What to feed a child with diarrhea?

Infancy

The best dietary food for diarrhea is breast milk. If there is no milk from the mother of a sick child, express milk from another woman is given after preliminary sterilization.

If diarrhea is accompanied by vomiting, food should be given to the child without heating, very slowly, in drops.

If breast milk is not available, formula milk must be used. For this, the doctor prescribes either ready-made mixtures, or you can use kefir, diluted by 1/3 or half with 5% rice broth, with the addition of 5% sugar.

Mild form of diarrhea

If symptoms of indigestion or diarrhea appear, the child is prescribed a water-tea break for 6-8 hours. At this time, food is completely excluded and 150-170 ml of liquid per 1 kg of body weight per day is given. During this time, food debris is completely removed from the gastrointestinal tract.

Severe form

In severe forms of diarrhea, a water-tea break can last 10-12 hours.

Restorative nutrition

• After a fasting pause, the child is prescribed 100 ml of expressed milk (or formula) per day, 10 ml every 2 hours.
• In the next day, depending on the child’s condition, 50 to 100 ml of milk should be added, 5-10 ml per feeding.
• In this way, the amount of food is gradually increased daily, and the full nutritional load with a smooth recovery can be achieved in a few days.
• With such limited nutrition, the child needs to replenish the remaining amount of fluid with water, saline, glucose solution, and decoctions.
• It is necessary to prescribe vitamins in the form of juices or ascorbic acid.

Children over 1 year old

In both acute and chronic diarrhea, maximum mechanical and chemical sparing of the intestines is necessary.

In the first days, exclude foods that increase intestinal motility, increase the secretion of its glands and the formation of mucus. These are fiber-rich foods - vegetables, fruits, wholemeal bread, spicy dishes, spices, mustard, horseradish, pepper, as well as sausages, refractory fats, smoked meats, etc.)

Fruits, juices that promote fermentation processes (grapes, peaches, apricots), sugar, sweets, and cakes are prohibited.

The diet includes steamed and boiled meat and fish, pureed slimy porridges and soups - (oatmeal, rice, semolina in water), stale white bread, stewed carrots.
Juices of black currant, lingonberry, chokeberry, containing astringents that prevent fermentation, are useful.

For children of this age, you can use a therapeutic diet 4 .

Restoration of intestinal microflora during diarrhea

For this purpose, the following diet may be recommended:

• Day 1 - 4-5 baked apples and several white bread croutons;
• 2nd day - rice porridge and tea without sugar are added to the diet of the previous day;
• 3rd day - fermented milk products and a small amount of sugar are added.
• Starting from the fourth day, the diet is expanded by adding boiled beets and carrots, pureed porridge and water soups, pureed meat and fish, cottage cheese, carrot juice and other dishes of diet 4.

If you are prone to diarrhea, low mineralization mineral waters are recommended (Essentuki No. 4). Water should be drunk 150 ml at a time, 30-40 minutes before meals, slowly.

Read about the causes of diarrhea in the article on diarrhea in children .