FOOD PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN: DIARRHOEA IN BABIES AND CHILDREN

Diarrhoea in babies and children can have a great many causes, the most obvious one being infection with bacteria, viruses or other microbes. But if infections and other possible causes (such as cystic fibrosis) have been ruled out by your doctor, then you should consider the possible role of food.

Diarrhoea due to food sensitivity can come on suddenly and acutely, or it may start gradually and slowly get worse. There may be physical damage to the gut wall, which can be checked by taking a tiny sample and examining it under a microscope – this is known as a biopsy. However, there can also be diarrhoea due to food without any major damage to the gut. Where there is visible damage, this may indicate coeliac disease or infant colitis. The latter is,characterized by blood and mucus in the stools. The doctor will wish to eliminate both these possibilities before looking at other forms of food sensitivity.

An acute reaction to food may be difficult to distinguish from a viral infection that produces an attack of gastroenteritis, because the virus cannot always be detected in the baby’s stools. Even if there has been an infection, this does not rule out the possibility of food sensitivity: diarrhoea of any sort can sensitize the gut so that foods which were previously eaten without trouble now produce symptoms. Drinking milk makes the situation worse, because there is often a transient lactase deficiency.

Where diarrhoea is due to food sensitivity, in infants and children, the culprit food often turns out to be cow’s milk. Where milk sensitivity occurs, problems with other foods may follow, because the structure of the gut wall is altered by the reaction to milk. It becomes more ‘leaky’ which allows other food molecules through and the body may then react adversely to these as well. Often the reaction to other foods is only temporary – if they are eliminated from the diet for a few months they can be eaten again without difficulty. The reaction to milk tends to be more persistent, but most children who are sensitive to milk as babies can drink it once more by the time they are three or four. For a small number of people, however, the milk sensitivity will be lifelong.

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Related Posts:

• APPENDIX VII: BOTTLED WATER
• STAGE 3 – RIGOROUS ELIMINATION DIET: THE EXCLUSION PHASE
• PREVENTING FOOD SENSITIVITY: BREAST-FEEDING
• FOOD INTOLERANCE: STAPLE CROPS

This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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