Infant diarrhoea is one such condition that demands attention from parents for recovery to be possible. The bowel movements of an infant vary based on odor, color and texture. Just by examining it, a parent should be able to tell whether or not the infant is sick. Even though the stool of an infant is loose when compared to that of an adult, diarrhea is mostly the case when it’s watery and frequent.
[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdCCS6QMGxA” width=”200″ height=”200″]What Are the Causes of Infant Diarrhea?
There are numerous factors that cause diarrhea in infants including:
- Infection linked to parasites, bacteria or virus
- Excessive fruit juice drinking
- Medicine sensitivity
- Food allergy
- Poisoning
Parents need to wash hands using antiseptic soap and with clean water regularly. Make sure that you wash after visiting the wash-room, after changing baby’s diaper and when handling food.
What Are the Effects of Infant Diarrhea?
Diarrhea often causes dehydration in patients. For infants, the situation can happen much faster because they’re losing a larger amount of body fluids when compared to adults.
To recognize a case of dehydration in infants, lookout for:
- Less urine in diaper’s
- Dry mouth
- Drowsiness
- Inelastic skin
- Less tears while crying
- Irritability
- Fever
- Stained stool
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
What Are the Treatments for Infant Diarrhea?
Over-the-counter medications are not advocated for by doctors. This is because wrong prescriptions can easily be administered this way. Nevertheless, doctors normally prescribe antibiotics to treat diarrhea in children.
Antibiotics are quite effective in treating parasitic and bacterial infections. Infants suffering from severe dehydration may be given intravenous fluids to combat these effects.
Diarrhea can be passed from one baby to another. To prevent such an occurrence, it’s advisable to keep the baby in a contained place. Avoid nurseries and childcare until the baby has fully recovered. Opt to breastfeeding because even the doctors concur that breast milk prevents the build-up of germs. Bottles, on the other hand, are more likely to cause diarrhea.
Solid foods can aggravate infant diarrhea but you can give children older than six months these foods. Just make sure that you start giving the food in small amounts until the baby fully recovers. The types of foods that such a baby can consume include: Rice, bananas, pasta, mashed potatoes and toast. Ensure that you give the child plenty of water to combat the effects of dehydration.
What Are the Ways for Preventing Diarrhea?
It is always best to avoid a case of diarrhea than waiting to deal with it. Observing proper hygiene can reduce the likely occurrence of this disease by a substantial percentage. This is a condition that can easily be avoided when all these tips are effectively implemented.
Diarrhea causes discomfort to children. It’s important to keep the baby dry by changing nappies immediately they become wet. Also, exercise caution when washing an infant diarrhea patient. Within no time, the baby will recover and the episode will be long forgotten.