Infant Diarrhea and Dehydration
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When your infant is sick there is nothing scarier because you dont know whats wrong and you probably dont know how to treat the problem. One situation that can be especially scary to new parents is an infant with diarrhea. However, this situation can frequently be handled at home by the parents. There are of course some situations where infant diarrhea needs medical attention, but that is not always the case.
There are a lot of reasons why an infant might develop diarrhea. These include changes in a mothers diet, infection, antibiotics, as well as others. However, determining why your baby has diarrhea is not as important as ensuring your infant does not become dehydrated. Of course, if your infant has a fever, runny nose, and appears to be sick then you need to call the pediatrician to determine if you need an appointment or can treat your baby at home. But, if your infant has diarrhea and otherwise seems happy then you can more than likely treat from home. You might want to call your pediatrician just to make sure, but most of the time treatment at home is all that is needed.
The most important thing to do is continue feeding your child on a regular schedule. Breastfeeding is especially great because it helps the child get over the diarrhea and assists in preventing dehydration. Formula fed babies should be given a soy based formula during bouts of diarrhea to reduce the amount of stools taking place. The fiber in the formula is what slows the stools down. However, if the baby still seems thirsty or shows signs of dehydration like a dry mouth, crying with no tears, a soft spot that is sunken in, then you need to give additional supplementation to your child in the form of re-hydration formulas. Pedialyte is probably the most popular brand, but there are other brands that work just as well.
In the case your infant has a fever that has accompanied diarrhea for 72 hours then you need to visit the pediatrician as soon as possible. The same goes for babies who have blood, mucus, or even pus in their stools or babies who do not wet diapers or have eight stools within the same amount of hours. Paying attention to what is taking place with your child will allow you to seek medical help if it is needed or else treat the symptoms at home. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should focus on keeping your child hydrated and know that most diarrhea resolves on its own within a week.
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