What causes frequent loose stools in a child?

Posted on Thu, 29 Dec 2016

Question: my son 6 yrs old has loose stools 2 to 3 perday since almost 5weeks ..we gave him metronidazole 125 mg and kapect both 5 ml three times a day.still no improvement.strtd enterogermina twice daily .wat should we do stool analyisis came bak normal except few undigested food and 2 to 4 pus cells and 0 to 1 rbc and yeast showed positive .we did stool culture wich came bak normal .kindly suggest wat shud we do as am extremely worried

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (7 hours later)

Brief Answer:
It is acceptable to pass stool twice or thrice a day.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic. Sorry for not being able to respond faster.

Let me assure you that passing stool twice or thrice a day is not a cause for concern and does not call for intervention. The primary concern is whether the child has giardiasis (for which he already has been treated with metronidazole) or some other bacterial infection (where pus cell count would have been raised). Since neither of these seems to be the cause, you need not be worried and need not intervene for the same. It is acceptable to have some undigested food matter and and I would not worry about the same.

You can give Zinc supplements like Zinonia Syrup 5 ml once or twice daily for the next 10 days. Rather than giving Enterogermina I would insist you to give curd or yogurt as it contains plenty of beneficial bacteria. Hopefully things would be fine.

Feel free to write back.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (25 minutes later)

thnkx for the answer

we gave him anazol 125 mg syrup 5 ml three times his weght is 29kgs was the dosage correct or are they continuiing cuz i gave him 5 ml.am at jeddah zinc is nt avaialable here .i gt worried cuz my son never had any kind of digestive problem.thanks for assuring me that 2 to three loose stools are normal .kindly revert bak

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (9 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Not a cause for concern.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back. The dose of Anazol (metronidazole) is 7.5 mg/kg every 6-8 hours. So, the dose for your child should have been 8 ml thrice daily. However, I do not think that you need to give it more than 5 days (stop if 5 days already over, irrespective of dose). It is no issue if you cannot procure zinc supplements. You need not worry about 2-3 episodes of passage of stool per day.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (57 minutes later)

one more query doctor those 2 or 3 loose stools are quite smelly the ph was alakaline y so ..

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (7 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Wait and watch.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back. The smelly nature correlates with the presence of some undigested material. I would suggest you to be patient.

I would like to know if you have done a litmus test on the stool (how else did not learn about the alkaline pH)? Usually the pH of stool is between 7-7.5 (above 7 means alkaline). I would not worry about it. It could also be due to antibiotic use.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (30 minutes later)

it was mentioned in the reeprt ph alkaline the range was nt mentioned .

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (1 minute later)

Brief Answer:
Not concerning.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for clarifying. You need not worry. It is not concerning.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar