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Major has a pretty nasty stomach bug and has been vomiting after every feeding since Friday evening. I called the on-call nurse yesterday and she said to dilute his formula with water and to give him 1-2 tsp of Pedialyte every 5 minutes for an hour in order to rehydrate him. Well, he hates Pedialyte. It tastes like apple juice so I don't know what the deal is, you would think we were trying to make him drink bleach. My method has been using a medicine syringe to squirt it in his mouth and then blowing on his face to make him swallow, but it's to the point now where he refuses to open his mouth at all. It's just not working. I just sent DH to the store to get the flavorless kind and I am going to just put some in his bottles. His last bottle he was able to keep down (2.5oz prepared formula, 2.5oz water) but I've noticed what he doesn't vomit, ends up coming out the other end. He won't drink plain water either. He is pretty badly dehydrated at this point and was wondering if anyone had any other advice to get him hydrated?
Have you given him any real juice yet? He may take watered down apple juice etc.
Oh and when Lucas was sick (but he was about 11months old) I would give him warm broth in a bottle INSTEAD of milk as dairy and diarrea are a disaster together.
I'm no real help, I just wanted to say to watch him closely. Babies can become dangerously dehydrated very quickly. You probably already know that.
hugs to all of you!
just fyi Pedialyte is total SALT. My kids hated it too The store brands I've heard aren't as bad about the salt. My pedi told me at 1 point to take alex off ALL milk based formula or soy for 24 hrs and just do straight pedialyte. It was hell but we made it. Unfortunately Alex has had horrible diarrhea for 4 weeks now so we're running tests but he's never dehydrated. I hope Major feels better
Oh no! Thinking good thoughts for Major. I am so afraid of the throw ups here...they are apparently going around. We were with my niece yesterday and she was throwing up last night...her friend's family all had the stomach yucks last week as well.
Grr...I've typed out a response twice, and it keeps getting deleted!
Just be careful of anything with a lot of sugar in it (i.e. fruit juice), because sugar can worsen diarrhea. And diarrhea is more of a worry than vomiting, when it comes to dehydration. I'd try the flavorless PediaLyte--it still doesn't taste good, but Grace did take some in her bottle when she had a stomach virus. She'd sip it a bit and then pull off, so we had to be really persistent, but she'd eventually get down an ounce or two. I alternated between breast milk and PediaLyte.
The ER doctor told us that if she could keep anything down for at least 15 minutes, that she was getting SOME amount of hydration from it, even if it looked like she'd thrown it all up. He said that studies among healthcare workers have proven that it isn't possible to accurately judge how much has been vomited--it might seem like they've thrown up the whole feeding, when really they haven't. So anyway, I tried to keep her really still after feedings to try to keep her from throwing up for at least 15 minutes.
I hope that he's able to keep something down, and that he feels better soon. That is really miserable!
Aww poor Major I would try some diluted juice and see if he can keep it in, I know juice doesnt give them the nutrients they need but may help him from getting too dehydratated . Hope he feels better soon! **hugs**
Thanks ladies. I have the flavorless Pedialyte now. I tried adding some to his last bottle and he drank about 3 ounces of formula/water/Pedialyte and then threw up. He's sleeping now so I will try to straight Pedialyte when he wakes up. I guess if he fights me on it, I'm just gonna have to be persistent and let him cry and be upset with me. I just really don't want to end up in the emergency room.
Popsicles! I don't know how Major would feel about them, but one time Owen was SO SO sick, ended up in the ER and they said most kids will refuse drinks if they feel sick, and if they will take in fluids, they end up coming right back out, so she said popsicles were an excellent way to keep them hydrated because it gives them a little fluid at a time, tastes good and is easy to keep down. She said the time to worry is when a child takes in a popsicle and throws it up, because at that point they're not going to keep anything down.
Owen was 2 or 3 at this time, so obviously, with babies it isn't exactly the same, but maybe you could make some pedilyte popsicles, or get some sugarless ones from the store & let him suck on that? Maybe freeze some fromula or something? Might be worth a try!
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Ashley - Wife to Derrick, mommy to Owen-8, Rylan-6 & Addison-3. Expecting baby Nolan in July!!
I also think the diluted juice would help. At this point you want to get anything down him you can. I'd make a thin mixture of rice cereal and pedialyte and try spoon feeding it to him. I know you don't want to spoon feed him but the rice cereal may help with the diarrhea also. Poor Major! I hope he feels better soon!!
Oh no Nicole, I am so sorry, I hope he starts to feel better soon. Will he suck on ice cubes in one of those food mesh thingys?? or maybe give him some watermelon to suck on ( I have no idea if you can do this or not but I dont see why not if your watching him with a small piece to suck on ) I just hope he feels better soon, there is nothing worse than seeing them sick.. =(
Did you try the plain pedialyte on a spoon? That might work because it's different than a syringe. idk, with DD I just added the plain pedialyte to her bottles. You could also try just letting him drink 1 oz of formula at a time because he might be able to keep small amounts down, but that might be torture for the poor little guy. I agree with pp who said that milk products and diarrhea don't mix but what do you do for a little guy on formula?
My little guy had that for FIVE days last week. Stop the formula for at least 6 hours until he doesn't throw up and give flavorless pedilyte.
Also, my pedi said you can't give milk based formula when they are throwing up so she switched him to soy for the week. The first time I gave it to him, I used 1/2 formula, 1/2 water, only 2-3 ounces and fed him more often. Then finally the next day put him on full strength. he did much better on it.
Also, I was worried he was getting dehydrated so in the middle of the night, I would feed him every 2-3 hours about 1.5 ounces of pedilyte just to get some fluids in him. then did the soy thing after he kept the pedilyte down for at least 6 hours.
Hope that helps. Poor guy! Does he have wet diapers?
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Last edited by AZKristen; June 27th, 2010 at 08:25 PM.
Last night he went 8 hours without a wet diaper so we took him to the ER just to be safe. The moment we sat down with the intake nurse, she said "Oh well, he has a wet mouth so I am sure he's just fine." Yeah, I knew he had a wet mouth but the on-call nurse said that 8 hours without a wet dipe was cause enough to take him in. Ughhhh... I almost walked out at that point but decided to stick around anyway. The Dr. finally saw us, diagnosed it as a stomach bug, gave him some Zofran, and then had us feed him 2 ounces to make sure he could hold it down and then sent us home. A total waste of time really, but I guess it was better to be safe than sorry.
Today he is doing great. He has had 4 diluted feedings since last night and kept all of them down with no diarrhea. I think I will try full strength formula this next feeding and see how he does with it. He seems to be back to his normal self, just still tired and little bit whiny. But he's definitely on the mend! Thanks for asking.
Yeah, when we took Grace to the ER because she got so lethargic and her soft spots were sunken in, and she had lots of signs of dehydration, the ER doc pretty much said "She's fine." He had us feed her 2 oz of Pedialyte to see if she could keep it down, and then sent us home. Of course, they had a major trauma coming into the ER, so compared to that, yeah, she was fine. But I don't regret taking her...better safe than sorry. They did test her blood sugar to make sure she wasn't bottoming out due to the vomiting, and it was within range.
I always take my kids in if I think they're dehydrated, better to be safe then sorry, kwim? Zofran works wonders, I usually ask the dr. to give them that because it helps ease their nausea and keep the liquids down.
I hate when they say the mouth looks wet, like you're wasting their time..even if it IS wet, 8 hrs with no wet diapers is cause for concern!
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Ashley - Wife to Derrick, mommy to Owen-8, Rylan-6 & Addison-3. Expecting baby Nolan in July!!
He won't drink plain water either. He is pretty badly dehydrated at this point and was wondering if anyone had any other advice to get him hydrated?
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Yeah, I knew he had a wet mouth but the on-call nurse said that 8 hours without a wet dipe was cause enough to take him in. Ughhhh... I almost walked out at that point but decided to stick around anyway. The Dr. finally saw us, diagnosed it as a stomach bug, gave him some Zofran, and then had us feed him 2 ounces to make sure he could hold it down and then sent us home. A total waste of time really, but I guess it was better to be safe than sorry.
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