What to do if your nine-month-old baby has diarrhea

Babies will have diarrhea when they are young. Parents are always very worried at this time, because diarrhea can be very dangerous if it leads to dehydration, and a nine-month-old baby cannot speak, so parents don’t know how uncomfortable the baby is. In any case, if the baby has diarrhea, parents should let the baby drink more water as much as possible, which is good for relieving the discomfort of diarrhea.

1. Replenish the body's lost water as soon as possible

The first thing to do is to determine whether your baby is mildly dehydrated. Babies with mild dehydration feel thirsty, have slightly dry lips, produce less urine than usual, and the urine is yellow in color. They also become irritable and cry easily.

Mothers can choose from the following methods of rehydration: rehydration with homemade sugar and salt water, that is, add 1.75 grams of refined salt and 10 grams of white sugar to 5000 ml of warm boiled water, 1.75 grams of refined salt is equivalent to half of the beer bottle cap, and 10 grams of white sugar is equivalent to 2 teaspoons; rehydration with homemade rice soup and salt liquid, that is, add 1.75 grams of refined salt to 500 ml of warm boiled water; rehydration with ORS (oral rehydration salt) prescribed by the doctor. ORS rehydration salt is a prepared dry powder, which can be prepared into liquid according to the instructions when used.

Then, give 20-40 ml of fluid per kg of your baby's body weight during the first 4 hours. After that, take it orally at any time and drink as much as you can. If the baby vomits, wait 10 minutes before feeding him slowly again; once the baby's eyelids become swollen, it indicates that the fluid has been replenished excessively, and he should temporarily switch to drinking boiled water or breast milk.

Kind reminder: Do not add ORS rehydration salts to milk, rice soup, juice or other beverages, and after preparing it according to the instructions, do not add sugar, otherwise it will affect the rehydration effect.

2. Give your baby rich food to prevent malnutrition

Traditional treatment for diarrhea advocates that the child should fast for a period of time. However, this will hinder the body's nutritional supplementation and may easily lead to malnutrition. It is now recommended that babies with diarrhea should not be fasted, but they should follow the principle of small and frequent meals and eat at least 6 times a day. Breastfed babies continue to drink breast milk, but the mother's diet should be lower in fat, otherwise it will make diarrhea worse. You can eat some easily digestible food, such as porridge, soft noodles, minced fish, a small amount of vegetable puree, fresh fruit juice or banana puree until 2 weeks after the diarrhea stops.

3. Take extra care of your baby’s butt

Since the baby's bowel movements have increased a lot, their buttocks will be constantly contaminated. Moreover, the feces discharged during diarrhea are more irritating to the skin. Therefore, after each bowel movement, the mother should clean the baby's butt with warm water, paying special attention to the cleanliness of the anus and perineum. It is best to use soft and clean cotton diapers, and change them frequently to avoid diaper rash and urinary tract infection. If your baby's bottom gets red, leave it in the air to dry naturally, then apply some diaper rash cream.