Hay Docs et al, I think Our Little One has Rotavirus
 

Or 4yr old little girl was up on the hour last night puking - at 3AM she got the dry heaves. Really sad to experience. She was given water but would puke it up. She has also experienced diaherria and does feel warm. We called the Doc and they said that they would do a stool sample but there was no cure for it and to make sure she does get fluids to thwart dehydration.

So how does one keep fluids in if they keep escaping from both ends?

Livi's probably the bets to answer. But I think persistence is the key. Don't torture the kid, but encourage her to take small amounts of fluids frequently. Small, more frequent amounts might be easier to tolerate than large quantities. When I was a kid, my mom let us have 7-Up (even Mary Poppins sang about the spoonful of sugar making the medicine go down). I think Gatorade or Pedialyte is probably a better choice, but whatever works. Kids and the elderly don't have the 'sense' to drink when they're dehydrated. They just feel crappy, and try to sleep; or, they're irritable. Old people won't drink because they're lethargic or don't want to soil the bed. Kids won't drink because they feel lousy and don't want to puke. Instead, they should be rehydrating as much as tolerated. That's where you have to gently push for the fluid intake. If all else fails (and this would be uncommon), there's always IV hydration such as in an ER.

+1 on the gatoraid...advice from an MD when Cindy & I were fighting the flu. The electrolytes thing...

My son contracted it when he was about 6 years old. We could not get fluids in him at all and ended up in the hospital for 3 days with an IV.

Keep a close eye on him and if he stops urinating for very long look into taking him to the hospital.

Its a very nasty virus.

Mike, no need for my Swenglish. Noah´s got it covered.

I would only add that it is very rare that you can not manage a child at this age the oral route. In the 0-2 years age group, their level of dehydration sometimes demands extraordinary measures like nasal tube feeding or IV.

Like Noah say, small amounts frequently is the way to go. The best liquid is the sort the child prefers. Within reason. No vodka and no coffee.

When the kid starts feeling like eating something, it is perfectly OK. Still in small amounts at a time however. Historically, it was thought that the bowel should be starved back to health, so only drinking was allowed. Nowadays, we know that the bowel heals faster working with the nutritions it is used to.

A reasonable measure of hydration level is the urine amounts. One likes to see at least one void per 24 hours and they are usually very small amounts.

With any infection of any dignity in children, I think it is wise to be liberal with pain - and fever medication like Paracetamol or Ibuprofen. Even without a fever, we all feel 'ill' when we are sick. Medication like the above may be what makes the kid feel a little better, hence drink a little more and thus pull threw without another doctor´s visit. In this case it is of course probably wise to try and administer the dosis rectally.

I would add a plus one on soda... some kids got 7-up my mom gave us coke or pepsi (may want to go with decaffeinated on the cola). It is not as good as Gatorade or pedalite but it tastes good and if the kid likes it it will encourage them to drink more.

To this day I drink pepsi when I have a hangover.

Sorry to hear you little one is sick... always a tough time.

Thanks! I just got off the phone with Mommy. Our lil one is feeling a little better - hasn't puked in 2 hours or so. She is taking a little water as well as ice chips.

A funny spin on it, at 4AM my Wife and I were with her in the bathroom. Our lil one was dry heaving. She looks up at us and says with tears in her eyes "This is the worsis I have ever ever felt ever..."

I looked at my Wife and said "Gee, aren't those the exact words you used 6 months ago after a night of drinking with the girls?"

Funny thing is, those were my Wifes exact words as I held her hair back as she proceeded to ralph with supreme gusto.

Mike,

Pedialyte is better for them than the Gatorade.

Gatorade has the electrolytes but also too much sugar which can make the diarrhea worse.

Pedialyte comes in bottles and freezer pops. The freezer pops get the liquids into them slower so less chance of them puking it all back up.

Been there. Not fun for anyone.

http://www.pedialyte.com/

flat coca cola or 7 up. Popcicles, jello, juice, broth(beef, veggie or chicken), juice, gatorade etc. Stick with clear liquids until they are a bit better. Give the kid lots of variety, offer fluids frequently, wash their hands, and your own. Don't get behind on fluids as they quit drinking if they get too far dehydrated.

In my situation, I just keep the materials for an IV, and if it comes up have the wife(who I have seen use the force to start IV lines on people that 3 nurses and two anesthesiologists could not get) hook them up and run in a few bags of fluid. My brother was so happy about this last time he got a GI bug. A few liters of lactated ringers(assuming no lactose intolerance) and oxygen by mask at about 10-15 liters will knock a hangover completely out of your body.

Jello can be your friend...nice and sweet...

She didn't feel like going out last night so her and Mommy stayed in and watched Scooby Doo movies. No more puking which is good. She has grown found of Ginger Ale now. I think she will be fine.

In a fantastic act of kindness, her brother offered her half of his candy that he got. He actually said a few times last night how bad he felt for her cuz she could dress up and go out. Of course he did limit her candy take on the ones thast he didn't like!

Thanks for your suggestions!

If jello is tolerated, you can make your own with plain gelatin and gatoraide or pedialyte... made my wife a lot of gatoraide jello when she had her gastric bypass... nice thing about home made is you can make it thicker so it feels like you are eating something "real"...

WOW- in the world of the child, this was like him offering a kidney. You have good kids dude.

Those two can be incredible to each sometimes and other times they can be pretty bad.

There isn;t a day that goes by that I don't say "The only thing you two have is each other, take care of each other." She is always reminded that he is her big brother and he will get to do things now that she is too young to do (and she will always share with him - which is rare suz she is pretty spoiled around other kids) and he is consistanly reminded that she is his little sister and that he has no choice but to take care of her - always. He is protective of her with other kids. Thats nice, even better cuz he has at least 2 inshes and 20lbs over all the other boys his age.

I hope they continue into their teen years and later on in life. :D

she didn't go trick or treating? She could have gone as Brittney Spears...