Question
My child has diarrhea and sometimes doesn’t have a bowel movement for a whole day after taking medicine, but then has three to four bowel movements the next day. The stool color is a bit green, sometimes yellow, and has a bit of a sour smell. Now, they mainly eat congee and milk powder(rice milk). I want to know if the milk powder can be consumed, and what precautions should be taken?
Answer
The principle of nutritional treatment for diarrhea is to adjust the diet, stop eating high-fat and hard-to-digest foods to reduce the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, gradually restore digestive function, and supplement vitamins and electrolytes for symptomatic treatment. It is crucial to avoid the excessive use of antibiotics. Active dietary treatment is very important for recovering strength. Breastfeeding mothers can adjust the feeding time to shorten it, and formula-feeding mothers can start with rice gruel or diluted milk, 1/2 water and 1/2 milk, or 1/3 water and 2/3 milk, starting from less to more, from thin to thick. Easy-to-digest dairy products include yogurt and skim milk. Homemade skim milk (removing the floating milk skin from boiled milk) can also be used. Below are several examples of therapeutic diets for parents of children with diarrhea: - Egg Yolk Diet: After boiling an egg, remove the shell and white, then cook the yolk over low heat to extract oil. Infants under 1 year old can take one yolk oil per day, divided into 2-3 servings, for a course of 3 days. This treatment helps with diarrhea and has the effect of strengthening the spleen and stomach. Steamed egg pancakes made with a little flour and ginger shavings also have the same effect. - Apple Diet: Apples contain tannins and have astringent properties. One apple should be washed, steamed, and then eaten as fruit or peeled and mashed into a puree. Take 30-60 grams each time, three times a day. Apple soup can also be an auxiliary drink for treating diarrhea. Cut apples into pieces, add 250 milliliters of water and a small amount of salt, and you can also add 5% sugar. Boil it as tea for drinking, suitable for infants under 1 year old. - Mung Bean Paste Diet: Use 3~5