It's headed right for us! HELP!!

[tessa1002]

Anyone else remember "Twister"?

Really though, I'm talking about the flu. The puke your brains out kind.

My dad caught it first. He puked his brains out for a couple days, and didn't eat for 3. By the time we visited for xmas he was better. I thought we would escape it. Then I hear that my brother, Rence, caught it. That would be the same Rence that was horsing around with DS about 7 hours before he started puking. And tonight before DS went to bed I noticed his last poo was totally liquid, except for some corn . Diarrhea was the first symptom of this flu. He's going to be puking his guts out soon and I don't know what to do for him!

So my question is this.

How do you take care of a puking child when he's only 14 months?

It seems so scary, he's so small. Do I try to feed him, or should he stay on a liquid diet? Should I use pedialyte, or is he too young for that? If I don't try to feed him on a regular basis, when should I start offering food again? Should I offer any kind of medicine?

But most importantly, how do I comfort him when he's not gonna understand why all of this is happening? He's going to be so scared!

Any pointers here would be much appreciated as I am totally clueless. I want to make this as easy for him (and me) as possible.

[cknelsen]

You can give him pedialyte - we gave it to my DS when he was only 1-2 months... I don't know anything else really besides just try to comfort him and have him aim for a bucket!!! Hold him and love him as much as you can - don't act stressed and scared or that will make him more scared. Hugs...

[tarah1218]

Don't give him food, I am assuming he has never puked and will not know what to do besides what his body does so giving him food might be bad. Give him liquids that will give him calories since he will sick and losing more than normal ya know? As for where he pukes, I wouldn't really hope on him getting it in the bucket, maybe just get some sheets you dont care about and a plastic pad you can lay round him so that you can just wash it all in case ya know? I hope you don't get sick at the same time. ::

I can understand why you are scared and I would be too, he is just a baby Give him a bunch of hugs for me and just love on him so he knows you are there. Good luck though and let us know how he does being real real sick for the first time.

[momto2boysinOnt]

DS2 has had several tummy bugs. UGH! I must say though, that each one has been more disturbing for me than for him. He didn't seem particularly bothered, even right after puking. He slept a lot, but when he was up (and wasn't actively puking) he was reasonably happy.

We basically allowed him to eat what he felt like eating (which wasn't much). He let us know when he was ready to start eating again. I continued to nurse him as much as he wanted (which wasn't much). I gave tylenol in case he had a headache (or when he had a fever).

Pedialyte is OK for little ones, but it doesn't taste great. Our MD said not to bother unless we were really worried about dehydration. As long as his mouth was moist and he was still crying tears, she said that dehydration really isn't a big concern.

Are you BFing? If you are, you may find DS gets a much milder version than others in the family. At least, that's what I've heard. Never been the case for us, though.

Good luck, and remember, tummy bugs don't last forever (although it often seems like they do).

[mistylaureena]

Everytime Mikey got sick like that (which is once or twice) we feed him what he would eat, and LOTS of fluids-- I was told to feed him because you wanna keep his body healthy and able to fight it off & give him lots of fluids......however I dont know if he will eat?? If it gets too bad and if his fever gets to high I would take him to your pedi for sure cuz stuff like this can affect babies worse than adults.

The pedialite can defintaly be given to asher..we gave it to mikey on several occasions and teh first was around 6 weeeks old...its just electrolytes in it like gatoirade but with less sugar..mikey hated it?? Maybe youll get lucky and asher will love it cuz its good for him to get those electrolytes, its what keeps him from getting dehydrated...thats is really the main thing is making sure ASher does not get dehydrated at all...so keep fluids in him all the time....I hope he feels better soon!!

[mistylaureena]

double post----- this crazy thing today is working all wacky and posting everything twice??

[amielia80]

my ds #1 had the rotovirus when he was 13 months old and he ended up hospitalized due to dehydration. You have to be very careful with these guys as they can dehydrate with a puke flu very easily. My little guy threw up everything-even water and he had horrible diareah (sp?) that didn't stop even when he had nothing left in him. It was horrible. I would just be very careful if he can't keep down any liquids. Also check for signs of dehydration:
no tears when crying, no wet diapers in 8 hours, if you pinch a little skin it stays in place, sunken in looking eyes, and chapped looking lips.
Food is not a major worry . Once he feels better they sugest te BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples(sauce), toast) for a few days as he can tolerate his regular diet. Fluids are the big important thing...clear fluids!
So, that was the wirse one he had. My poor DS seems to catch evey stomach bug that goes around. That was the worse he's ever had and the others we just loved him through!
good luck and I hope your little guy feels better soon!

[jls~Kain~Drake]

Just to reiterate what everyone else has already said - lots and lots of fluids, watch him closely because they can dehydrate FAST, and lots and lots of TLC!! Ds1 had rotavirus @ around 15 months...it was awful But after 3 weeks of diarhea and occasional vomiting, he got over it. All we could do was push fluids, light foods (toast, plain crackers, etc), and lots of hugs and cuddles. Ds1 and 2 had some kind of viral bug last year and they both had vomiting and diarrhea...I ended up taking ds2 (6-7 months) to the ER (a couple of times) and finally got him IV fluids.

It's really awful - I'm sorry to say - but all you can do is be as attentive as you can...really push fluids (but if he's actively vomiting - small amts of fluids at a time). Docs always tell me that you treat the symptoms to try to make them more comfortable and that's all you can do.

I hope he doesn't get it full force!!

I'm afraid it's headed for us too. Here, it starts with a horrible horrible headache - then the diarrhea..then vomiting. MIL brought nephew over yesterday with a 100+ temp (103 at one point during the day) and he had diarrhea by the time they left.

[tessa1002]

I'm not BFing anymore, DS weaned himself pretty much. He still nurses in the morning, but for some reason I'm almost all dried up and its really not much. Do you think I should buy formula, would it be easier for him to keep down than solid food? I know he would like the comfort of a bottle, but I don't want to put milk in it like we usually do because that would probably make the diarrhea worse, right?

And do you think its possible that its rotavirus thats going around? Do adults get that too? Right now DS still only has loose stools, but I'm feeling really crappy too. I'm just dizzy, tired, and weak. I feel "bleh", but I'm not sure if its the flu. I'm sure hoping its not.

And for those of you whose DC's have gotten the flu, do you usually catch it from them? I'm so worried that DH, DS and I are all going to be puking at the same time.

[lmsjt915]

Originally Posted by tessa1002 I'm not BFing anymore, DS weaned himself pretty much. He still nurses in the morning, but for some reason I'm almost all dried up and its really not much. Do you think I should buy formula, would it be easier for him to keep down than solid food? I know he would like the comfort of a bottle, but I don't want to put milk in it like we usually do because that would probably make the diarrhea worse, right? And do you think its possible that its rotavirus thats going around? Do adults get that too? Right now DS still only has loose stools, but I'm feeling really crappy too. I'm just dizzy, tired, and weak. I feel "bleh", but I'm not sure if its the flu. I'm sure hoping its not. And for those of you whose DC's have gotten the flu, do you usually catch it from them? I'm so worried that DH, DS and I are all going to be puking at the same time.

I wouldn't give formula. When my DD's had a tummy bug back in September we were told to give them NO dairy products for at least 2 or 3 days after the symptoms had passed. That meant formula, milk, yogurt, etc. The diahrrhea lasted for 10 days with them, it was awful! At least 10 diahrreas a day=no fun. Good thing was that after the first 1-2 days they didn't act sick anymore, it was just the diahrrhea. We gave them lots of pedialyte and whatever they would munch on, which wasn't much of anything. Toast is good, applesauce, bananas.

I know that whenever we have been in contact with someone being sick I seem to "trick" my body into being sick. I think I get so worried that I or one of us will catch it that I start to feel the symptoms but don't actually get sick.

I hope that's the case for you. Good luck!