What should parents do when their children have severe diarrhea?

Diarrhea in children is also a common problem. Once a child has diarrhea, parents should first find out the cause of the child's illness and then give treatment. If the child's diarrhea is severe, then what needs to be done is to replenish the child with water and electrolytes. Replenishing water is very simple, but parents will be confused about why there are not many electrolytes. Then the editor will explain this aspect to you parents, hoping to be able to give you some help.

When diarrhea occurs, the child's bowel movements will increase significantly, and the loss of water and electrolytes will also increase. In this case, if the lost water cannot be replenished in time, it will lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. For more than 20 years, clinical medicine has repeatedly studied the pathogenesis of diarrhea and the gastrointestinal physiological manifestations of the human body. The results show that the absorption function of the villus epithelial cells of the intestinal mucosa of patients with enterotoxigenic diarrhea (caused by toxigenic Escherichia coli) is not greatly affected; the absorption function of the intestinal mucosa of patients with bacterial infection and rotavirus diarrhea is not completely lost, and there is still normal mucosal tissue that can continue to work. In other words, the dehydration caused by diarrhea can be replenished through oral rehydration.

To replenish the water lost by the body orally, oral rehydration salts are recommended first. The main components of rehydration salt are sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, potassium chloride and glucose. Its osmotic pressure is very close to that of plasma. The concentrations of sodium, potassium and chloride in the solution are moderate, which can promptly correct and replenish the sodium, potassium and chloride lost during diarrhea. At the same time, the sodium bicarbonate in the solution can also correct metabolic acidosis, and glucose can effectively help the absorption of water and sodium.

It should be noted that oral rehydration salts are only suitable for preventing dehydration during diarrhea or for children with mild and moderate dehydration but no obvious peripheral circulatory disorders. Newborns or patients with more severe diarrhea and dehydration, obvious abdominal distension, shock, heart and kidney dysfunction or other serious complications are not suitable for taking oral rehydration salts.

That’s all I have to say about how to replenish water for children with severe diarrhea. I hope parents can correctly deal with the issue of dehydration caused by diarrhea in children and how to replenish water. In addition, children with severe diarrhea will definitely be very weak. Parents must not give their children supplements or prepare many delicious foods just because they feel sorry for their children. They do not know that too much food will increase the burden on the child's stomach and intestines. Similarly, these delicious foods are often difficult to digest, and eating them will be detrimental to the child's physical recovery.