, so parents need not worry about this. The secondary damage caused by food accumulation can make diarrhea difficult to heal. When diarrhea lasts a little longer, the child’s weight will drop to varying degrees, especially when the child refuses to eat, parents become more anxious, worrying that the child’s physical condition will be worse and the disease will be further aggravated, which is not necessarily the case. Take this child for example, the fall diarrhea was not heavy at first, and other children recovered, so why can’t this child recover? In fact, the most important thing to do at this time is to actively treat the original disease, and if the diarrhea gets better, the appetite will generally recover. If the diarrhea clears up, the appetite will usually return. Even if it doesn’t, it will recover quite quickly with a little bit of conditioning. But parents think differently. They think that if their children can eat more, they will have better strength and recover faster. So they try to use all kinds of means to force-feed. When the amount of food consumed exceeds the limit that the stomach and intestines can bear, food accumulation is formed. After a child has fall diarrhea, it is easy to injure the righteousness itself, and it takes some time to repair. But at this time, there is a superimposed injury to the food, so that the spleen and stomach qi is again traumatized, and the intestinal qi is injured again and again, then it is a little difficult to recover, and this is the reason why this diarrhea does not heal for a long time. What should a child with diarrhea eat? Many parents with diarrhea of food accumulation do not recognize “eating too much”. The reason is also very simple, look, the child really does not like to eat, the amount is very little, not as much as usually eat, you say, how can it be eaten too much? We have to determine whether the child is eating too much or too little, first of all, we have to look at the function of the spleen and stomach. When a child is healthy, each child has a stable amount of food and drink, and this amount of food and drink is the standard. However, when the child is sick, the spleen and stomach function will be damaged and the appetite will be reduced, so it is not possible to refer to the previous standard. What is the standard amount at this time? We parents really don’t know, but the children themselves are clear, he knows how much to eat, they have a number in mind, this is human nature, this, we must not underestimate the children, he really has a number than our parents. The child can eat as much as he or she wants, and this is the standard diet for this particular period. In other words, after the disease, the child knows how much to eat, but the parents don’t, and if the parents force-feed in a hurry, it’s easy to overdo it. How can we tell if a child is suffering from food stagnation? So, how can we tell if a child has food stagnation? We can refer to the following criteria. First, the child’s eating rhythm is over the limit. If the above child is already 8 months old, and children above 6 months old do not need night milk, this child still has night milk and the rhythm of feeding is disordered, which may cause food accumulation. Second, forced eating. As long as the child is made to eat by means of enticement and intimidation, it is forced eating, and the amount of forced eating must exceed the amount of voluntary eating of the child, so this item is also a sign of overeating. Third, the main symptoms of food accumulation: not wanting to eat, bad breath, abdominal distension or pain, nausea, vomiting, sour and smelly stools, thick white fur, etc., or both manifestations of food accumulation and heat, such as heat in the heart of the hands and feet, hot belly, etc. As long as some of the symptoms of food accumulation are present, combined with the previous feeding history, it is possible to determine whether there is food accumulation. Of course, food accumulation can be manifested as a variety of diseases, if diarrhea is the main cause, it is food accumulation diarrhea; if abdominal pain is the main cause, it is food accumulation abdominal pain; if constipation is the main cause, it is food accumulation constipation, etc. Let’s look at our case, the feeding rhythm is disturbed, there is a history of force-feeding (less food, more meals, nighttime feeding), and there are also symptoms of food accumulation, stools 4-6 times a day, sour smell, poor appetite, abdominal discomfort (sometimes crying), so it can be diagnosed as food accumulation diarrhea. How to treat diarrhea caused by food accumulation Since diarrhea is caused by food accumulation, the treatment should be to eliminate the food accumulation, once the food accumulation is gone, the spleen and stomach function may be restored, and the stools may return to normal. Of course, along with medication, parents should also cooperate with the doctor and make sure to reduce the amount of food and drink, and if necessary, it is okay to let the child starve a little. The purpose of limiting the child’s diet for a limited number of days is to help the child recover gastrointestinal function as soon as possible. Only when the gastrointestinal function is restored can the diet be truly restored. Warm tips: Food accumulation is an internal disease caused by human factors and should be avoided as much as possible to minimize unnecessary harm. Maintaining the spleen and stomach, which are the basis of the latter, is the basic guarantee of health. If you love your child, then take care of his spleen and stomach.