Diarrhea is a common children health issues encountered in infants and children. According to WHO, diarrhea is a bowel movement in liquid form is more than three times in one day, and usually lasts for two days or more. Sometimes parents often wonder whether the baby has diarrhea. In children, the consistency of stools of more attention than the frequency of bowel, this is because the frequency of bowel in infants more frequently than adults, can be up to five times a day. Frequency of bowel that is often in children is not necessarily to say if the diarrhea stool consistency as the days in general. A mother can tell when their children get diarrhea, and depending on the situation of children.
Diarrhea can cause the child's lack of fluids. Various causes of diarrhea, including infectious (bacterial or viral) or food allergies (especially milk or lactose). Diarrhea in children should be treated because if not treated immediately, diarrhea can cause dehydration of the body which can be fatal.
The cause of diarrhea in children :
- Viral infections, Viruses cause most rotavirus diarrhea is. According to WHO, rotavirus contributes 15-25% of diarrhea in children aged 6-24 months.
- Bacterial infections, Bacteria such as Shigella, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella (non thypoid), Campylobacter jejuni or Escherichia coli can be a cause of diarrhea in your baby. Your child likely to experience diarrhea due to bacterial infections if they experienced a very severe diarrhea, followed by seizures, blood in the stool, and fever.
- Parasite, Infections caused by parasites can also cause diarrhea. Diseases such as giardiasis. The disease is caused by microscopic parasites that live in the intestines. Symptoms of giardiasis include a lot of gas, which is very much feces and smelly, flatulence, and diarrhea.
- Food and Beverage, Too much juice (especially fruit juice containing sorbitol and high content fruksosa) or too many sweetened drinks can make the baby's stomach "shocked" and cause diarrhea.
- Food intolerance, In contrast to food allergy, food intolerance is not affected by the immune system. Examples of food intolerance is lactose intolerance (very rare in infants). Infants who experience lactose intolerance, meaning that the baby does not produce enough lactase, an enzyme needed to digest lactose (the sugar in cow's milk and other dairy products). Symptoms such as diarrhea, flatulence, and a lot of gas can occur when the lactose is not broken down. Symptoms usually appear about one or two hours after consuming dairy products.
- Food allergies, Food allergy is an immune system reaction to food intake. Food allergies in infants is common in babies who got to know complementary feeding. Milk protein is an allergen (the allergen) are most common in infants. In addition to milk proteins, which are common allergens are eggs, soy, wheat, peanuts, fish, and shellfish. Consult your doctor if you suspect ananda have food allergies. Food allergies can cause various reactions (one of which is diarrhea) in a short time and after several hours.
- Antibiotics, If your child or your child has diarrhea during antibiotic usage, this may be related to treatment that is being lived. Antibiotics may kill the good bacteria in the intestine during treatment. Consult your doctor about this. However, do not stop treatment on your child until the doctor gives approval.
Diarrhea can easily be prevented by :
- Washing hands properly with soap at critical times of the five before eating, after defecation, before holding the baby, after cleaning a child from a bowel movement, and before preparing food
- Defecate and urinate in place
- Healthy drinking water, or water that has been processed, among others, by boiling, heating by the sun or the chlorination process.
- A good waste management so that food is not contaminated insects (flies, cockroaches, fleas, roaches, etc.)
- Cook food properly, separate the food that has been cooked and uncooked, pisakan also food that has been washed and unwashed, and keep the food from insects such as flies.
Handling Diarrhea
- Give ORS to replace lost body fluids. Please note for parents about the correct way of giving oral rehydration salts. The trick is to drink a glass of ORS little by little, two to three sips, then stop for three minutes. This should be repeated continuously until one glass ORS exhausted. ORS drink one glass at a time can lead to vomiting and defecation.
- For infants and toddlers who are still breast-fed, continue to drink milk (breast milk). For children who already do not drink milk, eat and drink as usual to replace lost body fluids
- Immediately consult a doctor if the child's diarrhea for more than 12 hours or if your baby does not wet the bed within 8 hours, body temperature over 39 ° C, there is blood in the stool, dry mouth or cries without tears, and extraordinary drowsy or no response.
