Sickness and diarrhoea in children

During May 2011, we are launching a campaign around the management of diarrhoea and sickness in young children.

The purpose of the campaign is to:

• Give advice to parents and carers about how to manage their child’s illness.
• Help parents and carers to recognise the development of more serious symptoms in their children, and how to access professional advice.

The campaign will help parents and carers to understand the normal pattern of infectious vomiting and diarrhoea in young children, and will give them consistent advice about how to keep their child well hydrated, as well as giving some clear messages about things to avoid. The campaign will also give simple advice about how to prevent the spread of infection.

Leaflets will be made available through a range of outlets including GP surgeries, pharmacies, and children’s centres, and a film will be shown on Life Channel in GPs’ surgeries highlighting the key messages.

The information for the campaign is based on guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

If you would like to help support this campaign or would like more information please contact the Public Health Resource Centre. You can also download an advice sheet below from the related downloads section of this page.