17 answers

Day 4 of Diarrhea - Please Give Me Hope...

My 15 months old son has had diarrhea now since Sunday morning - it's Wednesday night and there is NO sign of improvement. His pediatrician says 3 - 5 days is "normal" and we do have his 15-month-checkup tomorrow, but I am getting really upset with the situation. He is obviously uncomfortable and must have cramps. We've been feeding him the BRAT (well, BT, because he doesn't care for rice and applesauce) diet and yoghurt, cut down on milk and he's been drinking pedialyte and gatorate.

I'm sorry, I know this is TMI, but his BM's are still very watery and they are not getting any better. Is this really "normal"????

Does anyone of any suggestions on what else I can do to make things a little easier on DS and myself? Not to mention that if he doesn't get better soon I'll have used up all the sick and vacation time that I accumulated in the short time I've been at my job...

What can I do next?

So What Happened?™

Thank you all so much for the advice. I took my son to his pediatrician on Thursday (diarrhea day 5) and she said that it's going around right now and that it could last up to 2 weeks. She said to give him a capsule of Culturelle per day with food and to stay away from milk, juice and green veggies. Wouldn't you know, the next day the diarrhea was gone - he gave it to me... :-)

Featured Answers

Cheese and crackers, thats what I give my son, he doesn't like apple sauce and he's allergic to rice, so I give him his normal food and just add cheese, crackers and bananas, wherever I can and that seems to do the trick. Hope you child gets better soon.

I would stick with the BRAT diet and cut out all dairy unitl it passes. Dairy can be hard to digest. And yes, keep him hydrated like you are doing!

More Answers

Definitely call and ask your doctor about acidophilus (it's pronounced "acid OFF ill us"). I had a friend tell me about it when my 2 year old had diarrhea for almost two weeks and was losing weight. I had never tried any "natural medicine" or anything like that but I was desperate so I called my doctor and he said, "Oh, yeah, acidophilus always works really well!" In less than 24 hours my son's diarreah was completely gone. But I think doctors don't often tell you about acidophilus because it's homeopathic and you have to ask them first or something? You can get it in capsules and you just empty them into your child's bottle or in their food. It has ALWYAYS worked for my family. Since then I've had two more children and none of them has ever had diarrhea for more than a day or two at the most. Your doctor can tell you the right dosage. Good luck!

I would stick with the BRAT diet and cut out all dairy unitl it passes. Dairy can be hard to digest. And yes, keep him hydrated like you are doing!

Diarrhea can last this long but as long as you are keeping baby hydrated with the Pedialyte and Water you are doing a good job. Diarrhea is our body's way of getting rid of whatever is bothering it. I do know one person who cut out fruit after trying all of the above for 2 weeks and the diarrhea stopped. As long and baby is happy and healthy. Your doing a great job.

I don't know if you have already been to the doctor and figured out whats going on, but...my son (age 8) often has this same problem. His problem though is that he gets bound up in the intestine and the doctor said that the watery things (like water, juice, milk, etc...) were going around the blockage instead of pushing out the blockage. FIBER, that is what he needed. My son has to have at least one bowl of shredded mini wheats (or high fiber cereal) each day to help with his digestive system. Another way to get kids to eat applesauce or apples, put them into the foods they like. Apples mix well with most foods or can be used as a supplement. Apples are a great source of fiber. Check his stomach for bloating or soreness around the intestines. It could be this or it may not be because some kids just get diarrhea from viruses and such...good luck with it.

Try Oscillococcinum (Osci). It is a homeopathic remedy for any flu-like symptoms. It is little pellets in a tube. You can melt a few in a spoon of hot water and then give it to the child when it cools down. You can do this every 20 min. You cannot overdose and it will help with the gas too! Adults and children can all use it. It's a wonderful product. You can get it at WalMart, Dahls, Campbell's, etc... It is in a white and orange box. Also, focus on liquids only, don't feed him any solid food! Hope this helps!

My son had this same thing every birthday for the first 3 years. The best thing I found was a homeopathic remedy at a health food store. If you have one that you like close by, ask them what they have. It's usually a small "pill" (it looks like a bead) that your son will suck on. I think it's called Podophylum or something like that. They can help you.
Good Luck!

Unfortunately, this is in fact pretty normal. My son, who is almost 2 1/2, currently has diarrhea as well. He had it once back in July/August that lasted for a little over 2 weeks. The doctor did all sorts of tests, took x-rays, etc and never found anything. It was just some sort of bug that eventually passed. We went through lots of diapers, pedialite and Popsicles, and eventually got better. It can be very stressful I know, but you just have to keep pushing fluids, do LOTS of hand washing and give him lots of love and cuddles. Watch for signs of dehydration too, and if you see any call you doctor right away before it gets bad. Good luck, I know this is a hard one to get through.

Nicole, we had this problem in December,16, with another dear kid.
I wrote this:
Melissa, good advice from me who does not like using medication much, especially for babies, and which saved all such problems to all of my three kids when they were b, and forever, even for yourself:

to 'fight" diarrhea, please find in some store
WHOLE WALNUTS, not the ones cut and clened from shells, and then put in bags. WHOLE WALNUTS< shells and all. Get a bunch of them, and make sure you refill your supply whenever you're out.
Now, once you have them, break the shells, and take the nuts out. use the nuts for your food whichever way you wish,
but the SHELLS inside have a thin layer holding the nut in place, right? Do you know what I am talking about? You take all these inside linings (I do not even know what you'd call them), take all of them out of the shells, from inbetween the nuts, and keep them.
Now, for a little baby, like your dear angel, take about 5 of those inside linings (let's call them so), and put them in the little pot with about 1,5 cups of water. Put the pot on the stove, and heat it up so it starts ALMOST boiling, then turn the heat down, and stay near the pot, and look that it will be simmering there, not boiling. Once you get it quickly boiling for the start, do NOT let it boil anymore at all, only let it simmer there for about half an hour. Thus, you have a most wonderful harmless 'potion' that heals tummy aches and diarrheas in a most wonderful way.
Now, what you do is you need to let Emma drink it, but it does not taste anyhow, so she will not like it much, probably.
Let it cool down to a warm or lukewarm, and if the diarrhea is really bad, do not dilute, but once give the simmered walnutshell tea as it is. You may put a little bit of honey in it, just for a little better taste, but not much. She is so little she will not drink the whole cup rightaway, but slowly, she will, every time she will accept drinking bottle, just give her some. You will see it will work very soon.
If it's still not normal, give her next time not so strong walnutshell tea, but dilute it a little.
Also, while she will be healing, I wouldn't give her any sweet things.

:) to know how to solve the opposite problem, if she cannot go 'podi" longer than usually, then plum juice gets you 'loose' :).

I raised all my kids without any medication, in a very remote area in the Mountains. They are 25, 23, 17 now, all very healthy.

Other moms gave different useful advices there also:
http://www.mamasource.com/request/6877617846793273345

the opinions are different, the approaches also, but you have a better picture, and more options to make your decision on how to make it work well.

GooDay to you, have a smile, :)

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