← Parent emergency library

My child has diarrhoea - how do I know if they are dehydrated?

Emergency numbers: 108 ambulance · 112 national emergency · Poison centre (AIIMS, 24x7): 1800-116-117

Quick answer: Diarrhoea itself is rarely the danger - dehydration is. Give ORS after every loose stool, keep feeding (and breastfeeding) as normal, and watch urine output, tears and energy. Go to the ER now if your child is very drowsy or floppy, has sunken eyes, cool blotchy hands and feet, no urine for 8-12 hours, blood in the stool, or is vomiting everything they drink.

🟢 GREEN - You can usually watch at home when

  • Your child has loose stools but is drinking well, passing urine normally, active between episodes, and has no blood in the stool.
  • Mild diarrhoea often settles in a couple of days on its own.

Keep offering normal food and fluids. Add ORS after each loose stool or vomit.

🟡 YELLOW - Call your paediatrician today if

  • Fever lasting more than 24-48 hours with the diarrhoea.
  • Vomiting that lasts more than 12-24 hours along with the diarrhoea.
  • Early dehydration signs: dry mouth, fewer tears, fewer wet diapers (under 6 a day in an infant), playing less, a sunken soft spot in a baby.
  • The diarrhoea is not improving after 2-3 days, or you simply feel something is not right.

🔴 RED - Go to the emergency room NOW if

  • Signs of severe dehydration: very drowsy or excessively fussy, sunken eyes, wrinkled skin, cool and discoloured hands and feet, no urine for 8-12 hours, or a child too weak to drink.
  • Blood or mucus in the stools.
  • Green vomit, or vomit tinged with blood or looking like coffee grounds.
  • A swollen, hard belly, or severe tummy pain.
  • Your child refuses to drink anything, or vomits every sip.
  • A baby under 6 months with significant diarrhoea - small babies dehydrate fast.
  • Yellow colour of the eyes or skin, or a new rash with the illness.

🆘 SOS - What to do while you get help

  • Use ORS sachets from any pharmacy, mixed exactly as the packet says. Give small amounts often - a few sips every few minutes, and a glass after every loose stool.
  • Keep feeding. Children who eat normally recover faster. Breastfeeding should continue - breast milk also protects against infection.
  • If your child is vomiting too, pause 10 minutes after a vomit, then restart ORS slowly.
  • Your doctor may add zinc syrup for 14 days - Indian Academy of Pediatrics guidelines recommend it because zinc shortens the illness and helps protect against the next episode. Ask your paediatrician for the dose.

❌ DO NOT

  • Do not stop food or "rest the stomach" by fasting - fasting is not a treatment for diarrhoea.
  • Do not mix your own salt-sugar solution at home - the wrong proportions can be dangerous. Pharmacy ORS is cheap and available everywhere.
  • Do not give juices, colas, sports drinks or plain tea - they have the wrong amounts of sugar and salt and can worsen diarrhoea.
  • Do not give anti-diarrhoea medicines - they are not recommended for young children and can be harmful in older ones.
  • Do not give antibiotics left over at home - most childhood diarrhoea is viral, and antibiotics do not help.

What is happening and why

Most childhood diarrhoea is viral - rotavirus and its cousins - and the body clears it on its own. The danger is that water and salts leave the body faster than a small child can replace them. That is why the treatment is not a medicine but a fluid: ORS replaces exactly what is lost, and food keeps the gut healing.

The signs doctors check are the ones you can check: urine output, tears, how moist the mouth is, and whether your child is alert and playful or floppy and drowsy. A child who is drinking and peeing is a child you can keep watching at home; a child who will not drink and has stopped peeing needs a hospital drip.

This page is for first-aid education and does not replace examination by a doctor. In an emergency, call 108 or 112.

Sources (last checked 13 Sep 2026)

Reviewed and approved by Dr Anjana Alekhya, MD (Paediatrics) · Published 13 September 2026