Thanks for All Your Advice!!!

don't know anything about the virus but used "pure constarch" baby powder on my daughter diaper rash and it always cleared it right up - make sure it is not regular baby powder but "PURE CONSTARCH"

Like some of the other responses, we have found Dr. Boudreaux's Butt Paste to be the best combatant for our now 21 month old's worst cases of diaper rash. We've used nothing but this since she was born. It's pretty expensive but lasts a very long time. It's available at Wal-mart for one; selective Sam's clubs have it and have the best pricing; approx $14 for a jar that lasts about a year.

With respect to the dehydration: our daughter was hugely adverse to drinking almost anything at all for many months. We found an item called a "baby safe feeder" to be the perfect solution. (Munchkin makes one that's available at Target.) It is primarily for feeding infants fresh food without risk of choking but we have used it almost solely for holding an ice cube (regular or made from juice/pedialyte etc)for her to suck on. It helped with hydration and has continued to be a solution for teething discomfort.

Triplepaste diaper cream!!! Put on a really thick layer so that when he goes poop again, it does not wash the paste off his bottom.
Good Luck!

Sorry to hear about your daughter. I know she's young but you might try freezer pops. She could suck on them and they might feel good in her mouth because they're cold. As an added bonus you could try Pedialyte freezer pops or some flavored water. For the diaper rash, call your pharmacy and ask them to order some Corona cream. My daugher was born with a heart and lung defect, so she has a nurse at home. She also recently had rotavirus as well and we used almost a whole tube of Corona. Our nurse recommended and and I know its a little unconventional but it works great. Hope this helps.

Hi, at that age, it is CRUCIAL she gets fluids so she wont end up in the hospital. I made my son take 1 medicine syrenge full of water every 10 minutes... its tough but nessissary. also popcicles are great as well...

As for the diaper rash, put baby in boys underwear and plastic diaper covers/pants and just throw out or wash the underwear but this helps prevent the rash the diapers can make a severe rash worse. also, use wet wash cloths to wipe butt instead of wipes.

A.

Hi M.,

I had to deal with this last year when my daughter was 11 months. If your doctor has said something already you should really cut as much of her formula out as possible if she's still got diarhea. Our doctor back in California said not to give our daughter formula until the diarhea stopped because her stomach couldn't process it with the rotovirus. We were only supposed to give her clear fluids until the diarhea was under control. Unfortunately being a new mom at the time I was so affraid she was going to starve that I kept trying to give her formula which made it worse and she ended up in the hospital with dehydration. She was hooked up to an IV for 3 days which finally made her feel better and brought the color and joy back to her face. This is definately a virus you don't want to mess with. If she is still having diarhea I would take her back to the doctor. I hope she feels better soon.

Regarding diaper rash: When my son got a bad case of rotavirus, my pediatrician told me to mix a couple tablespoons mylanta with his regular diaper cream. It neutralized the acid in the diarrhea and helped clear up the rash. Hope she is feeling better soon!

My daughter at 9 months of age caught the same thing. She also did not like anything but her formula and could not keep down even a drop of water. We even tried having her suck on an ice cube, no luck keeping that little down either. Poor thing was so thirsty too. After about 3 days of calling the doctor at all hours, I took her into the office where I got immediate attention. She had basically become a rag doll with sunken eyes. I was scared to death but madder than anything at the office staff for not truly telling the physician her true condition. Yes, he reamed them all out pretty good after he wrote an order for her to be admitted to the ER for IV fluids.

She was moderately dehydrated with the sweet smell on her breath--big sign of dehydration in a baby. The NP even give the staff a firm talk too when he found out that they had lost her chart three days ago.

In the end, she was in the hospital 3 full days on an IV. The physician even came by the house personally after we were discharged to see how she was doing.

Don't mess around with this Rotavirus. If they are not getting fluids in but a lot is coming out, they need to be monitored. Children dehydrate a lot quicker than we adults do.

Praying for you.

J.

My son nearly died from this virus. He couldn't keep anything down.

The idea of treating fluids like medication is crucial. I gave my son 1 tsp. of liquid (whatever he would drink) every ten to fifteen minutes. Recommendations: pedialyte, weak tea (watered down, de-caff, not very sweet but a little bit), sprite, Popsicles, water, nothing with caffeine, watered down gatorade, watered down apple juice.

About the rash. Depending on how severe it is, you may want to take drastic measures. My son's was bleeding at one point. I had to rinse him off with water (I allowed water to drip off a cloth onto his bottom) every time he soiled his diaper. I allowed him to air dry and then I lightly dusted his bottom with corn starch - straight from the kitchen cabinet. (My mother would call this going Old School)

The problem with using thick pastes or ointments is the irritation it causes to wipe it all off. When your child is dirtying a diaper every 15 minutes, you can't wipe them that much and not cause further irritation.

The info below was taken from pediatrics (dot) about (dot) com.
Among the signs and symptoms that your Pediatrician will look at to determine if your child is dehydrated include:

* the amount of weight loss, which usually correlates to how dehydrated a child is (so 5 percent weight loss likely means that they are 5 percent dehydrated)
* how often and how much they are urinating (children with diabetes may continue to urinate frequently, even when they are severely dehydrated, so this isn't always a reliable sign)
* the presence of tears, a moist mouth and tongue, and whether or not their eyes are sunken
* their capillary refill (briefly press on your child's nail bed so that it blanches or turns white, and see how long it takes to return to normal)
* skin fold recall or skin turgor test (gently pinch your child's skin on their abdomen, hold it for a few seconds and then let it go to see how long it takes to return to the normal position)

Symptoms of Minimal Dehydration
Most children who are sick, either with a cold or mild stomach bug, will have minimal or no dehydration. These children are alert and appear well and have:

* normal thirst or may refuse some liquids
* a moist mouth and tongue
* normal to slightly decreased urine output
* less than 3 percent weight loss
* normal heart rate, pulses, breathing, and warm extremities
* capillary refill less than 2 seconds
* instant recoil on skin turgor test
* eyes not sunken (and/or fontanel in a baby)

Symptoms of Mild to Moderate Dehydration
Once their dehydration worsens, children may begin to feel tired, restless, and irritable, which makes it difficult to get them to drink more fluids. Other signs and symptoms of mild to moderate dehydration, for which you should usually call your Pediatrician, include:

* increased thirst
* a dry mouth and tongue
* decreased urine output
* 3 to 9 percent weight loss
* normal to increased heart rate and pulses, normal to fast breathing, and cool extremities
* capillary refill greater than 2 seconds
* recoil on skin turgor test in less than 2 seconds
* slightly sunken eyes (and/or fontanel in a baby)

Symptoms of Severe Dehydration
Severe dehydration is a medical emergency and you should seek immediate medical attention. These children appear lethargic (meaning they are difficult to keep awake) or may be unconscious. They also may have:

* poor drinking or may be unable to drink
* a parched mouth and tongue
* minimal or no urine output
* greater than 9 percent weight loss
* increased heart rate, weak pulses, deep breathing, and cool, mottled extremities
* capillary refill that is very prolonged or minimal
* recoil on skin turgor test in more than 2 seconds
* deeply sunken eyes (and/or fontanel in a baby)

Watch your baby closely and do not hesitate to take her back to the md. or urgent care or ER. Dehydration is your worst enemy.

My son got to the point where he couldn't cry any tears and he hurt when even slightly touched. He had been sick for only 2 1/2 to 3 days.

Let us know how she is doing please.

M.,
When my son got the rotavirus at around the same age, we gave him lots of pedialyte. They come in different flavors but he liked the unflavored the best. I heard you can also do gatorade but I would check with the doctor about that. Also for the diaper rash we use to put him in his bath of cool to lukewarm soapy water and let him sit there for a few minutes. We did this after every bowel movement so that all the acidity would come off his skin which is what causes the diaper rash. Make sure you dry him really well then I would use baby gold bond powder. Once it got really bad and the doctor gave us a prescription strength diaper rash cream. Another advice which is hard to follow is to leave the baby without a diaper. The air helps the skin heal. We use to put an old vinyl table cloth with a beach towel on top on the floor and let him lay on it. When they are not mobile its doable but as they start moving its really not feasible unless you do not mind cleaning all the time.
Good luck,
J

I'm so sorry. My triplets and newborn had rotovirus at once - the newborn was 3m onths old and the triplets were 2. The all made it, even though they had constant vomiting and diarreah. I had to take one child to the ER for severe dehydration. I can tell you what we did.

We used Boudreux butt paste, and lots of it to take care of the diaper rash. Keep it slathered on at all times.

Try using a medicine dropper to administer water, just a 1/2 a teaspoon to a teaspoon at a time every 10 minutes or so. Stay away from formula or anything else (said the ER doctor) until the vomiting stops. Her tummy needs a rest. Whe she is clear of vomit for at least 12 hours, then we started formula again. Hope this helps

I had this problem with both of my children. My son, now 8, was 3 months old and spent 4 days in the hospital in Corpus Christi. My daughter, who is now 5, had come down with the virus when she was 2. She too was admitted into the hospital at Cook Children's where she spent 9 days in there. We were on complete lock down!!! So I wish you the best and glad to hear you have a mild case.

I would try Dr. Smith's Diaper Cream for the rash. The nurse at Cook's also told me not to use a baby wipe everythime I changed or cleaned her. She advised us to run the water in the tub and dip her in. The water will help sooth her.

Good Luck!

So the only way to know for sure if she actually has rotavirus is to send stool samples to the lab. I'm guessing that the urgent care didn't do that. Are you breastfeeding too? or just formula? if just formula then you can mix the formula w/pedialyte and do 3/4 strength. So if you're giving her 6 ounces do one scoop of formula to 6 ounces of pediatlye. That way she has the taste of the formula w/o the milk. other than that just keep offering maybe small amounts more frequently. if you're nursing make sure you cut all dairy out of your diet. if you've started her on rice cereal you can give her more of that. just mix with pedialyte and not so much of the formula. As for the diaper rash mix lotrimin with hydrocortisone cream then cover with desitin -original not creamy. make sure she's still peeing, crying tears, lips are nice and moist. if she stops having wet diapers (i know it's hard to tell w/diarrhea), no tears or her lips look dry she may be dehydrated. good luck!! she'll be fine.

wow, that's a tough one. hard getting them to drink and eat at that age when they don't want too. And that pedialite is nasty, no wonder they won't drink it.

as far as the rash, if you could leave her diaper open, even for just a while, to let some air get down there, and use good old A & D or i liked desinex ointment, that should help.
Good luck!

My son had this really bad right before he turned 2 years old. We spent a day in the emergency room hooked up to an IV. For hydration, the hospital gave him popsicles. You could buy them or make them out of gatorade or pedialyte (my son never liked this though). The store bought might taste better. It wouldn't be as healthy, but in this case, keeping the baby hydrated is far more important. When he was a baby and just had the stomach flu, they said to take a medicine syringe and inject water in his mouth every 10-15 minutes. It was a tough illness. Once my son got better, he looked so bony it was sad. He had the vomit for 3 days, and diarrhea for another week. Then, it took another week and a half for him to get his strength back. It was just awful!

I didn't read all the other responses yet so I'm sorry if this is a repeat, but for the diaper rash, I would put baking soda in the bath water and let him soak his little tushy. Also, maybe let your baby go without a diaper for a bit. Maybe lay her on some thick towels that would be easy to launder and let her butt get some air.

Sorry - I don't have any advice for rotavirus and getting your daughter to drink more fluids. However, my son had a pretty nasty tummy bug a few months ago and in addition to diarrhoea, he would wake up with horrible stomach cramps in the night. Our doctor said that sometimes when babies have stomach bugs, their little guts get really inflamed and the lactose in the formula can further exascerbate the problem - causing more diarrhoea and cramping... The doctor suggested putting him on lactose free milk for a while and this really worked! His stools firmed up and no more painful stomach cramps in the night. I don't know if maybe the reason why your daughter doesn't want to drink her formula is because her formula is making her feel worse? Anyway, I thought I'd pass the info on just in case...

With the diarrhoea unfortunately comes bad diaper rash. We use Boudreaux's Buttpaste (yes - buttpaste!) in our home. When my son had his first diaper rash at about 6 months old, the buttpaste cleared up his rash in two days - when nothing else worked. That said, when he had his stomach bug, not even the buttpaste worked. I would ask your doctor for a prescription ointment. I'm surprised he/she didn't offer it to you when your daughter was diagnosed, but maybe the rash wasn't too bad at that point. Good luck. Having a sick little one is the worst, isn't it? It's so hard to see your little baby suffer! Hope she feels better soon.

Hello I am so very sorry for what you are going through, my daughter was almost 2 when she had rotovirus, and it spread to my husband and I.(It hit him so bad he was literally in tears). When we went to urgent care the doctor suggested frozen pedialyte and/or popsicle/juice pops for her to suck on every 30 minutes and/or giving her 1 teaspoon of gatorade and/or something equivalent every 30 minutes. I guess it was just better to have something in small increments than nothing at all and then to have it being expelled from her body faster than you can get it down, cause I know she doesn't want to eat...I hope this helps you, take care.

Put a little bit of honey on tip of her bottle nipple. Diaper rash... use Boudreaux's Butt Paste found at Wal-mart. and you might change the brand of diapers you are currently using. My daughter was alergic to a particular big name brand. I used the cheap diapers in the day and Huggies (the best brand ever:)at night.

Take care.

I used to give my daughter Pedialyte Popsicles in a syringe. The popsicles are a little sweeter so babies tend to like them a little better. Just keep them out at room temperature or keep them refrigerated and you can feed her a tsp every 30 minutes to an hour.

For the diaper rash we have always used the Budrous Butt Paste, it seems to work the best for me.

If it is the Rotavirus then be a little cautious of your daycare (if you use one). When my daughter was an infant I had her at Children's Lighthouse, in the three months she was there she had the Rotavirus 3 times. Once we switched daycares to Primrose she never had it again, and she was there for a year and a half before I started styaing home with her.

Good luck, poor baby Roto is never fun.

I don't have any suggestions for getting your sweet girl to drink fluids, but when my boy got diaper rashes (and let me tell ya - they were so bad they blistered sometimes) I always had really good luck with Dr. Smiths. You can get it at Walmart - but it's not always with the baby stuff. I had to look around for it, and at my walmart - it was near the toothbrushes and shampoo area where they also have some baby stuff like wipes and shampoo. It's kinda expensive, but well worth it for me. It's packaged in a little blue and white box.

Good luck hun - those viruses are the pits. :)

for fluids i recommend Pedialyte, my daughter knows what it's for but she still calls it juice. They have different flavors, i would just get a few and see which one she'll drink. It worked for me, hope it helps. There's also pedialyte popsickles for when it's hot.

When my little one had that... the only thing I found to help with rash was cooking oil. OK I KNOW ...sounds totally off the wall. BUT I made sure that the area was clean. I applied diaper cream (I use Arbonne...all natural, unscented, and gentle). After the cream was applied, I used a cotton ball to coat the area with cooking oil. When she would have the awful diarrhea, it would not come in contact with her skin~ thus giving it a chance to heal. As we all know, oil and water do not mix... My little girl's rash was so bad that she had bloody blisters all over. After using this combination, the rash cleared in a matter of days.
As far as the drinking goes ~ the dropper sounds like the best advice. It is hard to get a child that age to 'forcefully' drink anything. Make sure that the water is not too cold `room temperature'. I would not give her any sort of juice. Maybe watered down gatorade (clear) if anything. When wiping her, try not to wipe...pat clean. If you use the oil, you will find that it is much easier to clean and MUCH less painful. I know my little girl would scream when I cleaned her~ she also scream when she peed...I am sure that it hurt the sores, but with the oil..the screaming stopped !!

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!

I am writing to suggest that you use Dr. Smith's for her diaper rash - it is wonderful and usually works in one or two diaper changes. As far as the rest, I will put you in my prayers that she gets well soon! I am a 40-year old working mother of two boys - 7 & 2 years old. God Bless & Good Luck!

We have always used the gerber electrolyte juice my girls seem to like it. but with that young it would be hard. For the diaper rash we use the liquid anacids. A bottle of the store brand is cheap. After you clean with water and cotton balls pour a little of that on her bottom. it lowers th pH in the diaper so it doesn't burn. (got this for the nurse at our pediatrician) always seem to clear up pretty fast.

Water down jello - anything but red. Use about 4 cups of water or more per package.

In regards to the diaper rash I had heard that cornmeal clears it up almost over night.

For the diaper rash I recomend Boudrous (sp?) Butt Paste. Put it on pretty thick and it should help. also soaking in warm water with a little baking soda helps the hiney. When My daughter had a tummy virus her doc recomended applesauce, watered down gatorade, cool water with a tiny bit of suger (just enough to sweeten it), bananas, pretty much bland stuff. they said 10cc every 10 min would work. Good Luck

Hi M., I've been there this year with a 2 year old. I have a suggestion to soothe the diaper rash, add baking soda or oatmeal (like Aveeno Oatmeal Bath) to a bath and let her sit in that for as long as you can get her to. It soothes, removes the acid that's so irritating to her skin and you don't have to use extra soap on the already irritated area because the dirt is attracted to the oatmeal. Then when she gets out of the water pat her dry let her "air" out a little and apply some neosporin before the diaper rash cream. You want to create as much of a barrier as possible between her skin and the moisture/irritation plus the neosporin will help any of the raw areas without stinging. Hope she gets to feeling better! Diarrhea and diapers are not a fun combination.

I don't know about the virus however my kids always had to use prescriped Diaper rash cream. They were either allergic or the creams didn't work. You might try calling the Dr and see if they will prescribe something. My kids were on a cream called Happy Hinney. It is a special compund that they mix in the pharmacy. It works you can see a difference in 1 day. I will ask my daughter if she needs medicine when she gets red especially when they get diarrea or from juice and she says yes. She just turned 3 and we still have some on hand. She tells me all better, so I know it makes it better. Girls need it more than boys and it has helped so much.

I do not know about the Rotavirus but for the diaper rash use Corona ointment. You can get it at any Tractor Supply store, feed store or I have been told that you can get it at the pharmacy in Wal-Mart but you have to ask for it. The ointment is for livestock but I have a 8 month old baby girl and we have used nothing but that and it is great, diaper rash gone within the day or next day. We have also used it on some dry spots on her skin and they have disappeared within days. Hope this helps.