Question
An 8-month-old baby, who had been hospitalized for a green stool that lasted for more than a week and whose stool test showed 20-30 white blood cells and 6-10 red blood cells, recovered to normal golden yellow stool after 6 days of antibiotic treatment. However, recently, the baby’s stool occasionally contains blood strands. After the parents conducted another stool test, the results showed 2-4 white blood cells and a weak positive result for the occult blood test. After taking antibiotics for 4 days, the retest showed no abnormalities in occult blood and white blood cells, but the baby’s stool still contained blood strands. The parents inquired why there were still blood strands in the baby’s stool.
Answer
When blood strands are found in a baby’s stool, it may be related to enteritis, especially when the baby is breastfed, and it is also necessary to consider whether the mother has consumed excessively cold foods. Firstly, a routine stool examination should be conducted on the baby to determine if enteritis is present, and if so, active anti-inflammatory treatment should be carried out. If the baby is breastfed, the mother should avoid consuming foods such as oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, watermelons, honeydew melons, and dragon fruits, which are extremely cold and cool.