Diarrhea is a very common symptom in babies, and is also a problem that mothers often consult and seek medical advice.
I. 0-3 months: mostly breast milk “diarrhea”
The reason for putting diarrhea in quotation marks is that it is a very common non-pathological diarrhea in babies aged 0-3 months.
Because breast milk contains more oligosaccharides (water-soluble fiber), this leads to more frequent stools in exclusively breastfed babies, which looks like diarrhea.
However, as long as the stool is golden yellow, without things like mucus or pus and blood, and the baby is in good spirits, it does not matter.
Parents are often seen nervously going around to the doctor, and some inexperienced doctors may also give a lot of medication, which in turn leads to dysfunction in the baby’s otherwise healthy gastrointestinal tract.
Second, 6-12 months: there is a food prototype is indigestion
Food-bait diarrhea, sometimes we call it indigestion, which occurs at all ages, but is more common during the 6-12 months of adding complementary foods.
The specific manifestation is the indigestion of food, sometimes pulling out the prototype of food, but there is no or little snot-like mucus, and the stool test has almost no red and white cells. It will recover soon with dietary adjustment.
Third, 1-12 months: watery stools may be allergic diarrhea
Allergic diarrhea can be seen at all ages, but is often misdiagnosed and missed in 1-12 month olds.
With the control of infectious diarrhea, allergic diarrhea has become an increasingly common type of diarrhea in urban children.
Allergic diarrhea is most often seen in allergic children, with watery stools, and some children may have characteristic manifestations, such as red lips after eating allergenic foods.
In this group of children, the stool tests are usually very few red and white blood cells, sometimes only a little blood, and positive for occult blood.
Fourth, diarrhea with vomiting and fever may be infectious diarrhea
Infectious diarrhea is possible at every age, but the pathogen of infection is different for people of different ages and hygiene conditions.
For example, rotavirus infection is more likely in urban children aged 6 months-2 years, while bacterial infection is more likely in rural children with poor sanitation.
Norovirus infection is more likely in preschool or school-age children over 3 years of age.
Compared with other non-infectious diarrhea, this type of diarrhea is contagious, and the change of stool shape is more obvious, mostly accompanied by vomiting, fever, and easily dehydration symptoms, and most of the stool routine of laboratory tests are significantly abnormal.
Fifth, cold, infection can lead to symptomatic diarrhea
Symptoms of diarrhea can also occur when accompanied by other diseases such as infections of the respiratory tract, urinary tract, middle ear, etc., or sometimes it is just a cold.
At this time, diarrhea is just a manifestation of these infections or symptoms, and can improve as soon as the primary disease is treated or the causative state is corrected.
Sixth, the indiscriminate use of antibiotics and Chinese medicine can be pharmacogenic diarrhea
Because of the drug-based mechanism and the health literacy of parents, pharmacogenic diarrhea is very “Chinese” and is far from being underestimated.
Objectively speaking, because of better nutrition and improved hygiene habits, bacterial infections in urban children are decreasing year by year, but the use of antibiotics has not, especially the unregulated use of antibiotic infusions, which is the main cause of antimicrobial-associated diarrhea.
It usually manifests itself as diarrhea after antibiotics and can make treatment difficult, so both doctors and parents should think twice before using antibiotics.
There is also a category of diarrhea associated with Chinese medicine. The gastrointestinal function of infants is weak, so the younger the child the more cautious the choice of Chinese medicine treatment should be, and it is best not to take several Chinese medicines at once to avoid causing diarrhea.
Seven, in the face of baby diarrhea, the mother can do these
1. Prevent the continuation of the damage
For example, when diarrhea is caused by infection, it is important to pay attention to proper isolation and hand washing to prevent cross-infection. The most practical method of disinfection and isolation is to use the rapid hand disinfectant used in hospitals.
If the diarrhea is baited or allergic, it can be improved by removing foods that may cause overload on the gastrointestinal tract or cause allergies.
2.Supplement sufficient nutrition and fluid
For diarrheal diseases that cause a lot of fluid loss due to diarrhea and vomiting, it is crucial to replenish fluids and nutrition.
Breast milk, lactose-free formula, oral rehydration saline or salted rice soup in case of emergency who are able to replenish lost fluids.
The key is to replenish as needed, how much is lost and how much must be replenished in a timely manner, otherwise it is easy to worsen the symptoms of dehydration.
Of course, for children with gastroenteritis, feeding and watering also requires skill. You can eat confused milk when the child is fast asleep, or feed slowly with something like a syringe.
3.Zinc supplementation
Zinc supplementation is highly recommended by WHO to reduce the symptoms of diarrhea and shorten the duration of diarrhea. 10-20mg of zinc supplementation is recommended daily for children under 5 years old with diarrhea.
However, ironically, the zinc content of familiar products on TV is very low, and the low dose is usually ineffective for children with diarrhea, which also reflects the extent to which zinc supplementation for diarrhea is neglected.
4. Proper anti-diarrhea and anti-vomiting
Children with diarrhea and vomiting often lose a lot of fluid in a short period of time. Appropriate antidiarrheal and antiemetic medications such as montelukast and morpholine suspension are necessary to reduce fluid loss.
However, if gradually recovered, it should not be used excessively, so as not to cause constipation and other side effects.
5.Appropriate use of probiotics
Probiotics are a class of drugs that are suitable for almost all diarrhea and relatively safe, but not everyone can apply probiotics well. In addition to paying attention to the water temperature is not too high, the choice of probiotics is also a matter of concern.
If antibiotics or antibiotic-related diarrhea are applied at the same time, yeast is better; if diarrhea is caused by milk protein allergy, obviously probiotics containing protein coupling agents cannot be used; if a child is immunocompromised or malnourished, there is a risk of long-term use of probiotics containing enterococci.
Specific choice of which probiotic is better, parents need to fully understand the child’s situation, consult a doctor after a reasonable choice.
6.Don’t use medicine indiscriminately
Due to improved hygiene habits, most diarrhea is not a bacterial infection. Only when there is a lot of mucus, pus and blood, and more than 3-5 fecal leukocytes, is there an indication to use antibiotics.
Because antibiotics themselves can cause diarrhea, mothers should be careful not to use “anti-inflammatory drugs” such as cephalosporins, which are antibiotics in themselves, and not to use antiviral drugs at will, because the antiviral drugs on the market are ineffective against the diarrhea virus, and the side effects can be greater than the therapeutic effect.
Eight, the mother should learn to observe the baby, retaining stool
Many mothers, especially inexperienced new mothers, are confused when they see their babies with diarrhea. I want to tell mothers that it is very important to observe their children and find out the cause of diarrhea.
First of all, when taking care of your child, if you find abnormal stools, take pictures of them in time. An experienced doctor is usually able to detect the cause of diarrhea in time by taking pictures of stool specimens.
If there is abnormal mucus, a specimen should be promptly retained in a container such as a plastic bag, plastic bag, or glass bottle and sent to the hospital for examination within 2 hours.
It is common to see mothers bringing stools that have been dried up by diapers for laboratory tests, which obviously do not yield accurate results.
Secondly, observation of the disease is crucial, because diarrhea in babies can be mixed with multiple causes and change quickly, and mothers should keep an eye out for meaningful information in relation to age, diet, and medication.
If the diarrhea is infectious, dehydration may be encountered. If the baby has very little urine, few tears, marked irritability, and sunken eye sockets and anterior halo, the baby needs to be brought to the doctor promptly.