SUSTAINED FEEDING DURING ACUTE DIARRHEA I N CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN 5 YEARS OF AGE

Objective. To identify locally available and culturally acceptable foo ds for children with acute diarrhea, and test their acceptance and eff ect on the child's weight. Material and methods, 142 mothers of childr en younger than five years of age living in rural communities were int erviewed to indentify culturally accepted diets by means of group sort ing,These were displayed in a multidimensional scale. A descriptive st udy was performed of the clinical course of 54 children, ages 4 to 50 months who received the designed diets during the first 48 hours of di arrhea. Results. The designed diets considered age of the child, and s tage of the disease. Children spent 47.6 +/- 22.2 h in the hospital du ring which they consumed 44.8 +/-: 28.6 kcal/kg/day (additional to bre ast milk) and they gained 70.6 +/- 179.7 g. A direct relationship was observed between increasing age and larger caloric intake, and between this and greater weight gain. Conclusion, Children showed good accept ance of diets, Caloric intake was enough to prevent weight loss.