My 10 month old got sick with the flu last Monday morning at 1AM and has been sick since. He has stopped vomiting, but now he refuses to eat or drink! I can understand not wanting to eat his solid foods, but now he doesn't want to nurse or drink at all! I have tried offering milk more often, giving him a sippy cup & bottle, we have also tried popcicles. None of it is working! We have been syringing breatmilk and pedialite in his mouth for two days. Does any one have any other ideas?
We also have taken him to the ER twice this week (The first ER visit was at Del Webb and the 2nd was John C.Lincoln) and he was given IV fluids both times. Is this just the flu or is there something else going on?
Thank you all for your help and advice. After syringe feeding for two days my baby finally let me nurse him again. After a few more days he started eating his solid foods again. He was sick for 12 days, but is now completely healthy!
ice chips, broken up popsicles, frozen chips of juice. He may just be ready for a sippy cup. applesauce? i would call pediatrician and get some real answeres. Blood work maybe? Hope this helps. Keep up the good work. Do not quench the spirit/intuition. If it doesn't seem right--it is not.
Sometimes it takes a baby a while before they feel well enough to eat or drink. But, unfortunately they don't realize that they can get dehydrated. At that age, and how small they are, they need to keep hydrated. Keep encouraging with sips of water (sweetend with sugar?) and or milk. Maybe some favorite finger foods offered frequently?
Never hesitate to take the baby back to the ER for hydration.
I pray that he will get better quickly.
Does he have diarrhea?? If so, it might be a little more serious than the stomach flu. The rotavirus is a stomach virus that affects children under 5 and it lasts longer than the stomach flu. There's nothing doctors can do about it because it's a virus, but it lasts between 3 and 10 days. Dehydration is very common with the rotavirus. Hang in there and keep on with the syringing breastmilk and pedialite. You will know if it's the rotavirus if he has very watery diarrhea. Hope this helps.
I am not sure what is wrong with your child, but it most deffinately is NOT the flu. The flu is when you get a fever and achy body and mucous and maybe a cough.
Hi K.,
I would definitely take him to his regular pediatrician first thing Monday morning. These things can become very serious very quickly in a baby. Like someone in one of the other replies said, it could be an ear infection, or even a more serious illness than the stomach flu. Even if it is only the stomach flu, dehydration can occur quickly even when you don't realize it and that can increase the child's lethargy and lack of interest in food and drink. Good luck!
J.
All the responses seem to be good, but I know your main concern is trying to get something in him. My son got a virus that acted like this and we also had to take him to the hospital for IV fluids. They suggested that I give him popsicles because they had both sugar and would help re-hydrate. I hope this helps and also suggest taking him to an pediatric urgent care, Phoenix Children's, or waiting till tomorrow for the pediatrician while continuing what you are doing.
Good Morning K.,
Wow you have had a rough week. You need to take your child in to be seen today. Children get better as fast as they get sick. For a 10 month old to not want to eat or drink especially is not normal. I don't know where you have taken your child, but a lot of adult Drs don't know what to do with children. I would take him somewhere where there is a pediatric Dr on staff such as Scottsdale Healthcare North (at Shea and 92 st off the 101) or Phoenix Children's Hospital. He needs to be having 1 wet diaper every 8 hours, tears when he cries and a moist mouth. If not he is dehydrated. Sometimes children will get ulcers in their mouths or other things that will cause them not to want anything so something else entirely maybe going on. Good Luck
Lots of good responses already, but I just wanted to add that my kids respond better to gatorade than pedialyte. Seems like they like the orange or red flavors better, also try jello cubes. I know jello has a lot of sugar in it, but you also have to keep in mind that you don't want their blood sugar to drop to low either. Good luck, hope your baby gets better soon!
Both of my boys (ages 4 years and 1 year) got it...but it only lasted appx. 3-4 days each. The last two days my 4 year old was almost comatose. My pediatrician said to sit him up every 10 minutes and give him one sip (appx. 1 TBS) of liquid, except not water as it tends to overhydrate them and then they lose it more quickly. She said that after one hour he should be better and if not after two hours go to the ER for an IV. We did not have to go. I am sorry that you did. This was the worst flu I have ever seen and it is now all over the Sedona area. I am not sure where our boys picked it up...but I have heard of tons of cases in town this past month. My 1 year old ended up being ok because he continued nursing. Even though he would throw it back up...the amount of time in between nursing and throwing up got longer and longer meaning that he was at least assimilating some of it. Good Luck....keep the pedialite and even pedialite pops handy (now that it is hot)and try the every 10 minutes thing.
Did they check his ears???? My daughter got what I thought was the flu when she was 18 months and it turned out she had a double ear infection. That would make him not want to eat or drink since it would be painful. We didn't have any other symptoms other than the vomiting....
Did you talk to your regular pediatrician and see what they think? Sometimes the ER docs aren't the best with dealing with baby illnesses....
Does your son like those Otter Pops? I know that when my now 2-YO was sick, she wouldn't eat or drink, but once I got the frozen Otter Pop in her mouth, she would at least eat/drink those. I didn't care that it wasn't the best thing in the world (ie no electrolytes), at least she was taking in some kind of liquid!
Good luck! ((hugs for the little one))
My ten month old just went through the same thing. You might want to try popsicles. They are messy, but worth it. You can freeze water with a little bit of fruit in it and then it give it to him in little pieces to suck on. Or you can just buy the sugar free ones - depends on what you want to give him. I was running out of ideas when my nurse suggested that. The syringe just wasn't working. Once he got the cold popsicle down then he would drink more and was no longer dehydrated.
take him to the doctor right away and if s/he doesn't help find a new one. 2 trips to the er is not normal. in the mean time, maybe try real fruit juice popsicles or freeze pedialyte into popsicles. you hold them and he will lick/suck them. also pedialyte in a syringe. squirt very small amounts into his cheek and he should swallow it. if you are only able to get him to take a few mL then just keep at it every 20 minutes or so. does he like apple sauce? that is my daughter's standard sick time meal. good luck and i'd find a doctor who will help you.
my kids hated piedalyte and i could never get them to drink it!!!the fist question is is he urinating?if he is not urinating then he's getting dehydrated.also i dont know how you feel about it but would you be willing to try and give him some kind of juice and see if he'd take that.another thing to check dehydration is to softly pinch their skin and see if it stays pulled up if it does he's starting to get dehydrated.I would call the dr mon or tuesday though either way i'd be a ittle concerned
It is not normally my personality to be alarmist. That being said, this could be more than the flu especially if he still has a fever. A friend's grandson had similar symptoms a month ago and it ended up being bacterial meningitis. It started as flu on Monday and they were syringe feeding him by Wednesday night and rushing him to the hospital Thursday AM.
My advice is take him to your Dr. or back to the hospital and have him checked further. I hope he is back to his normal self soon. Best wishes and blessings.
