Article Health.

DIARE

What is diarrhea?

Diarrhea is a medical term used to describe frequent, watery bowel movements. Diarrhea
sometimes (but not always) contains mucus or blood and may have a foul smell. Diarrhea can be
acute which means it occurs suddenly and lasts for less than 4 weeks or Chronic which means it
lasts for longer than 4 weeks. Diarrhea is not a condition; it is a symptom of a condition. There
are numerous reasons why babies and children develop diarrhea, most are not serious and will
either pass on their own or can easily be treated by a change in diet. Because most episodes of
diarrhea are short lived you may not always discover the cause.

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How to tell when your baby has diarrhea

Infant stools are normally quite runny, especially when a baby is breastfed. Many babies will
occasionally have one or several stools that are much looser, a different color or a little more
smelly than usual. Without other physical symptoms , loose watery bowel movements do not
necessarily mean your child is ill. Although changes in bowel habits can be related to a change
in your baby's diet (or a nursing mother's diet), diarhea doesn't automatically mean a food or
milk allergy or intolerance is involved. Your child may experience brief episodes of diarrhea
from time to time for no identifiable reason. If your baby is healthy and is gaining good
amounts of weight and also has lots of wet diapers (6 or more) each day, frequent watery bowel
movements are not a cause for concern.

If your main concern is not so much related to your baby's bowel movements but due to
irritability and wakefulness it may be wise to also consider the many other reasons for these
behaviors to develop. More often than not, where a child is healthy and thriving, the reasons for
irritability and wakefulness have nothing to do with gastric discomfort.

Your breastfed baby

It may be difficult to tell when your breastfed baby has diarrhea because healthy, thriving
breastfed infants naturally have frequent, watery bowel movements which are not considered to
be diarrhea. Normal stools for an exclusively breastfed baby are soft or runny  and contain little
while flecks that look like seeds. The color is generally yellow mustard or orange but
occasionally may have a greenish tinge. Your breastfed baby may poop up to 10 times a day or
may not poop for a up to 10 days and either extreme or anything between can be perfectly
normal where your baby is healthy and thriving. You may suspect your breastfed baby has
diarrhea if her bowel movements.

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  Are much more frequent than normal (for your baby).
 Are frothy.
 Are 'explosive' (ie shoot out with force).
 Change color.
 Contain mucus or blood.
 Are smelly.

Other signs of illness in your baby, such as fever, vomiting (not to be confused with spitting up
linked with gastro-esophageal reflux ), poor feeding or nasal congestion , make the diagnosis
of diarrhea more likely.

What tests might the doctor do?

Medical history and physical examination: Your child's doctor will examine your child for signs
of illness.. He/she will ask you about your child's diet and eating habits (or about your diet and
use of medications if you are breastfeeding your baby).

Stool culture: The doctor may provide you with a small container for you to collect a sample of
your baby's poop to be sent to a laboratory for analysis, to check for bacteria, parasites or other
signs of disease or infection.

Blood and urine tests may be used to rule out certain medical illnesses or conditions. Elimination
diets may be used to find out if a food allergy or intolerance is causing your child's diarrhea..
The doctor may recommend changing your baby's formula or avoiding certain foods to see
whether the diarrhea ceases in response to changes in diet.

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 Dificult Word

1. Breastfed : ASI, pemberian ASI

2. Wakefulness : Mudah Marah
3. Thriving : Berkembang
4. vomiting : Mual, muntah
5. Gastro-esophageal reflux : refluk gastrointestinal-eshofagus
6. nasal congestion : Hidung tersumbat
7. Occasionally : Kadang kala, kebetulan
8. Identifiable : diidentifikasi
9. discomfort. : Ketidakenakan
10. Stool culture : Kultur Feses