Wonder Po – what helps?
The skin of children is even more sensitive and less resistant than that of us adults. For this reason, especially small children very quickly develop sore skin on their buttocks, which causes further complaints in addition to the actual diarrhea. Precisely because this problem is so widespread, there are many recommendations around the topic with many references to home remedies such as a sitz bath of long black tea for the child.
The idea behind this is basically sensible, as the tanning agents contained in black tea have an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, haemostatic and pain-relieving effect. However, if your child’s bottom is really sore at first, it is better to resort to other means. Tannolact, which contains the active ingredient phenol-methanal-urea-polycondensate and is also used for many other inflammatory skin diseases, has proven to be very effective and is usually used as a bath additive.
Apart from this, a wound ointment such as Mirfulan can be applied to the sore buttocks after the sitz bath with Tannolact. The wound ointment containing zinc and cod liver oil has an itching and pain-relieving effect on the one hand, closes the wound area and additionally supplies the skin with vitamins A and D on the other hand. This makes it very suitable for the treatment of sore skin.
At what point in time a visit to the pediatrician is necessary in the case of diarrhea is a very legitimate question, but not always easy to answer. Nevertheless, there are a number of warning signs that should lead to an immediate visit to the doctor. For example, if you do not succeed in getting your child to drink, this is a valid reason.
Diarrhea, high fever and severe abdominal pain are also warning signs. You should also be alarmed if your child’s abdominal wall is very tense or the diarrhoea lasts for more than twelve hours. Wavy abdominal pain in combination with vomiting, diarrhoea, paleness and a very bloated abdomen can indicate intestinal obstruction.
You should then consult a doctor as soon as possible. Diarrhea and loss of appetite, combined with abdominal pain can also indicate appendicitis, especially small children often show very unspecific symptoms. For example, a so-called concussion pain in the right lower abdomen could occur when the child jumps on one leg.
In any case, you should trust your feeling, because you know your child best. If your child behaves differently than in previous diarrhea cases or if you are unusually worried for any other reason, you should consult a pediatrician or visit an emergency clinic on days when the practice is closed. In case of doubt, the risk of an unnecessary visit to the doctor is always smaller than the risk of endangering your child’s health.
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