Diarrhea and Infants – Dr. Greene. com. Dr. Greene’s Answer: Normal baby stool can look a lot like an adult’s diarrheal stool. Healthy baby poop is often soft and runny, and (especially in the first month) quite frequent. One 2- week- old with 1. So how can a parent tell if their child’s stool is normal or considered diarrhea? Look for a sudden increase in the frequency of the stools. Each baby has her own stool frequency pattern that changes slowly over time. If it changes noticeably within only a few days, she may have diarrhea. Any baby who has more than one stool per feeding should also be suspected of having diarrhea, even if this isn’t a sudden change. Also look for a sudden increase in the water content of the stool. Other signs of illness in your baby, such as poor feeding, a newly congested nose or a new fever, make the diagnosis of diarrhea more likely. What Causes Diarrhea in Babies? Diarrhea in babies can be caused by a change in diet (including, sometimes, a change in mother’s diet if the baby is breast- fed), by infection, by antibiotic use, or by a number of rare diseases. Each year there are about one billion cases of diarrhea in children worldwide. In most cases (more than 9. Still, more than 3 million young children die each year from diarrhea (about 4. United States). Treating Diarrhea in Babies. The central concern with diarrhea is the possibility of dehydration from loss of body fluids. Treatment is aimed at preventing dehydration, the real culprit. Most children with diarrhea can be treated safely at home. If your baby is breast- fed, don’t stop. Breast feeding helps prevent diarrhea (making diarrhea only half as likely); it also speeds recovery and helps prevent hospitalization (Journal of Pediatrics, May 1. Pediatrics, April 2. If your baby still seems thirsty after or between nursing sessions, you can supplement with an oral rehydration solution (Pedialyte is the most well known, but other brands are also effective. Children in my practice seem to prefer the taste of grape- flavored Kao. Lectrolyte — chilled). Do not try to make your own electrolyte solution at home, as the commercially available solutions are specially formulated to meet your baby. A soy formula containing fiber, such as Isomil DF, can be tried if your baby is at least 6 months old and may potentially be more effective at slowing down the stools (Clinical Pediatrics, March 1. Pediatrics, January 1. My 4-month-old baby use to eat 5 oz every 3-4 hours, but the last week he will only eat 2-3 oz and he is really restless during the feeding. I am worried that he will. Introducing Solid Foods and Table Foods to your 10 12 Month Old Baby. Typically, the teeth emerge. Do not dilute the formula. As with breast- fed babies, supplementation with an oral rehydration solution can help replenish the fluids and electrolytes that have been lost in the diarrheal stools. If your baby is already big enough to be taking solid foods, then carrots, rice cereal, bananas, potatoes, and applesauce can help slow down the stools. Avoid fruit juices, peas, pears, peaches, plums, prunes and apricots until the stools are back to normal, which should be within a week or so. What if it Lasts “Too” Long? If the diarrhea lasts longer than a week, or is accompanied by more than 7. Contact your pediatrician right away, however, if your baby won’t drink or appears to be getting dehydrated (dry mouth, crying without tears, sunken soft spot, lethargic, or going 8 hours without producing urine) or if your baby is under 3 months and has diarrhea with a fever. Vomiting for 2. 4 hours, 8 stools in 8 hours, or the presence of blood, mucus, or pus in the stool should also prompt a call to your pediatrician. So far we’ve been talking about poop. ![]() ![]() One final thought —Don’t forget your baby’s bottom. Stool normally contains some of the enzymes that help us digest our food. ![]() ![]() ![]() What's not from teething. If your baby has diarrhea, a fever, or a runny nose, don't dismiss it as a sign of teething, especially if the symptoms last longer than 24. Iron deficiency can cause anemia, a shortage of hemoglobin in the blood. This can lead to weakness, fatigue, a pale face and earlobes, and brittle, spoon-shaped nails. Whether you're looking to train a new puppy, find the best toy for your cat or set up a tropical aquarium, eHow has answers to all of your pet-related questions. Hello, My baby is 11 month old but yet prefers to eat pureed food. He kind of feels like throwing up for small solid bits in the puree. In the chart it has mentioned. My 6 month old son is teething as i can see a white spot on his lower gum. He throw away things in anger. When will my toddler get all of his teeth? Teething patterns vary greatly from child to child ![]() When stool travels through the intestines more quickly, not only is there more poop, but the poop contains more of these enzymes, which can then start to “digest” the soft skin of your baby’s bottom. Frequent diaper changes, rinsing the bottom with water, air drying, and protective ointments and creams, such as Desitin, can be a real help. Cut down on baby wipes during diarrhea. During diarrhea, most parents are focused on the frequent, runny poops. Most doctors are focused on the possibility of dehydration. From your baby’s point of view, however, the burning irritation of the diaper rash may be the most pressing issue. ![]() ![]() Did you find this article helpful? Still need more information? Let us know in the comments below. Infant. Newborn. Pee & Poop. Loose Stools: What's Your Kid's Poo Telling You Part 2. Find out the cause of loose stools and how you can restore digestive balance. Dr. Greene is the founder of Dr. Greene. com (cited by the AMA as . He appears frequently in the media including such venues as the The New York Times, the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, & the Dr. Greene's Wellness Recommendations. Sign up now for a delightful weekly email with insights for the whole family. Greene's FREE Top 5 Wellness Tips For 2. Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. ![]() CALCAREA PHOS FOR TEETHING AND DENTITION. Common Raw Feeding Mistakes That Can Be Harmful to Your Pet. By Dr. Becker. This is part three of my three- part video series on the myths and truths surrounding raw food diets (part one, part two). In this final segment, I want to discuss why raw pet foods get a bad rap. There are actually many valid reasons why raw pet foods come under scrutiny by traditional veterinarians and people who have had bad luck trying living foods. But all of these pitfalls are, fortunately, avoidable. Reason #1: Many Raw Pet Food Diets are Unbalanced. First, many homemade and prey- model diets and a few commercially available raw food diets are unbalanced. This means pets have been brought to veterinarians, including me, with nutritional imbalances that could and should have been avoided. These animals are deficient in antioxidants, or the correct amounts of trace minerals and vitamins, or the right fatty acid balance for appropriate and balanced skeletal growth, and organ and immune health. Usually, these well- intentioned owners don’t correlate their pet’s medical issues with nutritional deficiencies, but their vets do. And many veterinarians develop very strong opinions against all homemade and raw diets because of these cases. There are many well- meaning people who feed unbalanced diets out of ignorance and, in some cases, stubbornness. They believe that “This is the diet I’ve fed for X number of years and my dog is doing fine, so there’s no need to change it.”These types of statements tell me these clients are waiting for disease to occur before they will change what they’re doing. And in these situations, the pets always lose. This type of attitude causes many veterinarians to loathe any attempts at homemade diets and to lump all raw diets into the same category. Reason #2: GI Issues. Another reason raw diets get a bad rap is because gastrointestinal problems often develop when a dog or cat is switched from processed to raw food. There are two main reasons pets acquire GI issues from dietary transitions: the speed of the change in foods, and dysbiosis. Changing an animal’s diet too quickly can result in diarrhea. I’ve had several dozen clients that either learn what’s really in their pet’s food, or realize the brand they’ve been feeding is actually quite terrible, and they go home and throw it out. They drive to the local upscale pet boutique and purchase a human- grade raw food, and their pet loves it. But then the dog or cat becomes very sick after a few days, and off they go to the veterinarian. Most vets erroneously blame all cases of diarrhea on the bacteria in the raw food versus the sudden dietary change, causing the veterinarian and the owner to panic unnecessarily. Raw food is processed as a protein, held in the stomach for an acid bath, unlike kibble, which a dog or cat’s body views metabolically as a starch. If raw foods are added to dry foods for a meal, there can be digestive confusion, resulting in gassiness and belching. When introducing any new food to a pet with a healthy gut, I recommend using the new food as a treat for a day, and keeping an eye on the condition of the stool. Increase the number of new food treats over the next several days and continue to watch the stool. If the stool remains normal, replace one whole meal of old food with new food. Do this for several more days, and if the stools remain normal, it’s safe to discontinue the old food and feed only the new food. However, if the pet has a sensitive stomach, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), intestinal disturbances, or gut inflammation – conditions that plague most of the pet population – the transition steps are very different and sometimes require GI support throughout the process. Whenever she eats fresh fruits or vegetables, she has serious GI problems and must run to the bathroom if she consumes any type of fresh food. When she eats ice cream and donuts, she’s good. But when she eats fresh vegetables and fresh fruits, she ends up running to the bathroom. When I tried to explain to her that living foods are not toxic to her system but that her gastrointestinal health is so poor she can’t tolerate the foods her body was designed to eat, she laughs and says, “Well, whatever.” But actually, her body’s poor reaction to any healthy food is her excuse to not eat well. And I see this very same scenario in veterinary medicine. Vets say things like, “I guess your pet wasn’t meant to eat human- grade food.” Or I’ve heard them say, “Some animals just can’t tolerate a diet change or healthy food.” And while it’s true these cases take much more time to successfully transition, it is certainly worth the effort. Often there must be an accompanying medical protocol to treat dysbiosis and an inflamed GI tract, but again, the results are worth the effort. Changing the Diet of a Pet with GI Disease. Working with a veterinarian who understands functional medicine and leaky gut syndrome is critical for successful dietary transitions for most animals with GI disease. It’s important to accomplish the transition without negatively affecting your pet. Just like my friend who could choose to put the time and energy into making a lifestyle change that over time would heal her body and allow her to consume nourishing foods without side effects, most people simply choose to continue the lifestyle that caused the problem. This is certainly true with pet owners as well. It appears to be too much work or too much trouble to put forth the effort needed to make a lifestyle change for a pet, which can take up to a year for many of these animals. My view, of course, is that health is on a spectrum, and pets are always moving one way or the other (toward health, or away from health). So a year from now, will your pet be healthier ? Lots of patience will also be required. The road to recovery is not linearly positive. It’s not a beautiful line of daily positive progress until your pet achieves wellness. There will be bumps in the road. Your pet will have ups and downs. But certainly, creating gastrointestinal health is critical if you want your dog or cat to thrive. So, the end result will be well worth your effort. Pets with gastrointestinal disease will need their food thoroughly ground up (that means no bones, only bonemeal) and gently cooked for many months in the initial transition phase. I often recommend beginning with only two ingredients in a home- prepared diet and slowly adding nutrients one at a time as the animal’s health improves. Some people argue that transitioning this way - - starting so slow and taking so long to complete the process - - is not what nature intended. But with gastrointestinally debilitated animals, we must “meet the patients where their bodies are at.” Many animals must be on special protocols initially to assist in healing. And if a seasoned holistic veterinarian isn’t participating in the dietary transition, it can go so poorly for some of these animals that they end up being hospitalized. These unsuccessful attempts at a dietary transition are why traditional vets will say, “Some pets just can’t tolerate raw foods or fresh foods. You just need to leave well enough alone and continue feeding kibble.” But it’s important to recognize that with good effort and professional guidance, these animals, too, can be transitioned to better, healthier diets. What to Expect When You Transition Your Pet to a Raw Diet. One of the more common myths perpetuated about raw food is that dogs and cats can’t get food poisoning. Pets can and do get food poisoning from eating rancid meat. Undoubtedly, this also occurs in the wild, but it acts as a means of population control when predators die from consuming toxic food. There’s actually a website out there that advocates feeding spoiled meat to pets. This is absolutely terrible advice. It will only be a matter of time before this advice kills pets. There’s a huge difference between normal opportunistic bacteria loads in fresh healthy meats and spoiled meats filled with endotoxins that will kill any mammal if ingested. So, don’t feed your pets any type of spoiled food. This lack of hair can also mean a lack of roughage or fiber. This means some animals aren’t supplied the additional nutrients they need. And sometimes, pets can get constipated. Oddly, instead of simply addressing the fiber issue, some veterinarians tell owners to stop feeding living foods altogether. Raw food diets usually produce small, hard balls of poop that are easily passed and turn white and crumble and blow away in a day or so if you forget to pick them up. This is totally normal. I’ve had some people go back to feeding kibble, because no one explained that their pet’s poop would radically change on a raw food diet, and that multiple huge piles of stinky poop from dry food diets would be a thing of the past. So, feces will change – and for the better. Raw food poop is entirely different from kibble- fed poop. Oftentimes, after one to three months on a fresh food diet, pets go through a detoxification process. This is totally normal and is actually something to celebrate. Detox for your pet will happen through the bowels and skin. During a detox, your pet will act completely normal. He’ll be happy, bright, and alert. But you might find that he’s shedding a tremendous amount of hair. Pets shed out their old, dead, dull hair, and begin growing a shiny, soft coat. You might also see a lot of earwax or debris being produced from the ear. That needs to be cleaned out. And some detoxing pets will pass blobs of mucus in their stools. These symptoms of detoxification will pass on their own. They’re nothing you need to worry about, but are something you should anticipate or it might freak you out. Pets on a fresh food diet also consume far less water than pets eating an entirely processed diet. You need to anticipate that your pet’s water intake will diminish. Raw Feeding Mistakes to Avoid.
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