What to do if your newborn has diarrhea

After the birth of a baby, it always brings a lot of warmth and happiness to the family, but taking care of the baby is not an easy task. After the birth of every child, what makes parents most worried and headache is the child’s health. Many parents will encounter symptoms such as diarrhea in newborns, which will also make inexperienced parents panic, because the child is relatively young and they don’t know what the reason for such symptoms is, and how to adjust them. Let’s learn about what to do if a newborn has diarrhea.

What to do if your newborn has diarrhea

Newborn babies do not have enough lactase in their intestines to break down the lactose in formula milk well, causing the lactose to enter the colon and be broken down by bacteria to produce a lot of gas while absorbing a lot of water, which can also cause diarrhea. Constipation is also a symptom of digestive discomfort in babies. Constipation can cause abdominal distension and pain, loss of appetite, and lack of energy in babies. Sometimes the baby may not have a bowel movement for several days, and sometimes the stool may be dry like small balls. It can even affect the baby's healthy development, but it is not so easy to improve.

Generally speaking, most people will tell you that breastfed babies have yellow, uniform, pasty stools and they defecate more frequently, up to 4 to 5 times a day. Children who drink milk have 2 to 3 bowel movements a day. Their bowel movements are white and formed, and sometimes curds can be seen.

However, in the late neonatal period to 2 to 3 months, another kind of stool is often seen during this period. It is green in appearance, mixed with white lumps, sometimes with transparent mucus in the shape of lines, and sometimes like a broken egg without a shape. Experienced doctors or people who often take care of children know that this is the stool of a breastfed baby; but a new mother will rush to the hospital with her child because she thinks that this stool is abnormal and the child must have diarrhea.

Infectious diarrhea is a manifestation of the body's self-protection. It can excrete some toxins and is beneficial to the human body. If you blindly stop diarrhea, it will be detrimental to the condition. If it is infectious diarrhea, sensitive antibiotics should be used to control the infection; if it is caused by indigestion, it should start with adjusting the diet. Parents need to demonstrate and guide their children correctly during their diet, so that their children can develop correct eating habits and behaviors from an early age.

The above is an introduction to what to do if a newborn has diarrhea. After understanding it, when you encounter such symptoms again, first of all, parents should not blindly use medication for the baby. Because the baby is relatively small, the medication may have certain side effects on the baby, so parents must pay great attention to it. In addition, mothers of breastfed babies must pay attention to the nutritional balance of the diet and eat more light foods.