Diarrhea (LBM): home remedy, food and when to see a doctor

Diarrhea means passing loose or watery poo three or more times in one day, or more often than is normal for you. Many Filipinos call it LBM (loose bowel movement) or pagtatae. The soft, pasty poo of a baby who is only breastfed is not diarrhea.

There are three main types:

• Acute watery diarrhea lasts a few hours or days. Cholera is one kind.
• Bloody diarrhea (dysentery) has blood in the poo.
• Persistent diarrhea lasts 14 days or longer. Diarrhea for 4 weeks or more can be a sign of a long-term illness.

Diarrhea from a stomach bug usually stops within 5 to 7 days.

The main danger is dehydration: losing more water and salts than you take in.

Most diarrhea comes from a gut infection. The germs usually come from poo that gets into water or food, or onto hands.

• Viruses such as rotavirus and norovirus are the most common cause, and rotavirus leads in children. Some people call this "stomach flu", but flu viruses don't cause it.
• Bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella and Shigella, and parasites such as amoeba and Giardia.

Common sources in the Philippines: water from an unsafe well or a leaking pipe, drinking water stored uncovered or scooped by hand, food left out too long, unwashed raw fruit and vegetables, and food or water that has touched floodwater.

Two serious infections:

• Cholera can cause large amounts of very watery diarrhea. A severe case can kill within hours if the lost fluid is not replaced.
• Typhoid brings a long, high fever. Tiredness, headache and belly pain are common, and the bowels can be loose or blocked up. A doctor must treat it with antibiotics.

Other causes include some medicines (such as antibiotics), trouble digesting milk (lactose intolerance), irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and long-term bowel diseases. Diarrhea with belly pain that keeps getting worse can be appendicitis. See our guide on stomach pain.

Babies, young children and older adults dry out fastest.

Early signs: thirst, dark yellow pee or peeing less than usual, a dry mouth and lips, headache, tiredness, or feeling dizzy.

In a baby: fewer wet diapers, few or no tears, sunken eyes, a sunken soft spot on top of the head, or being unusually sleepy or fussy.

Some dehydration: two or more of restless or irritable, sunken eyes, or drinking eagerly. A child with these needs a check at the health center today.

Severe dehydration needs a hospital now. Health workers look for two or more of these:

• very sleepy, floppy or hard to wake
• not able to drink, or drinking poorly
• sunken eyes
• a very slow skin pinch: gently pinch the skin of the belly and let go; it takes 2 seconds or more to flatten

If someone is very sleepy or can't drink, go now. Cold skin, pale, grey or blotchy skin, or fast breathing can mean shock, which is an emergency.

Most diarrhea gets better on its own. The main remedy is oral rehydration solution (ORS), often called oresol: water with the right mix of salts and sugar to put back what diarrhea takes out.

Where to get it: ask a pharmacist for ORS sachets. Health centers give ORS packets for a sick child to use at home, and if you are registered with a YAKAP clinic, ORS is among its free medicines (see Getting checked).

How to use it:

1. Mix one sachet with exactly the amount of clean water printed on the packet, and add nothing else. Use boiled and cooled water if you are not sure your water is safe.
2. Take small, frequent sips. Give children sips from a cup or spoon.
3. Drink some after every loose stool until the diarrhea stops. Let a child have more if they want it.
4. If there is vomiting, wait about 10 minutes, then start again more slowly.

Other good fluids: water, clear soup (sabaw) and am (rice water). Keep breastfeeding, more often and for longer. A baby under 6 months who gets only breast milk can have ORS or clean water as well, but no other drinks. Mix formula at its usual strength, never weaker.

Avoid soft drinks and fruit juice, which can make diarrhea worse, and coffee and alcohol, which make you lose more water.

Zinc for children: for children aged 2 months up to 5 years, health workers give zinc for 10 to 14 days. It makes the diarrhea shorter and lighter.

Comfort: rest at home. Paracetamol can help if you are in discomfort; use only the dose on the label, and check the leaflet before giving it to a child.

Stop it spreading: wash hands with soap, don't cook for others if you can avoid it, and stay home from work or school until 2 days after the last loose stool or vomit.

To talk your symptoms through, try our AI symptoms assistant.

Keep eating. Diarrhea is a leading cause of malnutrition in young children, and feeding during and after it helps break that cycle.

Good choices when your appetite returns: soft, plain food such as lugaw (rice porridge), steamed rice, and soup with soft vegetables and a little chicken or fish. Eat small meals more often.

Avoid for a few days: fried, oily or fatty food, very spicy food, soft drinks and sweet juice.

Milk: breast milk is always good, so keep breastfeeding. If milk seems to make it worse, ask a health worker before changing what your child drinks.

Loperamide, the common anti-diarrhea medicine, slows the gut so you go less often. It is often sold without a prescription for people aged 12 and over, and it can help an adult who needs to stop going for a few hours. But:

• Never give it to children under 12 unless a doctor prescribes it.
• Don't take it if you have severe diarrhea after taking antibiotics, or a swollen belly or constipation.
• Ask a doctor first if you have blood in your poo and a fever (possible dysentery), liver problems, or are pregnant or breastfeeding.
• See a doctor if you still need it after 2 days. Take no more than the label says: too much can cause serious heart problems.

Most diarrhea does not need antibiotics. Viruses cause most cases, and antibiotics don't work on viruses. Antibiotics can themselves cause diarrhea, and using them when they are not needed helps germs become resistant.

A doctor may prescribe medicine for bloody diarrhea, severe cholera, typhoid or amoebiasis. Finish it as the doctor says, even if you feel better.

• "Don't eat, so the stomach can rest." Not eating makes you weaker, and in children it feeds the cycle of diarrhea and malnutrition. Keep eating soft food.
• "Stop breastfeeding." Breast milk is one of the best things for a baby with diarrhea. Breastfeed more, not less.
• "Soft drinks will replace what is lost." They have the wrong mix of sugar and salt and can make diarrhea worse.
• "Guava leaf (bayabas) tea cures LBM." Guava leaves are used for diarrhea in many countries, and lab studies look promising. But only two small trials, both in adults, have tested them, and their safety for children is unknown. Never use them instead of ORS.
• "Take an anti-diarrhea pill right away." Loperamide only slows the gut. It doesn't treat the infection or replace lost water, and it is not for children under 12.

DOH guidelines for sick children (IMCI) teach four home-care rules for a child with diarrhea and no danger signs:

1. Give extra fluid: breastfeed often and for longer, and give ORS after every loose stool.
2. Give zinc (age 2 months up to 5 years) for as many days as the health worker says.
3. Keep feeding: only breast milk (plus the ORS) for a baby under 6 months, and the usual food for an older child.
4. Know when to return.

Go back to the health center straight away if your child can't drink or breastfeed, drinks poorly, gets sicker, gets a fever or has blood in the poo. Go to a hospital now if they vomit everything, have a fit or are very sleepy. Go back after 5 days if the diarrhea is not better.

Babies: if a baby under 12 months has diarrhea, any fever, or stops feeding, get them checked the same day.

Rotavirus vaccine protects babies against a leading cause of severe diarrhea. The Philippine Pediatric Society lists it among the basic, government-funded vaccines at local health centers. Ask your health center whether it has it.

If your child also has a fever, see our guide on fever in babies and children.

• Wash hands with soap after the toilet or changing diapers, and before cooking, eating or feeding a child.
• Drink safe water. If unsure, boil it. Keep drinking water in a clean, covered container and scoop it with a clean dipper, not your hands.
• Use a sanitary toilet, and keep poo away from wells and other water sources.
• Cook food well and eat it hot. Wash and peel fruit and vegetables eaten raw.
• Breastfeed only for a baby's first 6 months.
• Vaccinate: rotavirus vaccine for babies, and ask your doctor about typhoid vaccine.
• After a flood, wash hands often, drink boiled or safe water, and don't eat food that touched floodwater. If you get a fever or feel sick, see a health worker quickly.

A health worker will check how dry you or your child is. Diarrhea that lasts or has blood may need a stool test (fecalysis) or blood tests.

PhilHealth YAKAP: as of PhilHealth's July 2025 FAQ, check-ups at the YAKAP clinic you register with are free, and so are the tests its doctor asks for, and prescribed medicines are free at accredited GAMOT pharmacies up to 20,000 pesos per person each year. A private YAKAP clinic may ask for up to 900 pesos for the year. In January 2026 PhilHealth said ORS remains one of the 21 essential medicines at YAKAP clinics, and its GAMOT list also includes zinc. More in our PhilHealth YAKAP guide.

Emergency room: under rules in force since November 2025 (PhilHealth Circular 2025-0020), PhilHealth's Outpatient Emergency Care Benefit lists diarrhea among the conditions it covers in PhilHealth-accredited hospitals, for patients sent home within 24 hours of arriving at the ER. Filipino citizens not yet registered with PhilHealth can be registered there.

If you are admitted: under PhilHealth Circular 2024-0037, the newest case-rate list we found in October 2026, PhilHealth pays the hospital and doctor 11,700 pesos for a stay for acute gastroenteritis, infectious diarrhea, cholera, amoebiasis or shigellosis, and 19,500 pesos for typhoid fever. Before you go home, ask the PhilHealth desk how much of your bill this covers. See what PhilHealth covers.

To locate a nearby health center, RHU or hospital, use Find care. To talk it over with a nurse first, book a call.