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Suggest Remedy For Redness In Anus And Loose Stool In A Child
Question: Hi, My five month old daughter is pooping out watery, mucus with lather. Its like soappy water. Last week her anus turned red and the frequency of motion is more than 5 tines a day. I consulted pediatrician and she gave me Ors solution and prebiotic medicine. She also suggested me to take motion test. We are unable to do due to some personal reason.After following the medicine my kid is active enough and without issues she is having her milk. Still her motion is watery with lather. But no mucus in it. As usual 4 times a day she is pooping out. Also she is very social active kid and her weight is gaining slow. It's only 5.1 kgs. How to treat her further? She is exclusively breast feed and due to playfulness she is having less sometimes. Can I go for any formula feed due to this?
Brief Answer:
What you describe is actually normal
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.
I have carefully gone through the details provided by you. Let me assure you that in case of a baby of this age, watery and lathery, even green stools are absolutely normal and not a cause to worry about. You need not worry if the child passes stool 10 times a day or once in 10 days as both of these are normal for a child of this age. Unless the stool test shows a pus cell count of more than 8-10/hpf, it does not indicate infection and all you need to do is to continue breast feeding. So long as the child is exclusively breast fed, infection is unlikely to occur and stool test need not be done. Just continue the feeds normally. Adequacy of the feeds would be evident if the frequency of passage of urine is more than 6 times over a period of 24 hours. If not, all you need to do is to increase the amount of breast feeding. Breast feeding is the best possible feed for a baby and it is even better than ORS is supplying for the salts and water lost through the stool. If the child is playful and is not lethargic, you need not worry. Please do not shift to formula milk for this. Perianal hygeine has to be maintained and unless the area can be kept dry, redness may develop.
Let me assure you that breast milk is the beast possible feed for a baby upto 6 months of age. After 6 months breast milk is to be continued along with semi-solid food. Most formula milks are cow milk based and hence not easy for the child to digest. Hence, be it cow milk or formula milks, they are not quite recommendable.
The birth weight of a child should double in about 5 months and triple in 10-12 months. So, I do not think that the weight gain is slow. Just continue breast feeding and things would be fine. In case you are apprehensive, start plotting the weight on a growth chart appropriate for age and sex. It can be downloaded from the net. It will show if the weight gain is proper.
Hope that helps.
Regards
What you describe is actually normal
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.
I have carefully gone through the details provided by you. Let me assure you that in case of a baby of this age, watery and lathery, even green stools are absolutely normal and not a cause to worry about. You need not worry if the child passes stool 10 times a day or once in 10 days as both of these are normal for a child of this age. Unless the stool test shows a pus cell count of more than 8-10/hpf, it does not indicate infection and all you need to do is to continue breast feeding. So long as the child is exclusively breast fed, infection is unlikely to occur and stool test need not be done. Just continue the feeds normally. Adequacy of the feeds would be evident if the frequency of passage of urine is more than 6 times over a period of 24 hours. If not, all you need to do is to increase the amount of breast feeding. Breast feeding is the best possible feed for a baby and it is even better than ORS is supplying for the salts and water lost through the stool. If the child is playful and is not lethargic, you need not worry. Please do not shift to formula milk for this. Perianal hygeine has to be maintained and unless the area can be kept dry, redness may develop.
Let me assure you that breast milk is the beast possible feed for a baby upto 6 months of age. After 6 months breast milk is to be continued along with semi-solid food. Most formula milks are cow milk based and hence not easy for the child to digest. Hence, be it cow milk or formula milks, they are not quite recommendable.
The birth weight of a child should double in about 5 months and triple in 10-12 months. So, I do not think that the weight gain is slow. Just continue breast feeding and things would be fine. In case you are apprehensive, start plotting the weight on a growth chart appropriate for age and sex. It can be downloaded from the net. It will show if the weight gain is proper.
Hope that helps.
Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Yogesh D
Answered by
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