1. Feed Your Children Probiotics
We all have a colony of good bacteria in our intestines and stomachs known as gut flora. They help boost our immune systems and maintain the balance between the good and bad bacteria, an imbalance that can cause diarrhea. Children are particularly susceptible to this imbalance because their diets don't always include foods that help the flora to flourish. You can prevent diarrhea by feeding your children probiotics.
You can add probiotics to your child's diet with relative ease. Yogurt and kefir often contain them and you can find probiotic-fortified milk at most grocery stores. Read the labels carefully to see whether they contain live cultures of lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. If your children won't eat these dairy products, you can pick up supplements in pill, powder or drop form at most health-food stores. Just make sure that the supplement has an ATCC (American Type Culture Collection) number on the label--this indicates that the probiotic strain is registered and tested.
2. Vaccinate Your Infant to Prevent Diarrhea
One of the leading causes of diarrhea in infants and young children is a viral infection known as rotavirus. The virus can cause gastrointestinal symptoms so severe that many children become significantly dehydrated and need to be hospitalized. The virus can now be prevented with a new vaccine. Ask your pediatrician about getting the RotaTeq or Rotarix vaccination for your baby. Made respectively by Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, the oral vaccinations are given in two to three doses within your baby's first six months. Vaccinating him can prevent him from getting the dangerously dehydrating rotavirus.
3. Avoid Bacterial and Parasitic Causes
Diarrhea can often be caused by bacteria and parasites in the food children eat and the water in which they play. Certain diarrhea-causing parasites can sometimes even be found in public drinking water. Although it won't completely eliminate your child's risk of getting diarrhea, you can take some preventive measures to avoid these causes.
Cooking hamburger until no pink spots remain can prevent the spread of E. coli, a bacteria that causes food poisoning, especially in younger children. Likewise, making sure you cook chicken and eggs thoroughly and washing the surfaces on which raw chicken sat can help to prevent diarrhea caused by salmonella and campylobacter bacteria.
Keep a close eye on the water in pools, streams and lakes. If the water looks murky or you're not sure when the pool was last washed, it's probably a good idea to skip swimming for the day. Water-borne parasites are frequently found in communal water and are sometimes immune to chlorine. Though it sounds ominous, don't worry too much about it. Just be cautious, take some bottled water and do the best you can.
4. Teach Children Self-Hygiene Skills
The simplest way to prevent diarrhea is to teach your child good hygiene. Help her to remember not to put toys or her fingers in her mouth since this is a common way to transfer germs from contaminated surfaces. Consider posting a hand washing reward chart on the outside of the bathroom door, reminding your child to wash her hands after using the bathroom or after a diaper change. Since many diarrheal infections are spread in childcare environments, you'll also want to make sure she knows that hand washing isn't just for home.
