Dr. Komarovsky about diarrhea in a child

Diarrhea in a child can accompany a wide variety of diseases. However, this symptom is dangerous in itself, especially when it comes to small children. A well-known doctor and author of books and articles on children's health, Yevgeny Komarovsky, tells us what the danger of diarrhea is and what parents should do if such a “nuisance” has happened to their offspring.

Diarrhea is a manifestation of the body's ability to free itself from bacteria and viruses, which are around the child in great numbers. Neither the water that the baby drinks, nor the food, nor the air is sterile. What can we say about the games in the sandbox, crawling on the grass, on the floor, etc. There are several such protective "systems" in humans: saliva is designed to destroy microbes at the stage of ingestion, bronchial and nasal mucus - protect the respiratory organs from getting into them bacteria and viruses, gastric juice effectively destroys those microorganisms that have managed to penetrate the body through the mouth and reach the digestive organs unharmed. In the intestines of the "uninvited guests" waiting for the bacteria, which are indigenous inhabitants. Their task is to prevent malicious agents from settling down.

Some viruses cause diarrhea, for example, rotavirus. The intestinal mucosa is an excellent breeding ground for their reproduction, and therefore the digestion is disturbed, the intestinal mucosa is irritated and diarrhea occurs.

The most serious danger of diarrhea lies in the likelihood of dehydration. The younger the child, the higher this risk. Extremely important salts of potassium, calcium, and sodium come out with feces. Fluid is rapidly lost. Therefore, it is not so scary if a child in 3 years goes to the toilet five times a day and does not show signs of dehydration, as if fivefold diarrhea happened to a 6-month-old baby. After all, the stocks of water and mineral salts in crumbs are much more scarce, it loses them at a faster rate.

If diarrhea is caused by viral infections, and apart from frequent visits to the toilet, there are all signs of a viral ailment, you should not feed your child with antiviral drugs, they do not help and their effectiveness has not been clinically proven. Antibiotics are also inappropriate because they do not act on viruses. Any special treatment is not required, it is enough to give the child the right help and prevent dehydration. If diarrhea results from food poisoning or an intestinal infection, the treatment approach should be the same.

First of all, you should make sure that the baby does not have dehydration.

To prevent such a dangerous condition, the actions of parents with diarrhea should be coherent and clear:

• The child must drink. And drink a lot. All drinks should be warm, about 20 degrees, so that the liquid is absorbed and absorbed by the body as soon as possible. If the child refuses to drink from a cup, he should be given a spoon, a little, but often.If you do not drink from a spoon, as children often do until 7–9 months, then you need to collect liquid in a disposable syringe without a needle and drink water from it. If the kid resists and to this method, do not wait and persuade, you should immediately call the "ambulance", so that you can introduce the liquid to the child by droplets.
• The child needs to restore the balance of salts. For this Komarovsky advises to use ready-made pharmacy bags with oral rehydration agents. SuitableSmecta", can buy "Regidron"Or" Humana-Electrolyte ". These drugs must be in the first-aid kit of each family. If diarrhea has already happened, and there are no such preparations, you can use the recipe, which received full approval from the World Health Organization: add a teaspoon of salt and the same amount of soda to a liter of water. You can feed the child with this solution.
• Need control of secretions. Drunk should stand out. Until the baby, who has not yet reached the age of one, goes to diapersMom has nothing to worry about. She at any time can measure the amount of alcohol consumed by the child, and after 3 hours weigh her used diaper on an electronic kitchen scale to see if water is normally output. If the child already goes to the pot, the control will not be difficult either. But here after a child in 2 years, who already with a high degree of probability has mastered the toilet, you will have to follow on the heels.
• The child does not need food. Do not try to feed him at any cost. Diarrhea will pass much faster if the baby is hungry. It is worth giving food only when he himself asks. You cannot eat fatty, sweet, carbonated drinks and milk. It is better to give porridge, mashed potatoes, crackers from unleavened bread, vegetable soup in lean broth.
• Activated carbon - in the correct dosage. Another useful drug that should be in the home first aid kit. Parents should remember that activated carbon is dosed 1 tablet for every 10 kilograms of body weight at a time. Thus, a child weighing 10 kilograms is given 1 tablet each, and a baby whose weight is 15 kilograms 1.5 tablets. Modern medicine recommends modern enterosorbents, which are easier to take. If the financial capabilities of the family allow, you can buy and keep in the first-aid kit for such a case "Enterosgel».

When the diarrhea is successfully completed, you do not need to immediately prepare your son or daughter all those meatballs and carry all the cookies that the child did not eat until he was ill. A few more days should be kept gentle diets. In the diet of a child from 1.5 years can be cereals, tea, vegetable soups without meat. A kid from 2 years old can add one small curd to tea without any additives, pieces of fruit and food coloring.

Then the diet should be increased gradually, daily adding new products to the karapuz menu, starting with boiled meat, steam cutlets and ending (last of all) with a piece of chocolate or his favorite candy.

Safe ways to treat diarrhea at home - hunger and drink. Everything else, including the use of antidiarrheal drugs for children, must necessarily be agreed with the doctor.

If diarrhea happened in a baby before one year old, you should definitely consult a doctor. For children under one and a half years - the rule is exactly the same, provided that the baby doesn’t get easier during the day. Urgent hospitalization requires the presence of bloody impurities in the feces.

When you go to the doctor, be sure to remember that the child ate in the last 24 hours, what changes in his behavior were. It will be great if the doctor can personally assess the type of feces on the diaper: their color, smell, texture.

In case of an intestinal infection of a sick toddler, you should immediately select a separate dish, towel and bed linen. It can be extremely contagious, and therefore it is worthwhile to fence against the possibility of infection of other family members, especially children.

Folk remediesWith which on the Internet “experts” recommend treating diarrhea, especially garlic or onion enemas, can be extremely dangerous for a baby. If you drink enough water and fill the lack of mineral salts, the diarrhea will recede without complications quickly enough (1-2 days). If diarrhea continues, alternative medicine will not help, but an appeal to a completely traditional doctor will help.

How to treat diarrhea in a child, see the program Dr. Komaorovsky.