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Dr. Andrew Rynne
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Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Red Colored Stool In Children?

My 14 month old has had diarrhea since yesterday afternoon. It started out normal in color and remained that way until around 3 hrs ago. I changed her and it was pinkish red in color but doesn t look like blood. She went to a birthday party for her 1yr old cousin the weekend & the day after the party that cousin began having diarrhea that lasted 2 days but drs said it was teething. My lil girl has almost all of her teeth except for a couple in between the back and front. Her diet hasn t changed, she eats balance of fruit veggies meat & grains. She drinks whole milk & water sometime flavored with sugar free flavor packets (this week flavor cherry) & at night she has a cup of milk with carnations breakfast essentials powder mixed in sometimes strawberry, chocolate, or vanilla. She has been acting normal, playing, eating & drinking as usual. I have had upset stomach yesterday but went away after a few hours, a child at the party had recently gotten over a stomach virus about 1 week prior to the party. Is this color something I should be concerned about? She does have red based food in her normal diet & we have switched from the grape flavor packets for water to the cherry just a couple days ago so I m not sure if this is contributing to it. She has no other symptoms & doesn t appear sick on any way other than the diarrhea which isn t extremely bad, just 4 times a day & normally her normal stool is twice a day so she s only going 2 times more than usually and it isn t extremely watery, it kinda looks like the consistency of a bf baby switching over to formula type consistency. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!
Wed, 15 May 2019
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General Surgeon 's  Response
Hi,

Noted the history about your 14 month old baby having red colored stool, being active, playing, and eating normally; diarrhea as explained by you.
With all this history I can think about the possible causes as follows:
Intestinal infection.
red colored foods and fluids.
Some medications- rare in this age group.
Hence I would advise you teh following in such a situation:
Consult a Pediatrician at once.
Send the stool and blood samples for lab tests.
All this will help to know the exact cause.
If there is a bacterial infection then your baby will need a proper course of an antibiotic and probiotics.
Maintain a proper hydration.
Get the stool tested for a few more days to see the effects of the treatment.
Complete the couse.
Give boiled and cooled water.
Do not give anything outside foods and beverages.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. T. Chandrakant,
ENT & General Surgeon
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What Causes Red Colored Stool In Children?

Hi, Noted the history about your 14 month old baby having red colored stool, being active, playing, and eating normally; diarrhea as explained by you. With all this history I can think about the possible causes as follows: Intestinal infection. red colored foods and fluids. Some medications- rare in this age group. Hence I would advise you teh following in such a situation: Consult a Pediatrician at once. Send the stool and blood samples for lab tests. All this will help to know the exact cause. If there is a bacterial infection then your baby will need a proper course of an antibiotic and probiotics. Maintain a proper hydration. Get the stool tested for a few more days to see the effects of the treatment. Complete the couse. Give boiled and cooled water. Do not give anything outside foods and beverages. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. T. Chandrakant, ENT & General Surgeon