Sick Son

Don't wait to take him in until tomorrow. If he has no energy and is listless, he is dehydrating and that is a real danger. Smell his breath and if it smells sweet, he is dehydrated. They should be able to test to see if it is the flu or if it is something more serious.

I wouldn't wait on taking him in though.

My kids have somtimes followed wierd patterns like this with the flu, so it could be that, but if you are concerned, I say take him in again or at least give the doctor a call. That's what I did. Why risk it?

Sorry about your son being so sick. I just have some advice about giving him water...if someone has the flu and they are vomiting if you give them water right after they get sick they will more than likely get sick again. Water just doesn't sit well on someone's tummy that has just vomited. Pedialite should work fine, or for a little variety give him a few ounces of 7-up or diet 7-up once in awhile. I know we don't like to give children pop, but sometimes they just need a little something different. I hope you find out more tomorrow.

C.

I'm not sure the cause of his problems but he sounds dehydrated based on his behavior. Push fluids, pop sicles, juice, whatever you can get him to drink. Sometimes coke will settle his stomach. He needs to be weighed too. If your mothering gut instincts tells you to take him in then go ahead and do it. If you can't keep fluids down him then he may require medical attention.

I'm a registered nurse.

Not to panic you, but I'd take your son to urgent care, or the ER. It sounds to me like he is dehydrated. We went through this with our youngest 2 years ago - turns out she had rotovirus. Not a big deal - but she was hospitalized to rehydrate her. I knew things weren't right, but the nurses just kept telling me to give her water. When she refused to walk, I just threw her in the car and drove to the doctor office and insisted we be seen. He sent us directly to the hospital.

Good luck!

Which child is throwing up M.? The 2 year old I am guessing (more info is better...). If he is getting food down and then throwing it up, does this happen immediately or later in the hour, several hours later or over night? These are the details to give the nurse when you phone your hot-line or go in to Urgent Care. Six days is a long time to have the flu - it typically abates in 2-3 days, so checking it out with Urgent Care is probably a good idea.

M., ALWAYS go with your gut when it comes to the safety and well being of your children, even go to a different doc. if your not satisfied.
Ask your son if he has any pain on his side, make sure that it's not anything to do with his appendix.
Good luck and I hope he feels better very soon.

My 7 yr old daughter was sick last week. Stomach pain, vomiting, lethargic. It just kept going, after a few days I took her into urgent care. Turned out she had strep. She did not have a sore throat at all. Might be worth having them test for that too! My son had strep a couple years ago and it was the same thing- stomach pain and some vomiting. I would have never guessed strep! Good luck, and I hope he is feeling better quickly!!!

M.,

I completely feel for you. One of my boys when he was 2 got very sick, couldn't keep anything down for days, and finally when he was puking stomach acid I was beside myself. Our doc had us give him a suppository. One application did the trick! He couldn't even keep water down and this had gone on for days. The doc had said if that hadn't worked we would have had to admit him for IV fluids. Just keep monitoring him, and work with your doc. A lot of times, they don't ever figure out what caused the problem for these little guys. I hope he gets better soon.

A while back, like two months, my daughter got really sick along with my hubby and I. My daughter got over it in 2 days as well as my hubby, I on the other hand had it for 2 weeks. I ended up severally dehydrated and went to the clinic to get 2 bags of fluids pumped into me. It took me a week to eat more then a little bit of jello, water and toast (with nothing on it) before I could keep down soup or anything else. By week three I was finally back to eating everything I usually did.

So I guess my point is that everyone reacts differently to the flu that is going around this year (it is a bad one)... I would keep that appointment because the doctor will be able to measure how dehydrated the blood stream is, hopefully it is not much. Keep giving him liquids that is more important then keeping food down. If he keeps liquids down the 'bug' will be flushed out quicker. There may be another cause for the sickness but the flu has been that bad this year.

I hope your little guy will start recovering soon.. the flu sucks.

Last month my son (3 years) was really sick and couldn't keep anything down. I took him to the doctor and they did an IV for dehydration. Same thing happened to my daughter 4 years ago. It doesn't take long for their little bodies to get dehydrated. If they cry and there are no tears or if their lips look very parched they are dehydrated.
I always go with my gut even if others tell me it's something simple and it always turns out that I am correct in my feelings!

It sounds like Rotavirus, which can go on for at least a week and can cause severe dehydration. It's probably not salmonella from the zoo or from food poisoning because that usually comes on more quickly and you had a couple of days in between. Is he able to keep down fluids and urinating at least every 8 hours? If not you might want to take him to Urgent Care of the ER for fluids. Good luck.

Hi M.,

Its hard to watch your kids when they are sick especially so young. You might find your answer in journaling. Whenever me or my sisters were sick my mother always took out a piece of paper and wrote everything down. She was one to over react and get herself panicked. With this method she had an actual account of how many times we vomited, how much, what medications, and what food and drinks we had consumed and at what times. This helped her if she needed to take us to the doctor so she could remember and if she had to take us multiple times could show that it was getting worse. It also helped with the opposite - showing when we were keeping fluids down. Another suggestion I have is ginger ale. Make sure you get real ginger ale though. My grandma use to give it to me but when I became a mom with a sick kid I did some research & found out that ginger root is a natural remedy to settle your stomache and stop nausea and diarrhea. Good Luck!

Sounds like when my boys had Rotavirus. It lasted about a week for them but can last up to 2 weeks. Stick to the BRAT diet and keep him hydrated. Good luck.

M.

My daughter had this virus as did the other kids in her daycare. The pediatricians we all saw (in Burnsville & Northfield) said that it can last for 2 -3 weeks (none of us had it that long - most of the kids had it 5-10 days). They all had vomiting, diarhea and temperatures and were so exhausted that they couldn't physically do much (walk, play, smile).

I would keep working with your doctor. They can help you know what to look for in case of dehydration also.

If you don't think you should wait for your appointment tomorrow, then go with your instinct. Be sure if you go to an urgent care or ER that you see a pediatrician so you get the best possible child answers. I'm not sure exactly where you are, but there is a children's er in Burnsville @ Fairview in case you decide you need to go.

Good luck.

The rule I have always been told is that we don't have to worry a lot until his attitude changes. Since he is not smiling of laughing I would take this very seriously. It could turn out to be a flu but it is best to get it checked out to be sure.
Last winter we had a terrible flu run through our house. My oldest got it the worst and got sick 2-3 times a day. It took over a week for this to end but he was not in any way acting as your son is. He was a little run down but for the most part still as active as ever.
Listen to your instinct and ask the doctor a lot of questions if he/she says it is just something that has to run its course.
Good Luck!

M., I'm so sorry that you're going thru this!

It sounds kinda like the end april when my little one ended up in the hospital for dehydration... She ended up having the "stomach flu" for 8 days... They ran all sorts of tests and thats all they could come up with.. They put her on iv fluids over night and most of the next day and let us go home cuz she was doing better, but then she just kept throwing up and i ended up admitting her the next night again.... It was the most horrible experience i've ever had. So I can definately sympathyse with how hard it is to see your little one so sick... Mine just kept throwin up anything we tried to give her, even pedilite and just had the diarrhea twards the end.. My docs told me to feed pedialite only till she kept it down. then after that, gradually give a little more.. My little one acted like she was starving all the time and just screamed, but when we gave her what she wanted, she'd throw up again... so limit the intake, but keep it consistent.. some each hour or two.. (of course this was all for a 10 1/2 mo old so it may be different for diff ages.) but really the only thing the docs could do was the iv fluids when she got tooo low.. and the little one just has to see the flu thru its course.. which is infurating-- shouldnt modern medicine have some miricle medicine to just fix it immediately?!! i wish they did!

i was told salmonella will make ya sick from an hour to 12 hrs after.. but that it runs its course in 24 hrs.. so i wouldnt think this was any type of food poisoning..

so i would say keep givin pedialite, keep in contact with the doctor, and look up dehydration on webmd.com and go with your gut instincts.. don't wait too long to take him in if your gut is tellin you this is not how your son is normally.. dehydration is serious stuff.. And this long version of the stomach flu just plain SUCKS!!!

Good Luck!

Hi M....

We had the same situation with our baby boy two weeks ago. They told us to do the same thing that your doing but I wasn't OK with that answer. We brought him back in and they did some blood work and told us his C2 count was low and that it was fighting his electrolytes. To make a long story short...they ended up admitting him to the hospital to run an IV for about six hours. What a difference, I got my little guy back! Please email me if you want to chat more!

Good Luck!
~J.

I hope he is better!!!

I'm sorry that your little one is sick. It is the worst feeling in the world! I have a 2 year old son that must have caught the same virus. He was sick about a week and a half ago. It lasted a good week. The high fever for about two days, vomiting all week, and then severe diareha. I keep giving him pedialyte and water and many days he didn't want to eat. I caught the viris while he was sick to but mine lasted a day. I called the doc and there really wasn't much to do for him except making sure he still took fluids and children's motrin for the fever. And after a good week he was back to new. Good Luck!

M.,
My 2 year old son experienced those same symptoms. He would throw up once or twice, and then nothing... and then again a day later. It was very odd. We even tried the flattened white soda, but that didn't work. My mom finally suggested that I try flattened Pepsi. Believe it or not, that seemed to do the trick. Either that, or it was time for the bug to get out of his system. I know exactly what you mean when you say you miss your little boy.
I wish him a speedy recovery!
J.

I think that it sure has gone on too long as well. That has to be very scary for you as well!
I would definitely take him in to the doctors again, and insist on further investigating! I do worry about him dehydrating and getting so weak.
I'm so sorry your little one is so sick! I sure hope you get answers, and he recovers very soon!