Definition: Diarrhea is passing watery stool or passing more than the normal number of stools in a child. As you can see that I highlighted few words in the previous sentence and the reason is that they are very important for proper diagnosis. For children beyond 1 year of age passing watery stools more than 3 times is called as diarrhea but for a newborn baby who is on mom’s milk passing loose stools that too many times a day is a very normal phenomenon. Most viral diarrhea start to decrease by 3-4 days and gets over by 5-7 days.
Cause: Infectious gastroenteritis: Most common cause, mostly viral, rarely bacterial therefore no benefit from antibiotics . Occasionally parasites can also cause diarrhea. Food poisoning Use of antibiotics Food allergies SOME MYTHS: Diarrhea in newborn : I cannot emphasize the importance of this statement but any baby who is exclusively on mom’s milk…
