Diarrhea in 6 Mo. Old

Try feeding him rice, bananas, any bland food you can think of.
Keep all dairy products away and just stick with clear liquids. That is about the only thing you can do. Hope he feels better soon.

I am a mother of 9 month old twins. Mu daughter also got a touch of the flu bug. I gave her some babana baby food. Bananas usually are a binding food. It seems to have cleared up after two days. Good luck!!!

My question to you is he eating and drinking? if not then i would worry about dehydration with it lasting this long. Talk to your doctor. My young one had that and was like that for 3 weeks. and ended up in the hospital, not to scare you just to tell you what happened to me.

Try the BRAT diet for him.

B = Banana's
R = Rice
A = Applesauce
T = Toast

Sounds funny but it works, in all of us, make sure you are giving him pedilite, if he doesn't like that mix it with some sprite.

Hope that helps!

Hi L.,

All viruses are different, so there's no telling how long it could last. I don't want to discourage you because chances are he could be past the diarrhea really soon, but I did want to tell you that my son picked up a virus when he was around one and literally had diarrhea for 6 months. It seemed everything brought it on. Obviously we had to cut out dairy, so we put him on soy milk thru this 6 month period. His pediatrician said that there was a possibility that he would never be able to have dairy again because I guess some viruses can affect you that badly. Anyway, things started looking up after about 6 months and his poop turned to normal and he now has dairy just fine. If your son does not act sick or have a fever, he is likely not contagious anymore and is fine to go back to school/daycare so you can get back to work. I would suggest taking a dirty diaper to the pediatrician and having it lab tested though. And also, the BRAT diet is best, like the other lady said. I'm sorry....I know how tough this can be. Best wishes! N.

first I'd check withthe doctor, it may just have to run it's course. other than that, you could add flour to the milk and it will thicken up his stool, but be carefull you don't want it to reverse into constipation. This is an old southern remedy

Hi L.,
My 12 month old has the same thing (so have I and his Grandparents caught it too!) I just called my Peds office with the same question. She said that the diarrhea lasts about ten days, so you should be in the clear very soon. I've tried giving my son bananas and other binding foods, but the virus wins. This ones really going around. Lots of people I know know lots of people who have this stomach flu. This probably wasn't much help, but hang in there!

OK, check my history, I just went through this. My doc said the same thing, I got frustrated, went to another one that said 11 days (in my case) was to long. BRAT diet is ok.. applesauce is not the best but bananas did help in my case. The main thing the second doc said was that you have to replace the good bacteria in the stomach. If you go to a health food store they can tell you what the name of it is...I can't remember for sure. She also sent home a kit to do a culture on his stool to take the hospital and have tested to see what was going on. My sons quit after 3 bananas in a day and good bacteria so I didn't have to play in his poop--thank the Lord!!!!

Good Luck--"run it's course" gets a little lame after 2 weeks and they are still suffering!!!!!

Hi L.,

Try giving him foods that you know will stop him up and also pedialyte works well when they have diarehea. I make sure that I have all kinds of things like that around my house b/c if one daughter isn't sick then it might be the other. So, make sure he gets plenty of fluids and count how many wet diapers a day he is having.

i have had the same problem with both of my sons. i always tried once the vomiting has stopped to give foods like bananas and cheese since these have been known to stop them up.

Add 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch to the next 2 bottles, give it overnight this is what I used with my 4 kids. And to settle the stomach place a peppermint candy(the red and white rounds) in warm water in bottle shake till the red is gone take remainder from water this will settle upset stomach, gassy tummy, and indegestion. Good luck! T. K.

My daughter was about six or eight months old when we started having diarrhea every day to every third day. It lasted a year. We tried everything.

If your child isn't milk allergic, there is this powder called lactobacillius that you can get at the drug store. Talk to your pharmacist. It's supposed to help replace the bacteria in their stomach. I don't really remember, but I think you're suppposed to mix it with water and have them drink it. But the pharmacist can help you with that. I bought it at Walgreens.

Does he have diarrhea one or two days and then is constipated for one or two days? If yes, then the constipation is what's causing the diarrhea. Once you get the constipation solved, the diarrhea will stop. Try fiber cookies (if he has teeth), they're kind of like melba toast and he can slobber on them, but will still get some of the fiber out of them. That will help with the constipation, thereby solving the diarrhea.

Is he eating any solids yet? If yes, then that also may be the cause. We also found that my daughter's digestive system couldn't handle everything she was eating, and once we backed off the food a little (even though she thought she was starving to death) she was better.

Also, you need to make sure that he doesn't have rotovirus. It has the most horrible, awful, terrible stench you will ever smell in your life. If he has that, then ABSOLUTELY make sure that he's hydrated.

One last thing. The BRAT diet works, sort of. You have to use whole bananas and mash them up, and you have to use regular applesauce, like the Mussleman's in a can without any added sugar. The baby applesauce has too much juice in it. Also, mashed up potatoes with a little butter but no milk will work, but when they say rice, they mean actual rice, again not baby cereal. I had a hard time getting my little one to eat the rice until I added some cinnamon to it. It helped.

I almost lost my job because I was having to go home so much because the daycare wouldn't keep her due to the diarrhea. I talked to my pediatrician, he wrote a letter and told them that her problems were not contaigious and they shouldn't be sending her home anymore. It worked. At that point I just made sure they knew that I would be letting the pastor (it was a church daycare) know that they were refusing care and still expecting payment if this continued. And that seemed to solve my problems with them sending her home.

Unfortunately, in my daughter's young three year life, we've dealt with every pooping issue that there is, so if you have more questions, please feel free to contact me.

A. B

if you use anti-diarrheal meds you will only ensure that the virus will stick around longer. God built our bodies to have symptoms so we could actually heal from them. That being said, keep up with electrolyte water (some use pedialite but it has a lot of chemicals), make sure he is not drinking soda or gatorade because it will make the diarrhea worse...sugar does that. That being said fruit and fruit juice are also a bad idea as the sugars tend to cause more diarrhea. I believe he is young enough that if you were to offer him fiber supplements for bulking it would only damage his intestines and cause major challenges for you later. It will end eventually. Just make sure you keep him nourished and hydrated. I know it is hard to deal with so hang in there. By the way, kids usually have points on the side of their thighs that are tight when they have something like this going on. Rule of thumb is if constipated firmly rub in downward motion on outer thigh from hip joint almost to knee (not quite that far), and if having loose bowels rub firmly in an upward motion on the outer thigh from a couple of inches above the knee to the hip joint. A good rub all over may actually get things moving faster believe it or not...allowing the virus to work its way out faster. I would also give acidophilus to him but make sure it is not made from cows milk....babies cannot digest cows milk until they are 1 and many not even then. Acidophilus is a beneficial bacteria that is needed in the intestines. Infants can take a tsp of it in a bottle per day. If you can only find capsules, then open it and put the powder in the bottle or if you nurse the powder can be mixed as a paste with breastmilk and put in the baby's mouth. Good luck and I hope he gets well very very very soon! I have 3 little ones so I understand!

B. :)

I JUST SPENT 1 WEEK OFF OF WORK W/ MY 5 YR OLD HAVING THE STOMACH BUG FOR 10 OR 11 DAYS...IT DID HAVE TO RUN ITS COURSE, WE TRIED EVERYTHING, AND NO MATTER WHAT FOOD WE ATE OR DIDNT EAT, NOTHING HELPED!! MY ONLY ADVICE IS TO KEEP HIM HYDRATED AND WAIT IT OUT :( SORRY!!

take him off dairy based products even his formula or breast milk. Give him a soy based formula and pedialyte. If you've started giving him veggies already stop using the most recent veggie go back to the ones that you fed him before he caught the virus and feed those exclusively. No juice.

Just feed him non dairy based foods and formula, Bananas, Rice cereal and Toast and any other veggies you have already been giving him.

This may be more than a bug. He could have an intolerance to gluten, dairy or something in a new food he's been trying and you're just prolonging it.

You can go as long as a month like this.

my son dillon had the same thing about 2 or 3 months ago..and that is what he pretty much had to do was run its course..and i believe it lasted around about a week or so..maybe a little longer...but just make sure your baby doesnt get dehydrated..i ended up taking dillon to the ER and they had to put an IV in to give him fluids becuase he was so dehydrated...hopefully things will get better soon..i know how you feel about the whole thing...