Mistakes in nutrition for children with diarrhea

This is an automatically translated article.

This article is expertly consulted by Master, Doctor Ngo Thi Oanh - Pediatrician - Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Ha Long International General Hospital.
Children with mild diarrhea can be treated at home and re-examined under the guidance of the doctor. The goal in taking care of children with diarrhea is to rehydrate and electrolytes, supplement nutrients properly to prevent exhaustion, prevent malnutrition for children, especially to ensure hygiene so that the disease can heal quickly, avoid spreading the disease. orchid.

1. Pay attention when your child has diarrhea

Diarrhea is the passage of loose stools 3 times/day in adults and children. Particularly for children, if the stools change characteristics such as looser stools, loose stools, slimy stools, stools that change color (white, green, dark) or the child has diarrhea, the child has diarrhea.
In addition, children with diarrhea are often accompanied by symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, fever, dehydration and fatigue. Diarrhea in young children is a common disease, but if diarrhea lasts for a long time, the child will lose water and electrolytes, if not rehydrated in time and enough water, causing severe dehydration, dehydration can cause death. death. In addition, children are also at risk of malnutrition due to poor eating, fatigue, and weight loss during the illness.
Diarrhea in children can be caused by many causes such as:
Virus: Rotavirus causes diarrhea most in young children Bacteria: cholera, bacillus dysentery, typhoid, E.Coli, Salmonella group. Due to contaminated food: rotten, toxic chemicals, residues of plant protection chemicals, mold (residue due to leftover food sticking in food containers, moldy fruit, expired food). Drink unboiled water.

2. How to take care of children with diarrhea at home?

Rehydration and electrolytes: Children with diarrhea will become dehydrated. Lack of water in the body will lead to electrolyte disturbances causing many serious complications. Therefore, it is necessary for children to drink more water than usual to prevent dehydration due to diarrhea. However, it is not the right way to give children a lot of water to drink. Children are dehydrated with electrolytes, so ORESOL solution should be given to children to replace the amount of water and electrolytes lost due to diarrhea, mix and use according to the instructions on the package.
Absolutely do not arbitrarily use anti-diarrheal drugs. Diarrhea in children is mostly caused by an infection in the intestines, loose stools are also a way to protect the body and help eliminate germs and toxins. Antidiarrheal drugs are drugs that reduce intestinal motility, paralyze the intestines, prevent stools from being excreted, bacteria and toxic substances are accumulated in the intestine. Children still have "diarrhea" but stools cannot be excreted, stasis in the intestines, causing abdominal distension, enteritis, even intestinal obstruction, intestinal perforation, and death.

3. Children with diarrhea should eat what?

Children with diarrhea should be given adequate nutrition as usual, should not fast or change the child's diet. Due to fatigue, when sick, children often lose their appetite. Parents should feed children into many small meals a day, the food must be of sufficient quality but should be looser and easier to digest, soft like soup, salted porridge, porridge (chicken porridge, lean pork cooked with carrots, ... ) and must be patient for children to eat slowly, eat many small meals if the child has nausea, vomiting, the interval between meals is about every 2 hours. Food for children still needs to ensure enough 4 common food groups such as: flour, fat, protein, and vegetables.
If the baby is being exclusively breastfed, just give them more frequent feeds. This helps to both rehydrate and provide nutrition for the child.
For babies using formula milk, the mother should note that the milk should not be diluted more.
If the child is a little older, it is necessary to give the child more drinks such as: broth, porridge, soy milk, yogurt, juice such as orange juice (no or very little added sugar), fresh coconut water , water is ripe. Carbonated beverages should be avoided. Fruit juices that are too sweet are also not good for children because they cause indigestion and bloating.

4. Mistakes in nutrition for children with diarrhea

Some mistakes that parents often make when taking care of a child with diarrhea:
Do not give water to the child for fear that the child will have more diarrhea. This concept is extremely wrong, but there are still parents who make it. When the intestinal tract is infected, toxic, causing diarrhea is a form of expulsion of toxins and bacteria out. So whether or not the child drinks water or not, the intestines are still irritated and increase the secretion of many intestinal fluids, causing diarrhea. The part of the intestine that has not been damaged can still absorb water and nutrients as usual, so it is necessary for the child to continue to eat as usual and drink more water to prevent dehydration and prevent malnutrition for sick children. Immediately change milk if the baby is using formula : False. The milk should only be changed if the baby has noticeably more diarrhea after each feeding, possibly due to lactose intolerance in the milk, so the milk will be changed to lactose-free milk. Usually this type of milk is only used for about 2 weeks. Another disease that needs to be changed milk is when the child has diarrhea due to cow's milk allergy. However, parents should consult a nutritionist and medical professional when they want to change milk.

Do not feed and drink sick children properly: Children with diarrhea are often in a state of fatigue and loss of appetite. Therefore, if the parent's cooked food is hard, difficult to eat, difficult to absorb, and the taste is not attractive, the child will have a hard time eating, if younger children may even fuss and not eat, making parents extremely frustrated. In this situation, parents need to be very patient to feed the baby, and at the same time, refer to how to cook nutritious and delicious porridge for children with diarrhea. Excessive abstinence, only eating salted porridge for fear of children not being able to digest. This concept is completely wrong and needs to be changed. When the intestinal tract is infected or poisoned causing diarrhea, the parts of the intestine that have not been damaged can still absorb water and nutrients as usual, so it is necessary for the child to continue to eat as usual and drink more water to fight the disease. dehydration and malnutrition prevention for sick children. Thinking that the child has diarrhea is caused by the food the mother eats every day: Because of this misconception, many families have stopped breastfeeding, or changed, cut many dishes in the mother's diet, maternal malnutrition and lack of milk for children. This is not true. The fact that children have diarrhea is related to the child's eating and drinking hygiene, infrequent hand hygiene, the child's thumb sucking... but has nothing to do with the food the mother eats every day. Whatever the mother eats. The food that is ingested by the body will be converted into very small particles by the digestive system to be absorbed through the intestines into the blood to the liver to convert into substances necessary for the body. As for milk production, the mammary glands in the mammary glands receive nutrients in the blood and convert them into milk. There is no mother eating too sour or eating fishy substances, too nutritious ... breastfeeding makes children have diarrhea. Arbitrarily giving children anti-diarrheal medicine or taking antibiotics without a doctor's prescription is also a mistake parents often make. As analyzed above, this is absolutely not good for children. The above are scientific and correct ways to take care of children with diarrhea to help them recover quickly. In case a child has prolonged diarrhea with severe symptoms, parents should take the child to a medical facility for examination and appropriate treatment by a doctor.
Master. Doctor Ngo Thi Oanh has over 10 years working in the field of Pediatrics. Competently perform examination, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory, digestive, urological and nutritional diseases in children. During his work, Dr. Oanh regularly updates new knowledge on diagnosis and treatment through specialized conferences and continuous training classes.

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