"As well as being the fuel for our bodies, food can cause problems
like allergic reactions, diarrhoea and excess weight. But how do we cope when things go wrong?"

If your child is unwell and off her food, drinks are important, so try offering nourishing drinks like milk or milkshakes. Soups are good too, particularly a lovely home-made chicken soup. Otherwise try soft foods like scrambled egg, steamed fish or mashed banana. Healthy eating may have to be forgotten for a few days, but try not to let this drag on. After a long period of poor eating it mihgt be a good idea to try one or two weeks of a multi-vitamin and iron supplement.

If your child is on antibiotics, then it is a good idea to give her live yoghurt. This is available in fruit flavours, or sweeten natural live yoghurt with a little honey or fruit puree. Antibiotics kill off both bad and good bacteria in the intestine and eating live yoghurt helps restore the balance.

Vomitting and Diarrhoea

If a child is suffering from vomitting and diarrhoea, stop feeding him solids and milk (the bowel needs to rest for the child to get well again), and just give plenty of Dioralyte, a salt and glucose compound available at chemists which you make up with water. Give this until the vomitting or diarrhoea has stopped. Plain water or fruit juice is not adequate for more than 4-6 hours as you child will get excesive loss of salts from the body if not replaced.

The most important thing is to make sure that your child does not get dehydrated. Excessive dehydration can be very serious for a small child, and vomitting is potentially more serious than diarrahoea as it is more likely to lead to dehydration. Encourage your child to drink and if he is drinking and pasing urine, he should be a lot better within 24 hours and be ready to eat some light food. If you baby is under 1 year and has diarrhoea os has been vomitting for more than 6 hours, you should seek medical advice.

If your child is suffering from diarrhoea only, stop milk and solids for one meal only, then re-introduce light food if your child feels hungry. Breat milk is fine as it contains anti-diarrhoeal and anit-infectious properties. You can use plain water or diluted fruit juice only for up to 24 hours for children over the age of one, but it's better to use Dioralyte. If the diarrhoea persists for more than 24 hours, then you should seek the advice of your doctor.

STOP: solid food and milk (except breast milk)

GIVE: glucose drinks like Dioralyte

After 24 hours

STOP: milk, fruit, vegetables and meat until the following day

GIVE: glucose drinks like Dioralyte, rice, yoghurt, tapioca or semolina, grilled fish, bread, cereal or plain biscuits

Constipation

If you child is constipated, it is important that he has plenty to drink. He will need at least 6 cups a day (6 x 250 ml / 8 fl oz). Decrease sugary drinks and encourage him to drink water. Give food which are good sources of fibre - something simple like baked beans on wholemeal toast or hgh-fibre breakfast cereals which canbe eaten at any time during the day. If necessary, you doctor will prescribe a mild laxative suitable for young children, but it should be enough to include plenty of fibre and unprocessed foods in your child's diet

STOP: highly processed foods like cakes and sweets, and stodgy food like ric epudding and macaroni cheeso

GIVE: fruit and vegetables, stewed prunes, dried fruit compote, fruit juices (prune juice is particularly god), bran and wholegrain cereals like All Bran, Weetabix or Raisin Bran, wholemeal bread or added fibre white bread, pulses (lentils, beans and peas, which can be added to soups and stews).