How can I tell if my baby has diarrhea? I know babies poop often.
Normal baby stool can look a lot like an adult's diarrheal stool. Healthy baby poop is often soft and runny, and (especially in the first month) quite frequent. One 2-week-old with 10 runny stools a day may be perfectly healthy, while another 4-month-old with 3 stools a day, all firmer than the other baby's, may have diarrhea. So how can a parent tell?
Look for a sudden increase in the frequency of the stools. Each baby has her own stool frequency pattern that changes slowly over time. If it changes noticeably within only a few days, she may have diarrhea. Any baby who has more than one stool per feeding should also be suspected of having diarrhea, even if this isn't a sudden change. Also look for a sudden increase in the water content of the stool. Other signs of illness in your baby, such as poor feeding, a newly congested nose or a new fever, make the diagnosis of diarrhea more likely.