What should I do if my baby has diarrhea on a humid and hot day?
Recently, acute gastroenteritis has occurred frequently, and doctors remind babies to stop diarrhea in a hurry, the key is to prevent dehydration
Changsha Evening News all-media reporter Peng Fang correspondent Zhu Wenqing
"We take care of it very carefully, the children's supplies are cooked at high temperatures, how can it still be diarrhea?"
"After dinner, the child suddenly cried out that her stomach hurt and diarrhea, and the adult ate the same food, so why did she eat a bad stomach?"
Recently, the weather has been humid and hot, and in the pediatric departments of major hospitals, there are obviously more babies with diarrhea, most of which are acute gastroenteritis caused by various reasons. Zeng Jin, deputy chief physician of the Department of Pediatric Infections at Changsha Central Hospital (Changsha Central Hospital affiliated to the University of South China), reminded that summer and autumn are the high incidence seasons of pediatric gastroenteritis, and parents should be more careful to take care of their babies' gastrointestinal tracts.
Humid and stuffy, many reasons lead to frequent occurrence of acute gastroenteritis in babies
Why are there so many babies who have recently developed acute gastroenteritis? Zeng Jin said that the gastrointestinal system of children is not perfect, and infectious and non-infectious factors may cause diarrhea in the baby's acute gastroenteritis.
Infection is the main cause of acute gastroenteritis in children, the most common being bacterial infections and viral infections. The weather is hot and humid, pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella and other reproduction is vigorous, and the child's water cup, bottle and other daily necessities are not cleaned in place, which may breed bacteria; Moreover, children like to crawl around, touch everywhere, touch food or suck their fingers, and bacteria will enter the stomach.
Common viral infections are rotavirus infection and norovirus infection. In addition, children's acute upper respiratory tract infections, pneumonia and other diseases other than the gastrointestinal tract can also be accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms, mainly due to the damage to the gastrointestinal mucosa due to toxin absorption, reduced secretion of digestive enzymes, dysbacteriosis, plus drug stimulation, etc., inducing gastroenteritis symptoms.
Non-infectious causes such as poor diet and climate change can also cause acute gastroenteritis. For example, eating raw and cold irritating foods, overnight foods, infants and young children eating too much, too little, or adding complementary foods too early or too much, and suddenly changing the diet, etc., may lead to the occurrence of acute gastroenteritis in children. Sudden changes in the climate can lead to a decrease in the body's immunity, and excessive weather will promote a decrease in the secretion of stomach acid and digestive enzymes in the baby, and it is also easy to induce acute gastroenteritis.
Don't rush to take anti-diarrhea drugs, first fast food and water for two hours
"Some parents see the baby's diarrhea and immediately feed antidiarrheal drugs, which is a misunderstanding." Zeng Jin reminded that diarrhea is a method of self-protection of the human body, which can discharge toxins, pathogens, etc. in the body, and taking antidiarrheal drugs too early will leave germs in the body, but it is easy to aggravate the disease and prolong the course of the disease.
If the child vomits frequently, vomits when drinking water, vomits without drinking water, and should first fast and abstain from water for two hours to give the gastrointestinal tract a rest. At this time, barely feeding water will only aggravate vomiting. If your child is thirsty, you can feed a little moisture to moisten your lips. After 2 hours, try to feed warm water again, preferably to feed the prepared rehydration saline, 10 to 15 ml at a time, and then feed again at intervals of 15 to 20 minutes; After two feedings without vomiting, you can let the child eat a little rice porridge, according to the normal amount of 1/5 to 1/3, if you do not vomit, gradually increase the amount, and then transition from an easy-to-digest diet to a normal diet. During this period, oral rehydration saline can be continued depending on vomiting and urine output. It should be noted that you cannot fast for a long time and do not stop water, if you still vomit after re-feeding water, or if you still vomit frequently after fasting and fasting, you must seek medical attention in time.
The first principle of treatment of acute gastroenteritis is to prevent and treat dehydration, and hypotonic oral rehydration salts, or oral rehydration salts III, are recommended as the preferred medication for rehydration, administered from the beginning of diarrhea. It is not recommended to replace oral rehydration brine with sports drinks or undiluted lemonade, juice, etc., nor is it recommended to replace it with homemade sugar brine and rice soup, because improper formulation of electrolyte components can cause serious problems.
Breastfeeding children, you can increase the intake of fluids in your child by increasing the number of breastfeeding times, a small number of times, to prevent dehydration; Children fed milk powder, as long as they are not diarrhea caused by allergies to formula, simply reduce feeding instead of stopping feeding.
When a child suffers from acute gastroenteritis, the recommended fruit is apples, especially steamed apples, which can help relieve diarrhea. But don't give your child prunes, plums, pears, dragon fruit, and other fruits that may worsen diarrhea. When diarrhea, it is recommended to appropriately reduce the intake of vegetables, especially coarse fiber vegetables, and excessive intake of dietary fiber can lead to worsening diarrhea.
If the child suffers from acute gastroenteritis when the appetite is not good, do not feed hard, to ensure that the intake of water is more important than feeding enough food, excessive feeding and supplementary nutrition will increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, is not conducive to the recovery of the disease.
The most feared is dehydration, and early identification and treatment is critical
Some parents as long as the child has diarrhea, they rush to the hospital, some parents think that the child's diarrhea is a small problem, dragging not to see the doctor... What exactly is going to go to the hospital? Zeng Jin introduced that the following situations should be treated in time: vomiting is large, the number is more, and it lasts for more than 24 hours; Vomit is green, bloody or fecal; Vomiting is ejected; Poor mental state, drowsiness; Vomiting with severe bloating, high fever, convulsions (convulsions), diarrhea, blood in the stool, etc.; Symptoms and signs of dehydration, such as marked decrease in urine output, absence of tears, dry mouth, etc.
Zeng Jin reminded that the most feared thing about acute gastroenteritis in children is dehydration, which may lead to shock in severe cases, and early recognition and treatment are very critical. She gave a dehydration scoring scale to help parents quickly assess whether their children are dehydrated, and the severity, and make accurate decisions in a timely manner.
It is not difficult to understand that the higher the score, the heavier the degree of dehydration. Among them, 1 to 4 points indicate mild dehydration, and 5 to 8 points indicate moderate/severe dehydration. When your child is mildly dehydrated, the lost fluid can be replenished with oral saline water. If moderate or severe dehydration, or if dehydration does not improve or even worsen after oral saline water, you should seek medical attention immediately and receive intravenous fluids.
Zeng Jin suggested that when a child seeks medical treatment for diarrhea, parents should keep a stool sample of the child for testing, and stool testing can help parents initially determine the nature of diarrhea. How do I properly keep my child's stool samples? Some parents will directly take their children's diapers and diapers to the hospital. In fact, because the diaper is not wet, it will absorb the moisture of the stool, affecting the test results, which is not advisable. The correct approach is to use a plastic bag or clean plastic box immediately after the baby has a bowel to defecate in an appropriate amount (the size of peanut rice); To select the part of the stool that looks abnormal, such as blood and mucus in the stool, the specimen left behind must contain blood and mucus. In the summer, the specimen should be taken to the hospital for testing within 1 hour of retention.
How to prevent acute gastroenteritis in children? Zeng Jin reminded that it is especially important to maintain good hand hygiene. Tell your child to do a good job of personal hygiene, develop the habit of washing hands frequently, wash your hands before and after eating and after going to the toilet, after contact with possible pollutants, and change your clothes frequently. If someone around you has symptoms of acute gastroenteritis, do not have close contact with the baby, such as hugging, sharing toys, tableware, etc. The food given to the child should be washed and cooked, and the raw food and cooked food should be handled separately. When adding complementary foods, from less to more, gradually transition from liquid diet to solid foods to avoid burdening the digestive tract. Family members should wash their hands, wash their faces, and change their clothes before touching the children at home after returning home. Parents should wash their hands carefully after changing their children's diapers. Frequent ventilation of the residence, do a good job of environmental hygiene. During the high incidence of illness, avoid taking your children to crowded places to play, wear masks when going out, and try not to eat out. In addition, acute gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus infection can be prevented by vaccination.