Diarrhea is the defecation of a person that is large in number and watery compared to his age.
Since babies are fed with breast milk in the newborn period, they pass watery, yellow, and 1 to 8 defecations per day. Most people think this is diarrhea. Everything is fine in babies who do not have fever, eat well, and have no odor, blood, or mucus in their poop. Sometimes young babies with food allergies also have diarrhea and sometimes bloody poop. This condition should be differentiated from infection with some tests and the treatment should be done accordingly
Diarrhea is treated by looking at the cause of the disease, the severity of the disease, and how much the complaints affect the child. Let's classify diarrhea according to the causes of its occurrence:
FOOD ALLERGY IN BABIES: Breastfed babies have smelly, foamy mucus and sometimes bloody poop due to foods such as cow's milk, etc. The cause can be found and prevented by the mother's diet. Sometimes it occurs when switching to supplementary food. Celiac disease occurs due to gluten allergy and causes chronic diarrhea and malnutrition. Lactose intolerance is also in this group. Diarrhea ends when the causing foods are removed from the diet. The most common are rotavirus, adenovirus, norovirus and other enteroviruses. It frequently causes epidemics, especially in large living spaces such as nurseries and schools. It occurs from child to child or by eating liquid foods infected with the virus. Complaints appear within 1-3 days after receiving the virus. Sometimes there is fever, vomiting often begins with abdominal pain. During the process, watery, odorless, bloodless and mucus-free defecation occurs. The number may be between 5-15 per day. Depending on the age of the child and the severity of the disease, treatment with plenty of fluids, partial diet, antipyretics, anti-emetics and probiotics can be provided without hospitalization. However, in children with intense diarrhea who cannot drink fluids, the body fluid-electrolyte pH balance may be disrupted, and if left untreated, conditions that may lead to kidney failure may occur. For this reason, hospitalization may be necessary for short or long-term serum electrolyte treatment.
BACTERIAL-CAUSED DIARRHEA: Especially in the summer months, food spoils quickly due to heat, and bacteria grow in creamy foods (cake, ice cream, etc.), chicken and openly sold foods. Salmonella(typhoid) coli bacillus, shigella(bacillus di zanteri) amoeba and giardia (amoebic dysentery) are among these microbes. Patients generally have poor general condition and abdominal pain. During the process, there are fewer cases of diarrhea than viral diarrhea, which may contain foul-smelling mucus and sometimes be bloody. It is treated with blood and stool tests and, if necessary, antibiotic probiotic treatment and sometimes inpatient treatment.
CHRONIC DIARRHEA: Diarrhea that lasts longer than 1 week is called prolonged diarrhea. If it lasts longer than 3 weeks, it is called chronic. The cause must be found and treated. It should not be neglected.
PROTECTION: For now, only vaccination against rotavirus can provide protection. It is necessary to clean hands, clean water, not to eat openly, and be careful with foods such as cake, chicken, ice cream and lahmacun, especially in the summer months. It is important not to come into contact with the sick child and to isolate the sick child and to quickly remove his/her feces from the environment.
FINALLY: let's not neglect the rota vaccination in infancy. Vomiting 3 times a day, diarrhea 7-8 times, inability to drink fluids, fatigue, high fever, decrease in urine are emergencies. It is necessary to apply to health institutions immediately. The younger the baby, the higher the risk. It should be visited as soon as the disease begins.
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