How to stop diarrhea?

Question

My two month old has had diarrhea for the past three weeks, which is causing her to slowly gain weight. She used to be in the 90% now she is below 50%. We did not have any problem for the first month, she used to poop up to 10 times per day, yellow with grains, not up to 3 times per day she poops brown watery stuff. We went to two pediatricians and none of them had anything helpful to say, one checked for blood and said, “well at least she is not bleeding”. She is breastfed, I’m not drinking milk or eating any dairy products, as well as eggs. Any suggestions as to the cause of her diarrhea or a solution? Thanks.

Answer 1

I hope I can help you with this.

Old fashion remedies are rice water (1 spoon of rice every cup of water) with sugar and a dash of cinnamon.. Use that water to make the baby formula... (You can also give her rice cereal with water)
DO NOT give her milk. (unless is lactose free)
Milk is a diarrhea enemy. You can go to the pharmacy and buy vitamins for your baby. As your baby is losing fluids and nutrients on her stools you need to supply them.
Perfect vitamins for babies are Trivisol, polivisol, decavisol, etc.
If your baby is younger than 6 months, then you need polivisol.
Giving pedialyte to a baby that young is not bad, but it has to be preescribed by a physician.
Remember... give vitamins to your baby they don't hurt anybody.

Iron excess may cause diarrhea and black stools as well, but if 2 physicians already told you it wasn't the formula and they don't know what to tell you... then the cause is NOT your diet.

If your baby is throwing up (proyectile) and has diarrhea then she/he might have rotavirus. (There's not cure for that, just keep them hydrated) There's another virus around North America, its called "The gastrointestinal bug" the symtoms are:
*Vomit
*Black diarrhea (first stools) then turning dark brown, brown, green and at the end light green or yellow)
It can be over a week and I know it is frustrating seeing your little one sick, but Hon.. there's nothing to do. American doctors don't want to give babies Kaopectate, even if is not too bad for them.. they "believe" the "bug" has to find a way out by itself.. which I DISAGREE.. it is NOT healthy for your baby to have diarrhea over 4 days, as its intestinal flora can get damaged.
Make sure your baby doesn't have a sunken skull, that's the first sign of dehydration. Make sure (if your baby cries) you see tears, if there's NO tears, go to the Hospital.

BOLD: Vitamins.. go to the lab and pick up a Kit for stools and they have to check them for 3 days. As your baby is too young, the best thing to do is givin him/her rice water, lactose free formula and hope for the best!!

God bless your baby and don't worry Hon.. she/he'll be fine...

I hope this can help you.

Answer 2

Hello there,

Do you mean full blown diarrhea, as in complete liquid stools? I am unsure what the doctor has suggested and not suggested.

As for me (being a mom of 5), I would definately consider switching off formula bottles with the breastfeeding. Something is not settling in her stomach or intestines, obviously. Her dropping weight is not a good thing for her as we all want babies to gain and not lose. Is there any particular reason why you aren't consuming dairy products? Have you tried adding this into your diet? Perhaps that would help stop the diarrhea?

Also, consult with your baby's doctor regarding getting her on some Pedialite. I think that she can use the electrolytes as this can cause her to become dehydrated and become inbalanced.

Last but not least, my grandmother swears by yogurt to stop diarrhea. While I realize that a container of yogurt would be way too much for your baby, my grandmother swears that only a touch will do the trick. A dab cannot hurt, but this is your baby and your baby's health. Something to consider. I would definately do it at this point if this were my baby.

What ever you do, please have her rechecked soon as a baby losing weight isn't a good thing. I do NOT think it's something serious, so please don't worry. I just want you to realize, in case you don't, that she needs to be looked at again very soon.

Good luck to you! Please feel free to email me if you need to talk, have questions, etc.

Answer 3

I would have to say find a new pediatrician because if an infant has lost that much weight due to three weeks of diarrhea and all they have to say is " well at least she is not bleeding" that sounds like means of negligence and malpractice!! A baby should not have the runs for that long,, I think you need a new doctor (and not to freak you out) but if they find there is something wrong with your infant I'd sue the pants off those two doctor's for negligence!! Good Luck and I hope your new edition feels better soon!!

Answer 4

I wouldn't give things like Immodium or Pepto - you want the virus to get out as fast as possible, and these things can make it last longer. There's also a possibility of getting BAD cramps from them. What you want to do is bind her up with foods - anything starchy. They call it the BRAT diet - bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. You can expand on that more with any carbs - bread, noodles, mashed potatoes, crackers, animal crackers, pretzels - anything like that that interests her. You want to stay away from juice and milk - milk because it's not as easily digested, and juice can just make diarrhea worse. (Citrus juices are really rough on an empty stomach!) Try water or water mixed with gatorade or straight Pedialyte or if she's queasy, flat coca-cola or ginger ale. If the diarrhea persists for longer than 5 days or she's not keeping down fluids or not urinating, or there's blood, mucus, or pus in the stool - she needs to see the doctor. Good luck! Feel better!

Answer 5

I too would fire your ped. There has to be a reason for it and a better explanation than what they gave you. Did they recommend taking her to a gastroenterologist? PUtting her on formula might not be much more of a help, since it's harsher on the baby's system than breastmilk. Are you absolutely SURE you're elmininating all dairy from your system? There is dairy in virtually EVERYTHING out there, even if it doesn't say it explicitly. My DD has the same problem and once I truly elminiated all forms of dairy by basically eating a kosher/parve diet, she improved, but it took about two weeks. I hope you find answers because this is not normal, poor thing. Poor you!

Answer 6

Fisrst, get another pediatrician! No one should belittle your concerns for your child.

Secondly, she may have an allergy to milk in general including breastmilk. Its rare but it happens.
If you don't want to discontinue breastfeeding, try this:
For three days bottle feed a sensitive tummy formula like Nutrimigin while pumping to keep up your brestmilk supply. After three days go back to nursing. If she improved on the bottle and regresses on breastmilk again you've got your answer.


All babies go through some bouts of diarhea, don't let it get you too upset and while you are trying thingsa out to help her- make sure everyone who is in contact with her washes their hands frequently- since germs cause more diahrea than anything else.

Best Wishes!

Answer 7

Are you taking your prenatal? Could be not enough iron. Make sure you're getting enough potassium and calcium. Good lean red meat is great for iron. Bananas and broccoli are good for that, if she's allergic to the dairy in your breast milk.

You should always continue taking a prenatal vitamin when breast feeding.

Also, pump off some milk and mix it with a little rice cereal in a bottle, that might help too.

Three weeks is a long time, and its not okay that she's not thriving. I would take her back in and insist that they give you an answer.

Until then, make sure YOURE getting enough iron, calcium, and potassium. Lacks of these things can make stools soft.

They should check to make sure his stomach and intestines are well developed and functioning right.

Answer 8

try a soy based formula. your breast milk contains lactose no matter what your diet consists of. if this is not helpful return to the doctor and insist on them collecting a stool culture.

Answer 9

Get another opinion.
your baby will dehydrate .and continue to lose weight.
three weeks of diarrhea is too long Even for adults.

Answer 10

go to a doctor, or go to pharmacy and ask pharmacist what can u give to ur little one don't mess with it she is way too little, to older people I know u can give rice