Diarrhea in nursing mothers: symptoms, causes and treatment

Diarrhea can occur at any time, including when you are breastfeeding. Problems with bowel movements are generally mild and brief. However, most mothers are certainly worried whether the diarrhea will also affect the baby's condition. Come on, learn more about the symptoms, causes, and treatments for diarrhea in breastfeeding mothers here.

Causes of diarrhea in nursing mothers

There are various causes of diarrhea, from infection to food to certain diseases. For more details, let's discuss one by one the causes of diarrhea that may occur in breastfeeding mothers.

Infection

Bacteria, viruses, and parasites can cause diarrhea in nursing mothers. Germs can enter and infect the body when you eat or drink contaminated water. It can also occur due to a lack of hand hygiene.

Certain drug side effects

Apart from infection, diarrhea can also be caused by the use of drugs, such as antacids, antibiotics, drugs for hypertension and heart disease during breastfeeding.

These drugs can affect how the intestines absorb fluids from food or drink.

Improper choice of food

When breastfeeding, food choices can change. You may tend to eat foods high in fiber, such as vegetables and fruit, to improve the quality of breast milk. Fiber helps prevent constipation, but if consumed in excess diarrhea can be the result.

Not only that, eating foods that are too spicy or highly seasoned can also cause diarrhea while breastfeeding.

Certain health problems

Diarrhea can also be triggered by medical conditions, such as allergies, intolerances, Crohn's disease, or Celiac disease. Diarrhea can occur in pregnant women who have this condition and are not careful in choosing food. If food choices are not changed, diarrhea can last even longer.

Symptoms of diarrhea in nursing mothers

The symptoms of diarrhea in nursing mothers are the same as the symptoms of diarrhea in general. This condition makes breastfeeding mothers go back and forth to the toilet to defecate. The excreted stool becomes watery, slimy, and smells bad. Apart from diarrhea, other symptoms that accompany are stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting.

In severe cases, diarrhea in nursing mothers can cause the following symptoms.

Dehydration characterized by thirst, dry lips, and less frequent urination
There is blood in the stool
Weight loss
Fever and chills
Diarrhea symptoms do not improve in 2 or 3 days.

If you experience these symptoms, visit a doctor immediately. The doctor's examination will help you find the symptoms as well as determine the right diarrhea treatment so that it does not cause severe complications.

Is it safe to breastfeed a baby when diarrhea?

According to the National Health Service, even though the mother experiences vomiting and diarrhea, the baby still needs to be breastfed. Breast milk is the main source of food and fluids for babies until at least 6 months of age.

Diarrhea disease will not be transmitted through breast milk, so you don't need to worry. Moreover, breast milk contains antibodies that can protect babies from diarrhea. In fact, these antibodies can help reduce the risk of developing infections and other diseases later in life.

So, don't let the baby's nutritional intake even not be fulfilled from breast milk because you experience diarrhea.

Treatment of diarrhea in nursing mothers

Diarrhea does not need to stop the schedule of breastfeeding. However, if this is not accompanied by proper care, mothers who have diarrhea will be more susceptible to dehydration. Therefore, the body's fluid and nutritional needs need to be fulfilled so that it is faster to recover from diarrhea.

The following are some of the recommended treatments for dealing with diarrhea during breastfeeding.

1. Increase fluid intake

In order to prevent dehydration due to diarrhea, fluid intake needs to be increased. Motivate yourself to drink more often; little by little, but often. In addition to plain water, you can also replenish lost body fluids by drinking ORS.

Not only contains water, ORS also contains electrolytes so that it can be more effective in dealing with diarrhea in nursing mothers. Read the rules for use and dosage of this natural diarrhea medicine so that it doesn't cause annoying side effects. You can also make your own ORS solution at home.

You should first avoid other fluids that can worsen diarrhea symptoms in nursing mothers, such as coffee, soda, or certain types of tea.

2. Choose the right foods

So that diarrhea in nursing mothers does not get worse, food choices must be considered. The reason is, not all healthy foods are suitable for people who have diarrhea.

Foods that are good for consumption when diarrhea are included in the BRAT diet list, namely:

White rice or rice porridge
Apple mashed flesh
Pureed banana
Toast bread

The foods above have a soft texture and are low in fiber so they don't require the problematic intestine to work harder. However, the BRAT diet should not be done for the long term because of its incomplete nutrition.

You can fill your nutrition with other foods, such as clear chicken soup, carrot and potato soup, grilled fish, and clear spinach corn vegetables. Avoid brown rice, vegetables that contain lots of gas, such as cabbage or broccoli, spicy, spicy foods, and fried foods.

3. Consume probiotic foods

Diarrhea in nursing mothers caused by infection, resulting in an imbalance of the bacteria in the intestine. In order to rebalance gut bacteria, you need to eat foods that contain probiotics.

Probiotics are live bacteria that are intentionally added to food, which are similar to the good bacteria in the gut. Eating probiotic foods can help increase the number of good bacteria in the gut. That means, diarrhea can recover faster.

Good probiotic food choices to treat diarrhea in pregnant women are yogurt, tempeh, and kefir. However, make sure the yogurt and kefir you choose is low in sugar.

4. Take the medicine your doctor prescribes

If the symptoms of diarrhea in a nursing mother are not relieved by the home remedies mentioned above, the doctor will consider a medical remedy. One of the effective diarrhea drugs to treat diarrhea during breastfeeding is loperamide.

Tell your doctor if you are taking other drugs to avoid unwanted drug interactions. Always take medication according to doctor's instructions and recommendations.