Baby with Stomach Virus

When was the last time you were to the doctor? I would talk to them again for specific instructions. Whenever my kids had something like this that went on for a while they gave me very specific instructions for the BRAT diet. As I remember it is bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. I usually stretched it to include soda crackers, rice cereal, and cheerios (figuring that they were pretty close). We also gave them jello. The important thing is to give them no more than 2 oz at a time every 15 minutes after they have thrown up. Do that for quite a few hours before you progress to larger quantities. You should probably wait a day or so before introducing other foods. But again, I would talk to your doctor again if it has been a few days since you went.

I read somewhere not to water down formula. I don't remember where I read that though! I would give him the formula mixed like you normally would or ask your pediatricians office what else you can offer him to drink and let them know what is going on and see if they think that he needs to be seen by the doc. I would think by now he would be past the vomiting, at least.

What did the doc say? I am assuming you took him his pediatrician? 7 days is a long time for these symptoms...It sounds though that the vomiting and diarhea has slowed down which is good. Keep trying the fluids...I would even try gatorade since his is at a year. If he still has these symptoms by the end of the week I'd have the doctor check him again.

If he is keeping some food and water down, he should be fine. I always gave my kids popsicles when they were vomiting. The ice feels good, plus the sugar is helpful. Sucking on popsicles also forces them to "drink" slowly, so they don't just immediately throw it up. Of course, if he's only one, he might be best with sugar water or gatorade.

Having said all that, it is concerning that he is still sick after 7 days. That's a long time to be having these symptoms. If he is that miserable, I'd take him back to the doctor and ask for an anti-cramping medication, which settles the stomach.

My daughter once had a stomach flu so badly that she was unable to keep anything down (even water) for 12 hours. Once her eyes started to look sunken and she couldn't stay awake, I took her to the ER where they put her on an IV drip. She quickly recovered, but it was scary to see her get so dehydrated so quickly.

It's scary to see them sick, but trust your instincts. If you feel like he's getting worse, he probably is.

http://keystosimpleliving.com/kids.php

Popsicles, yogurt, juice, soda, whatever he'll keep down or even try. My youngest is 18 months and dropped over a lb. from being sick a week. She want from 21 lbs (3 months ago) to 19.5. You just don't want to get to a point where he has to go to the hospital for IV fluids.

Yogurt was the key for my daughter, she LOVED it.

Best wishes!

This happened to my daughter last year. Went on forever. We really had to stick to the brat diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast). Although, the bananas made her vomit at first, so we ruled those out. We also included chicken soup broth. I made it cool enough to stick in a sippy cup or bottle, whatever you're using. Have you tried different flavors of pedialyte? Now that my daughter is older, she can tell me what she likes, and it really varies from day to day when she's sick. Sometimes all she wants is grape, next time she hates grape and wants flavorless. It's tough, but I'd keep trying.
Skip the formula for now, that definetly upsets the stomach. If you don't feel comfortable skipping the formula, you could try switching to soy formula. I used to do this when my kids had a bad cold. Milk based products can increase the phlem production, making them more nausous. The soy doesn't seem to do that (also didnt' stuff their noses up as much)
Hang in there. I thought it was absolutely crazy when it happened to us last year. She was older though (2.5). Thought we'd never get her to normal eating. the doctor told us that sometimes it's not that they're sick any longer, it's that their stomaches need to adjust to their normal diet again. Similar to what people with eating disorders would go through. They just need to adjust to having food in the belly again, and the body needs to adapt to digesting it again.
Best of luck

M. ~
Please, NEVER water down your formula! You take away all the nutrients that way, it has to be made according to the directions.
That said, whenever someone has diarrhea, milk products are bad to give them at all. They sit heavier in the bowel and cause more irritation, causing more diarrhea. Usually, we recommend following a BRAT type of diet, if possible. Banana's, Rice, Applesauce and Toast. I'm not sure how much of that your little one can eat. Deffinitely use Pedialyte. That will replace the electrolytes that he's losing from vomittin and diarrhea. They have different flavors and popsicles. Broth is good, even koolaid just to get some fluids in. You don't want him to get dehydrated. I would probably also ask your pediatrician if there's any medication you can give him that would be safe and help.
good luck!
D.

Our daughter got some AWFUL stomach virus this year too. It took her a full 7 days to get over it (she was 15 months). That is a very long time to have diarrhea and vomiting and it was a pretty yucky ordeal. I kept talking to our doctor and they kept saying to just keep her hydrated. She also hated the pedialite. Even though we were pretty much done with bottles we reverted back to them that week bc that's all she wanted, poor baby. She didn't want any food no matter how many times I offered her good things to eat. She also lost weight and it really worried me. We were told to wait after the vomiting and only offer water. Once they can keep that down to offer mild foods like bananas/rice cereal. After a couple hours they said we can offer formula in the bottle. I didn't wait that long if she wanted a bottle I gave it to her after an hour...bc I was so worried about her weight loss and about getting dehydrated. The Dr said if she seemed at all dehydrated to bring her in and they would have to put her on an I.V. Luckily we avoided that bc that would have upset her a lot. I feel for you. Keep talking to your doctor and bring your baby in if you feel things are just not right. I hope he feels better asap!

hey don't feed him formula or breast milk if your breast feeding you need to pump and store. I think yoiu might be making him sicker. When babiesw or any of us get a tummy virus we need to stay away from milk. Put him on pedialite every two hrs for the next 24 to 48 hrs and see how he does. Pedialite will keep his electrolites up and also give him water to keep him hydrated.I fy ou switch you will see a difference in 24 hrs if not take him to the poediatrician.

It's not unusual for a little one to have a tummy virus that seems to "resurface " off and on for that long. When mine were that age our doc always said not to give anything but pedialyte (there are favored ones and popcicles now) and dry toast for 3 days.Even though milk was totally out, I always found that after the 3 days plain yogurt and ripe bananas were helpful. His tummy will be touchy for awhle and he very well could be a little dehydrated. Gatorade helps if he won't take the pedialyte but that has quite a bit of sugar....better than plain water because it does replace the lost eletrolytes. Hope tis helps and he feels better soon!

Hi M. -- My now 14 month old son had the stomach flu twice from daycare. The second one was the worst because of the vomiting(around 11 months) He was breastfed and he was not able to keep that in either the first couple of days; I would say don't give him any cow's milk based formula until his digestive system settles down especially if he has vomiting. Have you tried soy based formula? If he has never had it, maybe not a good idea to introduce it now but cow's milk based formula will only further irritate his system even if it's watered down.

The only thing that concerns me with this is dehydration and it can happen very quickly in infants. Try to pinch the skin on the inner part of your son's wrist and if he is dehydrated, it will stay in the pinched position and of course very dry lips and sunken eyes are big signs as well. If in doubt, take him to his doctor or nearest urgent care..I would not take any chances.

My son was on pedialyte only for couple of days until his vomiting has subsided. Try flavored pedialyte vs. the original, such as orange or berry
Once the vomiting subsides you can give them little bit of pasta or bread, mostly carbs to settle their stomachs. The key is to give very small amounts first until you are sure that they can stomach it and then slowly increase the amount, including pedialyte.
I know exactly how you feel seeing your active child so miserable and weak but trust me, he'll bounce back soon.
Recently my mom, sis-in-law and nephew came down with a bad stomach flu and even though the adults bounced back quickly it took almost two weeks for my nephew to be completely back to normal. He turned one on March 6 so he is right around your son's age. hang in there!