Giving cow milk to your baby during a stomach infection? STOP right now!

Milk might come in the way of healing of your baby's tummy infection.

Stomach infections are very common in children. Don’t be surprised if you have to treat your child’s stomach flu every two to three months in a row when she is as young as one or two years old. Most experts believe that a child might suffer from at least three episodes of stomach flu during a year till she becomes a young adult. This is because viral infections find their way in her little stomach as she puts certain objects in her mouth. While you really need to take care of your child’s hygiene to keep her safe from such recurrent infections, one thing that you should not do when your child suffers from stomach infection is give her cow’s milk. Here are 12 foods that help to build immunity in children.

Here Dr Geetanjali Shah, pediatrician attached to Supraja Foundation and Ashvini IVF Center, Mumbai, and author of the book Garbhasanskar explains why cow’s milk should be avoided when your child suffers from stomach flu.

‘Stomach infections cause inflammation and temporary lactose intolerance in children. It also leads to bloating, abdominal pain, cramping, vomiting, and diarrhoea. When your child becomes lactose intolerant, drinking milk or any other dairy product such as cheese,paneer, etc. can interfere with digestion of the same. The last thing you want your child while suffering a stomach infection is indigestion. It is better to give your little one’s tummy some rest to recover from the infection and intolerance to settle before starting with milk and other dairy products,’ she says. Remember, lose motions in babies might not always indicate diarrhoea.

For some kids, the infection lasts for two to three days and while it could last for up to seven days in other cases. So, to be on the safer side, it is better to avoid milk at least for a fortnight to help your little one’s tummy get better. However, if you are breastfeeding, you can continue to do so as breast milk has a lot of antibodies and essential nutrients that help the stomach heal.

Note: The information above does not guarantee any specific results as a result of the procedures mentioned here and the results may vary from person to person. The topics in these pages including text, graphics, videos and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only and not to be substituted for professional medical advice.