Diarrhea is Not a Sign of Teeth Production in Infants - Physician

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LequteMan

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Dr Lois Obiekezie, Director, Divine Release Medical Centre, Lagos, on Tuesday said the production of teeth in children was not the cause of stooling, which some children experienced during infancy.

According to Obiekezie it was wrong to assume that teeth production in infants was usually accompanied by stooling.

She said many parents believed that a child automatically start stooling whenever he began to develop teeth.

``Diarrhea is caused by a virus called Rotavirus, which causes gastroenteritis.

``Rotavirus does not cause teething in children, but some people erroneously assume that a child is stooling because of teeth production."

She said some parents ignorantly allow stooling to continue with the belief that it would cease as soon as the teeth emerged.

She said the ignorance had led to the death of a number of children, who became dehydrated as large volume of body fluid was lost in the process.

``The period of teething in children starts between three and six months and this is a very delicate stage in the development of a child, most of who crawl at this stage.

``The production of teeth causes discomfort, itching and pain in the gums of the child. Children at this stage introduced different objects into their mouth to scratch their gums.

``Now, because diarrhea is caused by an association of germs, which gains entrance into the body, the introduction of such objects by the child, may trigger stooling," she said.

She, however, said that diarrhea could also be caused by giving contaminated food or water to the child as well as the use of unsterilised feeding kits.

Obiekezie also said that malaria and typhoid in children could be a major cause of diarrhea.

She urged parents to rehydrate their children with oral salt and water solution when stooling to replace the lost electrolyte caused by dehydration

#Nigeria #Diarrhea

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