How to Treat Chronic Diarrhea in Toddlers

Diarrhea is a condition related to an illness. While this is typically the case, children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years of age can experience chronic diarrhea. This means they have loose, runny stools for no apparent reason. They are happy, healthy and energetic in every other way. Although this type of toddler diarrhea does not negatively effect the health of your child, it is very messy to clean. For this reason, many parents seek out help to cure the condition. Here is a step by step guide on how to cure your toddler from non-threatening chronic diarrhea.

Things You'll Need

• Soy milk
• Orange juice
• Bananas

Instructions

1. Give your child a banana every day. Bananas contain a lot of fiber and potassium. Both help to bind food and poop. In fact, people with constipation problems actually have to limit their consumption of bananas because it can make their symptoms even worse.

2. Limit the consumption of juice. Typically, toddlers with chronic diarrhea are juice drinkers. Instead of giving your child 3 or more glasses of juice per day, try water or milk instead. One glass of juice is fine.

3. Change the type of juice given to orange juice instead of apple juice. While you limit the amount of juice your toddler consumes, also alter the type of juice. Orange juice contains much more fiber and less sugar than apple juice. Even 100% natural apple juice contains a lot of sugar. This creates diarrhea.

4. Eliminate lactose for 3 days and see if it makes a difference. A lot of people are lactose intolerant. This is evident because they have loose stools. You can try to eliminate the lactose in your child's diet by providing soy milk for 3 days. If it does not fix the diarrhea, go ahead and add the milk back.

5. Decrease the amount of fatty, fried foods in your toddler's diet. Not only should your child not be eating fried foods filled with trans fat, it also causes chronic diarrhea. Order her grilled chicken at the restaurant instead of fried chicken fingers, for example.

Tips & Warnings

• Have your child see the doctor if his appetite, activity, mood, or energy level decreases. This could mean the problem is more medical than dietary.

• A toddler with chronic diarrhea may take longer to use the toilet than other children without the condition. It is simply harder to control diarrhea.