Diarrhea in Children
Children are only more susceptible to diarrhoea than adults due to the lack of development in their immune systems. With children, having the same strand of diarrhoea an adult will last a few days longer, so there’s not much to worry about. Usual check ups for your child by the family doctor will include looking at his heart rate and evaluating his temperature.
Symptoms
Like most people who get diarrhoea one of the major tell tale signs is dehydration. These symptoms are evident in children through a variety of means. When the colour of your child’s skin become paler, if he or she starts to feel more unwell then they were before and perhaps become more drowsier, you will know what your child has. If your child experiences a cooling sensation in their hands and feet or start to urinate more frequently then they have been doing, then it is advisable you take your child away to be looked at by your general practitioner just to be on the safe side.
For any children you have aged one or under, as a parent you must understand that they stand to be at a greater risk of dehydration. If your baby vomits more then once within a day or has more then five cases of diarrhoea in a day, it is again advisable you take your child to your local GP.
For those parents that fear breast-feeding or bottle-feeding their child may increase the risk of diarrhoea, they need not be worried. It is advised you keep feeding them as regularly as you do. Interspersed with this is the option of offering your child rehydration drinks.
Home Advice
It is advised you do not put your children on solid foods during diarrhoea, at least not until they are fully stocked up on fluids. When dehydration has dissipated, you can slowly start to adjust what your child eats and put them back on solids as a precaution.
Treatment for diarrhoea in children
Painkillers should not be recommended for children who are under sixteen years of age. Loperamide is for most people the best form of medication available for helping with diarrhoea; however one should not discount the side affects that may harm your child briefly whilst on them. It is known that Loperamide can ease muscle activities in your stomach leading to the absorption of liquid, thus making your faeces harder and easier to pass through your body.
In case of infection, doctors are likely to take precautions and ask for a sample of your child’s diarrhoea to help diagnose the root cause. If it is bacterial and persistent, one can easily treat this with antibiotics, but one must stress it is only in the severest of cases as antibiotics are going to offer some unfortunate side-affects.
Complications
Complications are highly unlikely to occur within children form diarrhoea living in here in England or in countries with medical advances. Whereas in developing countries children are not immunised and are susceptible to disease, diarrhoea is a killer. If however your child suffers from diabetes or any other debilitating disease, your immune system is likely to face a stern challenge against diarrhoea.
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