Have your children ever experienced diarrhea? How to stop diarrhea in Children? How do you cope with this emerging situation at home? We will provide you with some practical remedies and tips for preventing diarrhea in children.

What is diarrhea in children?  

Diarrhea,  considered a common disease, is an increase in the frequency of bowel movements with a concomitant decrease in stool or loose stool. People refer to diarrhea that frequently occurs in children and babies as children's diarrhea.

The disease can attack children in all seasons and is especially high in summer and autumn. Diarrhea in late autumn and winter tends to cause an epidemic that can spread through the mouth or respiratory tract (airway) as an infection. Infants between 2  and 24 months are a high-risk group, and children over four years have the lowest risk of diarrhea.

From the point of view of Eastern medicine, children suffering from spleen deficiency suffer from a pathogen (external evil) that makes breast milk indigestive and a gastric dysfunction, thus inducing diarrhea attacks. The mild cases show a  satisfactory prognosis, but severe diarrhea can damage both Qi and Yin, even result in infantile malnutrition or chronic infantile convulsions if left untreated.

1.  Main symptoms 

•  An increase in bowel movements, about 3 to 5 times a day. Some severe cases are more than ten times a day.

•  Looseness of stools with pale yellow or yellow-green faeces or with mucus. 

•  Accompanied by nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, and thirst. 

2. Complications and risks 

Compared to adults, children are more sensitive to diarrhea because of their immature digestive function. Untreated diarrhea can lead to complications or even death. Here are the four main complications.

1) Electrolyte imbalance and dehydration. The constant loss of water and electrolytes from diarrhea can lead to electrolyte imbalances and dehydration, which can increase the risk of renal failure. For example, a low level of blood calcium in the body can trigger cramps in hand and foot.

You should see a doctor if the following dehydration symptoms occur in children.

•  No wet nappies in more than three hours

•  Dry mouth and tongue

•  Temperature over 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius)

•  Crying without tears

•  Dizziness, dullness or irritation

2) Malnutrition. Long-term diarrhea without treatment may develop into a chronic illness and malnutrition can occur, which can reduce the immunity of the child and thus cause inflammation like thrush, bronchopneumonia, and tuberculosis (TB).

3) Viral myocarditis. Some intestinal viruses, one of the causes of diarrhea, can attack both the intestinal tract and the heart, resulting in viral myocarditis. Sufferers may experience chest tightness, wheezing, accelerating heartbeat and even cardiac arrhythmia in severe cases.

4) Intussusception (the inversion of one portion of the intestine within another).  Frequent diarrhea disturbs the intestinal movement, leading to constant cramps in the intestine. This disorder causes a part of the bowel fold into the next section, also called intussusception. If children suffer from frequent vomiting and decreasing bowel movements with abdominal swelling, you should alter the onset of intussusception.

Causes of diarrhea in children 

In traditional Chinese medicine, diarrhea in children can mainly contribute to the pathogen (external evil) that can affect the ability of digestion, which presents a weakness of the spleen and stomach. The process of ingesting and digesting depends mainly on the stomach,  which stores the food and handles the various nutrients. Then the spleen begins to absorb and allot the essence of those nutrients to each process to provide energy for physical activities and body temperature. When stomach and spleen are damaged by external pathogens,  food and water are difficult to digest into useful substances, mixing up and exhausting uncontrollably in the form of loose stools. The related factors involved:

1. External pathogens. The guts (Zang and Fu in China) of children are not mature yet, and the skin is vulnerable as it can't adjust the body temperature. The pathogens like wind, cold, heat,  humidity and heat in the environment can attack and impair the intestinal work in children, resulting in diarrhea. Weather factors such as wind and the cold weather in spring and winter attack the skin or the airways, generating the Qi of wetness in the body. And the sunshine and rain in summer and autumn bring heat and moisture into the body in the form of Re (heat) Qi.

2. Irregular or inappropriate diet. The digestive capacity of the immature spleen in children is too weak to control food intake. Inappropriate health adjustments,  breast milk, and irregular or unclean food can damage the spleen and cause diarrhea, so children should be kept away from raw and cold fruits and indigestive food.

3. Innate deficiency. If children who have a congenital deficiency, such as malnutrition and illness, are suffering from pure care or a long-term illness,  it can lead to a weak stomach and spleen.

4. Innate lactose intolerance. Some of the children cannot digest lactose and this can cause diarrhea. Foods such as artificial milk, ice-cream, cakes and dairy products all contain lactose.