Baby diarrhoea: Causes, symptoms and helpful tips
Think your baby might have diarrhoea? Our expert, GP Dr Philippa Kaye, shares the signs to look out for, the common causes, how to treat baby diarrhoea at home and when you need to seek medical help.
Everyone gets diarrhoea from time to time, even young babies. However, with babies only drinking milk for the first six months of their life and having loose stools until they start weaning, it can be harder to tell when a baby's bowels are affected by a bug. To help you work out if your baby has diarrhoea, NHS GP Dr Philippa Kaye has outlined the key signs to look for, plus if you suspect your baby has a stomach bug what to do about it.
With helpful advice on how to keep your baby hydrated and when you need to seek medical help, our guide below covers everything you need to know about baby diarrhoea.
What is baby diarrhoea and how can you tell if your baby has it?
Diarrhoea is defined as passing looser, often more watery poo than normal and going to do a poo more frequently.
Baby poo is not the same as adult, or even child poo, because at least for the first six months, they aren’t eating any solids or a variety of foodstuffs, only breast or formula milk. Baby poo can come in a variety of colours, textures and consistencies.
For example, an exclusively breastfed baby may do many poos a day, of a liquid consistency and often bright yellow colour, which may look like it contains tiny mustard seeds within it, or be slightly greenish. This is totally normal, and the tiny ‘seeds’ aren’t seeds, but rather milk fats which haven’t been fully digested.
Formula fed babies often have more solid poo than breastfed ones, but still not solid like an adult – think more the consistency of peanut butter and colours can range from yellow to green to brown.
Colours and consistencies vary, as long as your baby’s poo is not black, red (blood) or very pale it is probably normal!
So it isn’t really possible to define baby diarrhoea as a particular number of times of passing stool, a particular colour or the like, but rather it is a change in your baby’s normal bowel to more frequent, more watery and looser stools.
Common causes of diarrhoea in babies
Diarrhoea in babies and in children is often caused by an infection, typically a viral infection. A common viral cause of diarrhoea in babies is the rotavirus and this can be prevented by your baby having the rotavirus vaccination which is given at 8 and 12 weeks old. Other viruses which can cause diarrhoea include norovirus.
Bacterial infections can also lead to diarrhoea. These infections often also lead to nausea and vomiting and there may be other symptoms such as a fever, abdominal pain, not wanting to eat. Other causes of diarrhoea can include food allergy such as cow’s milk protein allergy. Find out more about cow's milk allergies here or by visiting the Allergy UK website here.
Diarrhoea occurs because food and waste pass through the large intestine much quicker than normal, meaning that there isn’t time for the water to be absorbed out of the poo like normal.
Care tips for baby diarrhoea and how to keep your baby hydrated
Thankfully, infective diarrhoeal illnesses tend to only last a few days and most cases can be managed at home. The most important thing is to try and ensure that your baby stays hydrated, that we replace the fluid being lost out of the bottom end by drinking more at the top!
For young babies under six months this means offering more breastfeeds, little and often, if your baby is formula fed then you can give some water in between feeds. Do not water down baby formula, use at its normal strength. Older babies and children can be given water or oral rehydration solutions such as Dioralyte and other brands.
If they are struggling with nausea and vomiting it is sensible to give smaller amounts much more frequently, even as little as 5 mls perhaps via a syringe every 5 minutes and gradually increase in how much you give and the time between giving it. If they can’t tolerate even this small amount then please seek medical help.
When to worry about baby diarrhoea: Signs you should call a doctor
Young babies, especially those under approximately six months old are more likely to become dehydrated than older children.
Signs of dehydration include less frequent wet nappies than usual and dry lips and mouth. However is refusing all liquids, or can’t keep any down and stops passing urine and there are no wet nappies for six hours, or if their eyes become sunken, or if they become drowsy and sleepy please seek urgent medical advice.
In addition, if your child has bloody diarrhoea, or if the diarrhoea persists for over seven days then please see your doctor.
To try and stop the infection which is likely causing the diarrhoea from spreading maintain good hand hygiene, washing your hands well after each nappy change and the like. Wash any clothes or bedding which has poo on it separately in a hot wash and don’t share towels. Your baby should be kept at home from nursery/childminder/playgroups for 48 hours after the last episode of diarrhoea or vomiting to try and stop the infection spreading further.
In a nutshell, if you are worried, ask for help!
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Authors
Dr Philippa Kaye is a GP, media doctor and author with a particular interest in women's, children's and sexual health. She has written multiple books including The Science of Menopause, Breasts: An Owner's Guide and Doctors Get Cancer Too, her memoir of being 39 years old, a busy doctor and mother when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer.