Question
My baby, who is over one month old, has severe diarrhea, which occurs almost every time he changes his diaper. The child’s weight has also obviously dropped slightly. We are very worried. What should we do?
Answer
Infant diarrhea may be caused by a lack of digestive enzymes in the intestines. Firstly, we need to consider whether the newborn has lactose intolerance, as breast milk contains lactose and the infant’s intestines may be congenitally lacking the enzyme to break down lactose, leading to undigested lactose and subsequently causing osmotic diarrhea. Additionally, the mother’s diarrhea or organic inflammation in the infant’s digestive tract may also cause diarrhea. It is recommended to switch to a formula milk that does not contain lactose to observe if the diarrhea subsides. If the diarrhea improves, it may be due to lactose intolerance; if not, further examination of the digestive tract is needed.