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Diarrhoea in children
Category: Babies & Children · All children symptoms
What it can feel like
Diarrhoea in children means loose or watery stools passed more often than usual. It is most often an infectious stomach bug lasting a few days. As with vomiting, the clinical centre of gravity is hydration — and in toddlers, a painless chronic pattern with normal growth (toddler diarrhoea) is a recognised benign variant.
Possible causes
A symptom can have many causes, and most are not serious. The lists below group conditions this symptom can be associated with — common causes first. They are possibilities to discuss with a clinician, not a diagnosis.
Common causes
Diarrhoea in children can be associated with viral gastroenteritis (rotavirus historically, norovirus), bacterial food poisoning (sometimes with blood), antibiotics, excess fruit juice and squash (toddler diarrhoea), and food intolerances.
Other possible causes
Persistent diarrhoea can be associated with coeliac disease (with poor growth and a bloated tummy), inflammatory bowel disease (with blood, night-time stools and weight loss), giardia infection, lactose intolerance after a stomach bug, and immune deficiency when infections keep recurring.
Red flags — when to seek help promptly
- Blood or mucus in the stool, especially with fever or severe pain
- Signs of dehydration — no urine for 8+ hours, no tears, sunken eyes, drowsiness
- Diarrhoea in a baby under 6 months, or with a fever under 3 months
- Diarrhoea lasting beyond two weeks, or diarrhoea at night waking the child
- Diarrhoea with poor growth, weight loss or a persistently swollen tummy
What a clinician may do
A clinician will assess hydration, growth charts (a child's trajectory is data), stool pattern and diet, and examine the abdomen. Prolonged or bloody diarrhoea leads to stool testing and blood tests including coeliac screening; dehydration is corrected orally where possible, intravenously when severe.
Watch: related videos
Examination and clinical videos from the MedicalVideos.com library relevant to this symptom. Some clinical footage is graphic — that is the nature of a medical video library.
Related guides on MedicalVideos.com
Frequently asked questions
What is toddler diarrhoea?
A benign pattern in 1–5-year-olds: loose stools, often with visible undigested food, in a thriving child growing normally. It links to high juice and squash intake and low dietary fat, and settles with dietary adjustment — but it is a pattern recognised after growth and red flags are checked, not assumed on day one.
Should I stop milk during diarrhoea?
Usually not — continuing normal feeds and breastfeeding speeds gut recovery, and routine milk avoidance is outdated. Temporary lactose intolerance after gastroenteritis is the exception: if stools clearly worsen with milk for a couple of weeks after a bug, a short lactose-free trial is reasonable with clinical advice.
Related symptoms — Babies & Children
Browse the D section of the A–Z list or return to the Symptoms A–Z hub.