How to cook nutritious porridge for children with diarrhea

This is an automatically translated article.

This article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Nam Phong - Pediatrician - Pediatrics - Neonatology Department - Vinmec Phu Quoc International General Hospital.
Besides drug treatment, proper nutrition also contributes to helping children recover faster after diarrhea. In particular, with its easy-to-eat and easily-absorbed properties, porridge is one of the first choices for mothers in taking care of their children. Cooking porridge properly will help children overcome diarrhea quickly, safely and healthily.

1. Signs to identify children with diarrhea

When there is diarrhea, the child's ability to absorb food will be lower than usual, but still well absorbed through the intestines 60% of the food. Children often have symptoms such as fatigue, eating less, anorexia. If this situation persists, the child may lose weight, malnourishment greatly affects the long-term development later.
Therefore, rehydration, electrolytes is a very necessary thing. Without enough water supply, the body can dry out, leading to many other diseases.

2. How to cook nutritious porridge for children with diarrhea?

Applicable objects: children from 6 months of age and older
Porridge is used as an essential food, helping children to digest easily, increasing the ability to absorb nutrients into the body such as minced chicken, soup. , stewed dishes. Porridges combined with fruits also add many nutrients for children. Use a blender to crush the fruit and then add it to the porridge. Fruits that are good for your baby's health such as bananas, oranges, mangoes, sapodilla,...
Standards in the food processing process:
Food needs to be cooked thoroughly, ensuring hygiene to reduce the risk of superinfection , need to cook food again after it has been cooked.
Need to wash hands with soap before preparing food for children. Feeding utensils such as bowls, chopsticks, cups, cups, ladles, and spoons are dipped in boiling water before meals.
Need to combine rehydration and electrolytes for children. After each diarrhea, it is necessary to give water to the child immediately. In addition, it is necessary to mix Oresol with exactly 1 liter of water for children, and give it slowly. Or you can replace it by mixing a teaspoon of salt + 8 teaspoons of granulated sugar in 1 liter of water.
In case the child drinks cow's milk but diarrhea increases, replace it with lactose-free milk such as Isomil, Olac.

3. Some porridge helps children recover quickly when they have diarrhea

3.1 Pumpkin and chicken porridge
Ingredients for processing:
Plain rice: weight 80g Pumpkin: weight 50g Chicken: weight 50g Seasoning: salt, 2 teaspoons of nutritional oil and 300ml of broth . Steps to make:
Minced chicken, add about 2-3 teaspoons of filtered water, stir until sliced ​​Pumpkin is cooked, steamed and put in a blender to puree. Put plain rice and water into porridge, then add the meat. Chicken, pumpkin cooked together. Add salt to the porridge in a moderate amount. When the porridge is cooked, the mother scoops the porridge into a bowl, adds 2 tablespoons of nutritious cooking oil, stirs well and feeds the child while the porridge is still warm. You can also replace chicken with minced lean pork if your child doesn't like chicken.
3.2 Lotus seed porridge
Ingredients for processing:
Plain rice: weight 50g Lotus seed: weight 100g Grinding tuber: weight 50g Young sapodilla: weight 15g Rock sugar: weight 20g Steps to take:
Sapodilla fruit pound, boil thoroughly with 250ml of water, filter the water. Plain rice, lotus seeds, dried grated tubers, ground into powder, stir in sapodilla water, stir, and simmer. When the porridge is cooked, add rock sugar and cook until the sugar is completely dissolved. For lotus seeds, the mother can reduce the bitterness of the porridge by removing the lotus heart (use a sharp toothpick to push back from the bottom of the lotus seed). You should give it to the child to eat immediately while it is still hot. Mothers can give the baby instant food for 2-3 days to help reduce diarrhea effectively. 3.3 Purslane porridge
Ingredients for processing include:
Rice: weight 30g Purslane: weight 90g Young sapodilla: weight 10g Steps:
Put purslane, young sapodilla into the pot, pour 250ml Boil water thoroughly, then filter through a sieve to get water, remove residue. Put the rice (ground into powder) into the vegetable juice, stir well, bring to a boil. When the porridge is cooked, you can add a little fish sauce with a moderate amount. Mother should feed the child twice a day while the porridge is still hot

3.4 Ginger porridge
Processing ingredients include:
Plain rice: weight 50g Fresh ginger: weight 50g Steps:
Ginger (select old ginger root) washed, chopped or pureed For prepared ginger and rice in the pot add water to cook into porridge. Mother should feed the baby while the porridge is still hot. Ginger has the effect of warming the abdomen, treating diarrhea, so it will help children reduce diarrhea quickly.

4. Misconceptions about feeding babies

Many people do not breastfeed because they think their baby's stomach is not good, even many mothers do not dare to eat anything (only eat rice with salt) to secrete "healthy milk" for breastfeeding. These are all incorrect views, affecting the mother's lactation. While in fact, when diarrhea the body loses a lot of water, to rehydrate quickly, increasing the number of feeding times as much as possible will help the child more.
Abstain from yogurt: This is very wrong, because yogurt reduces the duration and severity of diarrhea. Because yogurt helps to stimulate fermentation, it converts most of the lactose in milk into a more absorbable form. In addition, in the composition of yogurt contains many strains of beneficial bacteria that are able to inhibit the growth of harmful microorganisms, enhance the activity of the immune system.
Don't let your child eat fishy food: This is not the right thing to do. Because in the composition of foods such as fat, fish, shrimp contain many nutrients such as vitamin A, zinc, protein, lipids, which help to regenerate the digestive tract mucosa and enhance nutrition for children.

5. Foods that should not be used when children have diarrhea

Do not let children use foods containing a lot of sugar such as cakes, candy, and soft drinks when they have diarrhea. Because the ingredients in these foods can increase the osmotic pressure in the intestinal lumen, pulling water in the cells into the intestinal lumen.
Do not use foods containing a lot of fiber or low in nutrients such as: Raw vegetables (bamboo shoots, celery sticks), whole grains (corn, beans).
Do not let children eat raw vegetables, blood soup, fish salad, spring rolls, sour rolls, shrimp paste, shrimp paste... uncooked and do not drink cold water.
To prevent diseases that babies often get, parents should pay attention to nutrition to improve children's resistance. At the same time, add supporting foods containing lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, B vitamins,... snacks and less digestive problems.
Parents can learn more:
Why do you need to supplement Lysine for your baby?
The role of zinc - Guidelines for reasonable zinc supplementation
Please visit the website Vinmec.com regularly and update useful information to take care of your baby and family.