Acute diarrhea in children

Diarrhea is a symptom characterized by frequent evacuations and liquid stools, it can be acute and chronic and the causes can be different. Acute diarrhea, often of viral origin, sometimes of bacterial origin, is very common in children; since children tend to carry everything in their mouth, viruses and bacteria penetrate the intestine through dirty hands or toys or other contaminated objects.

In infants diarrhea is more dangerous than in older children due to faster dehydration which, sometimes, in more severe cases, may require hospitalization. The thing to watch out for, therefore, is to prevent children from becoming dehydrated .

It is also necessary to observe any concomitant symptoms (vomiting, fever, low amount of urine, etc.) and report everything to the pediatrician.

Natural remedies for acute diarrhea in children

When it comes to natural remedies for diarrhea in children, the first point to list is prevention : often washing hands is essential to avoid infection; even toys should be kept as clean as possible.

In case of diarrhea, then, it is necessary to take even more care of the children ; some of the foods indicated are bread and pasta, rice, boiled potatoes, white meats, blue fish, bananas, apples, carrots.

It is also important that children with diarrhea drink a lot to recover lost fluids; it is better, however, to avoid sugary drinks, fizzy drinks and "sports drinks" both because the sugars contained in all these products can negatively affect the symptom of diarrhea and because these do not provide the amount of mineral salts needed for rehydration. In the case of mild diarrhea, it is often enough to offer the child small amounts of water, with a certain frequency, throughout the day.

If, however, the symptom is more severe, one of the most effective natural remedies against diarrhea in children remains the oral rehydration solution, recommended by the World Health Organization and used worldwide for about a quarter of a century; contains sodium, potassium, glucose and bicarbonate and can be bought in pharmacies.

Finally, it is often useful to administer lactic acid bacteria to children with diarrhea.