I would suggest you follow your doctor’s advice about what to feed your toddler. If he didn’t prescribe any medication, then you should not give any medicine.
As to what you can feed him, clear liquids are chicken or beef broth, plain gelatin, apple or cranberry juice and tea. The applesauce and banana should help jell your son’s liquid stool. This is similar to the BRAT diet, which stands for bananas, rice, apples and toast or tea.
Your 16-month-old is probably as miserable as you with his messy diapers but doesn’t add any other foods until your doctor gives the OK. Diarrhea in children can be aggravated by many things, including teething, milk products, fatty foods, whole grains, chocolate, fresh vegetables and fresh fruits other than a peeled apple or a banana. I would suggest omitting these foods from his diet until about a week or two after the diarrhea is gone.
Diarrhea removes the helpful bacteria in your intestinal tract that aids in digestion. To replace those bacteria once his diarrhea has stopped, offer your toddler some banana or apple flavored yogurt (about four to six ounces daily), once a day for about four days. Make sure the yogurt is fresh, not canned and has active yogurt culture in it. Yogurt does have lactose in it, but because of the yogurt culture, doesn’t seem to cause diarrhea.
If the diarrhea returns, put your son the diet your doctor prescribed and call your son’s doctor again. Infants become dehydrated very quickly when they have diarrhea or vomit.
