What can you eat with diarrhea for a child

Compared to an adult's body, a child's body is a rather weak system that reacts sharply to any changes in everyday life or to the development of diseases. And diarrhea in a baby can occur unexpectedly as a result of any reason. This is not an independent disease, but a symptom that signals some kind of malfunction in the child's body. If its appearance is not associated with something serious, then the diarrhea will go away quickly. However, during the period of treatment, the baby needs to be fed with something, and a number of familiar food products are strictly forbidden to be included in the children's menu. What can a child eat with diarrhea?

Loose stools in a child: the main reasons

Diarrhea in a baby is a frequent, abundant liquid stool, in which there is a large amount of gas in the intestines, the child complains of discomfort in the abdomen. The color of feces, as a rule, changes to a lighter color, in certain situations it may contain blood, purulent discharge, undigested food, mucus.

Loose stools in a child can be triggered by completely different reasons. This is not an independent disease, but a symptomatic reaction of the gastrointestinal tract to certain factors.

Table. The main causes of diarrhea.

Cause	Explanation
Diet changes	The use of unusual products, errors in the correct baby food can easily cause an upset stomach and the appearance of loose stools. It can be caused by overeating, eating fatty foods or foods rich in carbohydrates. In a number of cases, enzymatic deficiency develops, due to which the food does not have time to digest fully and enters partially digested form into the lower intestines, where active fermentation processes begin to take place and, as a result of all this, there is diarrhea.
Infection and helminthic invasions	A fairly common cause of loose stools is a bacterial or viral infection, infection with worms. Diarrhea can be provoked not even by the parasites and pathogens themselves, but by their waste products and the toxins they release. Infections and parasites can get into the children's digestive tract with dirty water and food, low-quality dairy or meat products, in violation of the rules of personal hygiene, etc.
The presence of serious pathologies	Diarrhea as a symptom can be observed in a number of serious and severe diseases - inflammatory processes in the organs of the digestive system, hyperthyroidism, diverticulosis, etc. Sometimes, during the examination in the clinic, the child is diagnosed with pathologies such as celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, etc.
Other reasons	Food allergies, a violation of the microflora of the intestinal tract, colds, irritable bowel syndrome, which manifests itself with fright or stress, can cause diarrhea.

Important! Loose stools in a baby are not always diarrhea. For example, very young children who feed on breast milk perform a bowel movement very often just in small portions of sufficient liquid feces.

The main danger of diarrhea is possible dehydration. When defecating, liquid feces come out and a lot of liquid. Moreover, the younger the child, the more dangerous dehydration is for him. It negatively affects the work of all body systems.

Principles of treating diarrhea in a child

Cope with diarrhea in a baby, if it is not caused by any serious reasons, you can quickly - sometimes the symptoms go away in just a few hours. The main thing is to follow the general principles of treating diarrhea:

• do not forget about the water-salt balance - it is important to replenish the body's fluid losses;
• you need to follow a special diet, excluding harmful products;
• it is important to provide the child with peace - you should not take him to kindergarten or send him to school;
• it is better not to use fixing drugs - let the body cleanse itself of what does not "suit" it;
• you can give sorbent preparations;
• it is recommended to feed the baby frequently and in small portions.

Diet is the most important principle in the treatment of diarrhea. Special nutrition will not only improve the overall condition of the child, but will also help restore bowel function, give the body the strength to resist.

What can you feed your baby?

The food that the child will receive while he has diarrhea should not overload the digestive tract and irritate him. Therefore, it is best to steam or boil dishes. A good option is liquid non-fatty soups cooked on the basis of chicken or fish broth, vegetables (the main thing is to exclude beets and cabbage). You can also use porridge, which, when cooked, turns out to be somewhat slimy. Oil must not be added to them.

Important! The child should receive plenty of drink. And the more water he drinks, the better. You can partially replace the water with mildly brewed black tea without sugar.

The first few hours after the onset of diarrhea, it is better not to give any food at all. It is recommended to simply give the child water to drink, giving him sorbent preparations. Next, you can make some boiled rice. Boiled potatoes are also fine. Gradually, you can introduce rusks from white bread without adding seasonings (homemade), fish, chicken meat. It is recommended to wipe the latter.

The general list of useful and recommended foods for diarrhea in a baby includes the following names:

• boiled rice;
• buckwheat, semolina, oatmeal, rice porridge, necessarily cooked in water;
• grated carrots;
• baked apples;
• vegetable puree;
• white bread crackers;
• fermented milk products with a low fat content (up to 2.5%);
• cutlets cooked in a double boiler.

Cottage cheese, eggs, mashed potatoes or banana, meat products can be included in the menu for children for 2-3 days, when the diarrhea has already receded and the work of the gastrointestinal tract begins to normalize. It is important to give food and to observe the frequency of meals for the child according to his age. So, children over 1 year old should receive food 2 times more often than usual - about 6-8 times a day, but in smaller portions, which gradually increase as they recover. The first half of the day after the onset of diarrhea, you can go hungry. With loose stools, you can give your baby compotes and jelly made from fresh berries.

Attention! If the child does not want to eat, there is no need to force him.

It is recommended to follow the diet for about 5-6 days, but in some cases it will take 2-3 weeks to feed the child according to this scheme. As a rule, long-term diets are prescribed by a doctor if there is an indication for this.

We restore the water-salt balance

This is a very important aspect of diarrhea treatment, since the body loses a lot of water, microelements are washed out of its tissues and all losses must be replenished as soon as possible. The easiest way, if there is no vomiting, is to simply water the little patient abundantly. This will restore the fluid content of the tissues.

Special preparations will help to restore the balance of salts and microelements. These are Regidron, Oralit, Gastrolit and others. They are diluted in water according to the instructions and fed to the child.

Important! You do not need to pour liters of liquid into the child at once. It is enough to drink 5-30 ml of it every 5-20 minutes. The volumes depend on the age and condition of the child.

You can also feed your baby with a decoction of raisins, decoctions of blueberries, chamomile, rose hips, and rice water. Mineral water is also suitable.

Advice! You can prepare the saline solution yourself. It is enough to dissolve 0.5 tsp in 1 liter of water. soda and salt, adding 1 tbsp. l. Sahara.

How to feed a baby?

Previously, doctors recommended a fast diet for diarrhea in infants, but now it is not used. The fact is that such a diet can cause a protein-calorie deficiency and only slow down the restoration of the gastrointestinal tract function. Even with diarrhea, babies continue to feed, provided there is no vomiting. Only portions of breast milk are reduced by about 2 times, and the frequency of breastfeeding increases. The same applies to the nutrition of formula-fed children. If complementary foods are available, it is temporarily canceled.

Attention! It is important to make sure that the baby has diarrhea, and not the usual fact of bowel movements.

Prohibited foods

A number of products that may be familiar to a child, in the presence of diarrhea, will have to be canceled, completely excluding them from the menu. These include fried foods, pickles and marinades, fresh milk, most fresh vegetables and fruits, mushrooms, and legumes. It is important to prohibit the child from drinking carbonated sugary drinks, eating chocolate, chips, crackers - almost everything that children love so much. All fatty and heavy foods are excluded. Fresh bread and pastries are also prohibited.

All these products will need to be returned to the child's menu gradually and slowly. Particularly aggressive effects on the gastrointestinal tract can be included in the diet no earlier than after 1.5 weeks.

Also, do not give your child products containing caffeine (with the exception of tea), tomato and citrus juices. It is forbidden to use any spices and seasonings, except for salt, in the preparation of dietary meals.

Do I need to see a doctor?

Ordinary diarrhea, which does not threaten the body, ends rather quickly - it is not difficult to cope with it at home on your own. However, if blood is noted in the feces, it becomes black or the child suffers from loose stools for 2 day, plus his temperature rises or pains, vomiting appear, then it is important to immediately contact to the doctor. Otherwise, conditions may arise that threaten the life of the child.

How to prevent diarrhea in a child?

Step 1. It is important to follow the rules of personal hygiene for both the parents and the child. Hands should be washed as often as possible using soap. It is important to carry out this procedure after every walk. In case of contact with babies, it is recommended to rinse your hands after each swaddling or diaper change.

Step 2. It is important to keep your home clean. The floors should be washed especially thoroughly. Wet cleaning should be done daily.

Step 3. All children's toys should be washed regularly.

Step 4. Rotavirus infection is a common cause of diarrhea. The doctor will be able to make the diagnosis, so you need to call him at home.

Step 5. It is recommended that you reduce the amount of juice your child drinks during the day.

Step 6. It is important to properly prepare infant formula - if the dosage is violated, it can provoke diarrhea.

Step 7. Diarrhea can occur due to food allergies or food intolerances. If new products were introduced into the child's menu, then it is better to temporarily exclude them.

Video - Nutrition in children during diarrhea

Diarrhea in a child, unless it is caused by something serious, goes away quickly. The main thing is to follow the basic rules of treatment and feed the baby only food that is suitable in this case. Otherwise, loose stools will bother him for some time. At the first sign of complication, it is important to immediately contact a pediatrician.