What should I do if my two-month-old baby has diarrhea?

Because the baby is too young, all organs in the body are not well developed, so some problems always occur. In many cases, parents don’t know how to provide better care for their babies. When their babies have diarrhea, parents don’t know what to do. So let’s take a closer look at how to care for a two-month-old baby with diarrhea. I hope the editor’s introduction can give parents some treatment methods.

Home Care Focus

Key point 1: replenish the body's lost water as soon as possible

Many mothers rush to the hospital as soon as their baby has diarrhea. In fact, when babies first start to have diarrhea, they are usually mildly dehydrated. As long as it is under the guidance of a doctor, treatment can be carried out at home. This is timely and convenient, and can reduce a lot of unnecessary trouble, which is very beneficial to the baby's recovery. So, the first thing mommy needs to do is to determine whether the 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.

Mommy 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, 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, when using it, just mix it into liquid according to the instructions.

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. Babies under 2 years old can be fed a small spoonful every 1-2 minutes, while older babies can drink from a small cup. 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.

Key point 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 aggravate diarrhea; babies who are bottle-fed within 6 months can drink milk in normal amounts; babies over 6 months old who have already started weaning foods can eat some easily digestible foods, 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.

Key point 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.

Key point 4: Closely monitor the development of your baby’s condition

If the baby's irritability increases, the fontanelle and eye sockets become sunken, there are fewer tears when crying, the mouth looks dry, and when the skin on the inner thigh is pinched and then immediately released, the skin wrinkles take more than 2 seconds to remain flat. This situation indicates that the baby is already seriously dehydrated; or the baby has been treated at home for 3 days, but the condition has not improved, and there are frequent large amounts of watery stools, vomiting, increased thirst, inability to eat and drink normally, very little urine after rehydration, fever, and blood in the stool. In this case, you need to take your baby to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

The content introduced above is a good introduction to how to care for a two-month-old baby with diarrhea. This will be of great help to the baby's physical care. Therefore, don’t worry too much when the baby has problems. If the problem is serious, the key is to go to the hospital for treatment and care in time.