# Does milk and yogurt make diarhea worse?



## Shelsi (Apr 4, 2005)

I think Jake has some sort of viral infection. Yesterday morning he woke up and had diarhea. He pretty much had it all day and then last night he had it again at like 2:30 in the morning. It took me until 4 to get him back to sleep. He felt warm to me so I took his temp (we have one of those forehead scan ones) and it was 101 point something. His first fever ever! Today it doesn't seem as bad but he's still not eating much. He is drinking a lot of water but he's also asking for a lot of milk and those yo baby yogurt smoothies. Are they going to make the diarhea worse? I'm wondering if he wants those because he can't stomach real food right now and those fill him up?


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## idocrase (Dec 17, 2003)

Well, the way it was explained to me is that sometimes with a gastro virus, the virus temporarily wipes out the intestine's ability to digest lactose. If this happens, then milk and yogurt would make the diarrhea worse.

But, B's had bouts of stomach bugs several times now, and only one of them made her that sick - on all others, she's been able to still consume normal/average amounts of yogurt and cheese (straight milk gives her diarrhea, healthy or not...







)

I guess I'd reduce his intake - see if he'll eat applesauce, bananas, or other "binding" foods instead.


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## LeosMama (Sep 6, 2005)

Have you heard of the BRATY diet? Bananas Rice Applesauce Toast Yogurt

I would take a close look at the Yo Baby smoothies - do they have extra sugar, colorings, additives? Maybe just plain Brown Cow whole fat yogurt instead. And I wouldn't give any milk but human milk when a child has diarrhea.

I just looked online at the ingredients in these smoothies and they do have extra sugar. I wouldn't recommend the added sugar at all (we get SO much added sugar in our diets, I like to avoid it whenever it's easy to do so, like buying a different brand that doesn't add sugar) when a baby has diarrhea.

Just my $0.02


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## pampered_mom (Mar 27, 2006)

The active cultures in yogurt make it an EXCELLENT choice for a little one (or anyone that matter) who has the diarrhea!

Quote:

Yogurt aids healing after intestinal infections. Some viral and allergic gastrointestinal disorders injure the lining of the intestines, especially the cells that produce lactase. This results in temporary lactose malabsorption problems. This is why children often cannot tolerate milk for a month or two after an intestinal infection. Yogurt, however, because it contains less lactose and more lactase, is usually well-tolerated by healing intestines and is a popular "healing food" for diarrhea. Many pediatricians recommend yogurt for children suffering from various forms of indigestion. Research shows that children recover faster from diarrhea when eating yogurt. It's good to eat yogurt while taking antibiotics. The yogurt will minimize the effects of the antibiotic on the friendly bacteria in the intestines.
You can read the full 411 from Dr. Sears on yogurt here: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T045700.asp


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## SamuraiEarthMama (Dec 3, 2002)

i would stay away from plain milk, ice cream, cheese... but yogurt is a great way to repopulate the gut after an infection (or antibiotic treatments) have wiped out the natural flora.

like a pp said, watch out for sweetening, low fat, fake flavors and colors... i don't feed my babe any other yogurt than brown cow! (mmm, and if he doesn't finish the whole thing, i get it! ;-) )


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## KatyMom (Apr 25, 2006)

Watch out for extra sugar! My dd developed "slick gut" when she was a toddler after a rotovirus. The extra sugar helped to bring the "bad" bacteria out of balance. They then ate away the vlli (sp?) (the little finger thingies in the small intestine) making it where she was not able to absorb nutrients. I'm not trying to be alarmist, it just happened very fast.

Follow the BRAT diet and watch that extra sugar. You'll be fine.


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## Shelsi (Apr 4, 2005)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I had heard of the BRAT diet but I couldn't remember what exactly it stood for









He seemed to be doing much better this late afternoon. He actually ate dinner and it seemed to "stick." At least so far....it's midnight and he hasn't made any noises yet but I'm certainly not going to tempt fate by saying we're not going to have another night like last night!

I only have $7 until payday so I had to just work with what I had here at home. He had some milk but I mostly convinced him to have water and before bed he had some yogurt. I knew yogurt was good for you because of how it heals the intestines but I'd completely forgotten!


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