Children's Health Children's Health Basics

Vomiting and Diarrhea: How Sick is Your Child?

Summary & Participants

It's inevitable that at some point in your child's life he or she will suffer vomiting and diarrhea. Most often they are nothing to get worried about, but occasionally they can be a sign of something more serious. Our panel of experts will discuss the many factors that can cause diarrhea and vomiting, and what you should do when it happens.

Medically Reviewed On: May 07, 2008

Webcast Transcript

CHERYL WILLS: Thank you for tuning into our webcast. I'm Cheryl Wills. If you're a parent, it's inevitable that your child will suffer diarrhea or vomiting or both at some point during their life. But how do you know when it's serious and, more so, how do you treat it?

We have two very well-informed pediatricians to discuss this topic today. Dr. Daniel Neuspiel is here. He's the associate chairman of pediatrics at Beth Israel Medical Center. Also Dr. Steven Schwartz. He is professor of pediatrics at SUNY Brooklyn. Also, he's the chairman of pediatrics at Long Island College Hospital, and he is a gastroenterologist, which will be very helpful.

So let's start off with you, Dr. Schwartz, and let's talk about diarrhea. What is diarrhea?

STEVEN SCHWARTZ, MD: That's a very good question, Cheryl. I think that what we really consider diarrhea is a change in frequency or consistency of stools from a child's normal pattern. And a child's pattern may be different from child to child. And that's one of the things that parents have to learn as their child grows up is that what's normal for one is not normal for the other.

When there's a question, I always recommend that the parents ask the pediatrician or their family doctor. But clearly, it's a change in pattern. Which may or may not be associated with other kinds of symptoms, such as fever or other problems as well.

CHERYL WILLS: Sure. And age is a major factor for parents to consider. Big difference if a six-week-old has diarrhea versus a six-year-old.

STEVEN SCHWARTZ, MD: Absolutely. In an older child who develops diarrhea, pretty well certain it could be diet-related, or there could be an intestinal infection, typically viral. In a young child -- particularly an infant under six months of age and certainly an infant under two to three months of age -- diarrhea can just be one of the symptoms of far more serious illness. And if a parent sees diarrhea in a young infant, their physician should be contacted immediately.

DANIEL NEUSPIEL, MD: I would add that, in a young infant, not only is the cause potentially different, but the consequences of diarrhea can be dramatically different. Because a young infant can lose fluids so rapidly, become dehydrated so easily compared with an older child.

CHERYL WILLS: Sure, it can be life-threatening. It's more than just a watery stool that's inconvenient for both the parent and the baby.

DANIEL NEUSPIEL, MD: That's right. And it's often managing that fluid loss and preventing serious dehydration that we mainly deal with as pediatricians.

CHERYL WILLS: In newborns, I assume it's very important to even monitor a child -- even though it may sound a little facetious -- to monitor a child's stool, because not all children have the same stool, unless a child is formula-fed, that still may be different from a breast-fed stool. Is that correct?

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