What to feed a child who can't keep anything down?

[Nomsie]

L woke up last night at around 11:30 vomiting everywhere. Since then, he hasn't been able to keep anything down.
Not breastmilk, water or anything.

Apart from the vomiting, he seems to be fine. He is playing happily with B, walking all around the house, doesn't seem to have a temperature or anything that would indicate he was seriously sick. Maybe just a tummy bug or something.

He wants to eat, because when I went in to him this morning he just about attacked me for bm (which I saw again half an hour later anyway :rolleyes:) ... so what foods would be ok to give him? I can't sit B up in the highchair and give him breakfast without doing the same for L...

[Mell]

Poor little thing :hugs::hugs:

Maybe try some dry toast. See how he goes with that.

Hope he gets better soon.

:hugs::hugs:

[Nomsie]

Thanks Mell :)

My, you're up early!

[Mell]

hmmmm way to early. Couldn't sleep :rolleyes:

[Nomsie]

I'll swap you! Didn't get to bed til midnight, was up to change sheets and sleeping bag at 1, change my clothes at 3, and then we started the day at 5:30 lol. From one sick child, I just about have a whole load of washing! :laughing:


:sleeping:

[Mrs Awesome]

If he is not keeping any fluids or solids down, you need to keep offering him Gastrolyte (available from the chemist). There are kids versions available. This will at least keep his fluids and electrolytes in order.

If he really wants to eat then stick to the plain toast and crackers.

If he wont keep the gastrolyte down, call nurse on call to see what sort of timeframe without fluids they recommend before he needs to see someone.

Goodluck! Hope he feels better soon.

[Boobycino]

Maybe some stewed apples or something like that.

Thats what mum always gave me when I was sick, so thats the first thing I'd think of.

[amandaw]

Gastrolyte is great (you can get them in icypole form too) though when we had the tummy bug 2 weeks ago, non of us could keep them down. Not entirely sure how old L is, but online searches reccommend lemonade or cola (flattened) over water, as they help to replace salts, sugars etc, (in the short time it is in there!). I'm very anti all that sort of stuff with my 2, but both kids managed to keep down watered-down lemonade :thumbsup:

[WorkingClassMum]

small sips of Gastrolyte

icechips

fruit juice ice chips

1/2 teaspoons only of grated apple

let him suck a wet facewasher, rinse often

suck an ice cube through a wet facewasher

[Nomsie]

Thanks all. We went with the toast this morning. He threw up again mid way, but attempted some more with some water and it has stayed down for almost 2 hours. He also stole a frozen grape off his brother which also hasn't managed to escape just yet.
He must be exhausted because when I took him into his room to go to sleep, he took 2 minutes to zonk out in my arms- normally I have to feed him to sleep.
I am just astounded at the amount he bought up last night- I turned the light on this morning to find so much mess on the floor I couldn't clean last night for fear of waking B, and even more in L's cot I missed in the darkness. (disgusting, I know!)

[Leisa21]

DS got rotovirus gastro at 10 months old right before we were due to fly out to Sydney :rolleyes:. I fed him breastmilk only and little bits of mashed potato and I bought lactose free formula as I couldn't express and mixed that into the potato. I also gave him really mushy wet rice with plenty of water. They were the only things he didn't throw up but he did have runny poos still but I think that was mainly from only eating runny foods and BM. When he started to get better(a week later) I started giving him vegemite on brown bread and a milk arrowroot. Basically I had to slowly get him back on the right diet after that as all the lactanin(sp) in his gut had gone :(. It was a long process of about a month or more. Definately get the gastrolite, chances are he'll throw it up but it's designed to be fast absorbing so he should get the electrolytes into him quick enough. I'm sure your boy doesn't have that but thought it might help to know what i fed him and how I did it.

Hope he gets better. Poor thing.

[GoldLeader]

definitely get the infant electrolytes from the chemist to avoid dehydration.

[KatiesMum]

yeh just be careful Noms - they get dehydrated so quickly from vomitting.

Keep up with lots of small breast feeds, and as much gastrolyte/hydrolite as he will keep down. Freeze into icypoles, feed off a teaspoon or even syringe into his mouth if nothing else works.

toast with vegemite is about all I would suggest for solid food, until he is regularly keeping things down.

:hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

[MellyMumma]

Nomes when the girls were sick and actually in hospy because they couldn't keep anything down they sat me with them and I had to measure out 5mls of the hyratation drink they supplied and give it to them every 5 - 10 mins. They had it out of a syringe - more for the novelty of it for them. They also had panadol every 4 -6 hrs and slept alot. Not sure if he's on the mend by the sounds of your last post - lets hope he is!!

[Mrs Awesome]

Try to avoid giving kids who are vomiting sugary drinks such as flat lemonade/softdrink or juices (I know our mums did), as the sugar actually draws the fluid out of all the cells and they could potentially end up even more dehydrated (I am a nurse, so see this often). As a PP said, gastrolyte is designed to be absorbed quickly, so even in they vomit soon after, some of the electrolytes will have been absorbed.

Hope he is feeling better soon and your other little one deosnt get sick.

[Fuchsia!]

My boys are sick at the moment. DS who is 2.5ys was vomitting non stop, now my 5yr old has it. I am making him skull heaps of water after each toilet run and each spew. As for food, i have been giving him som icy poles, and some arrowroots and some toast

[Pregnor]

When DS had something similar, the hospital said that keeping up with breastmilk and formula is fine, and only give the hydralyte if they are sick for extended period of time, or have diarrhea for a few days, this is when the electrolyte balance gets thrown out.

So small breast feeds, more frequently (we were giving small bottles every 10 mins kind of thing, but this was at 5 months) bland foods like crackers, dry toast etc. If he gets the runs, then having things like potatos and carrots are good. Bananas are great for recovery as they are full of electrolytes and other goodies

[Benji]

I was just logging onto the hub because I'm having exactly the same issue. DS is a lot better now after 2 days of vomiting & pooping although he's 3.5 yrs old so much better at handling it than when he was a little baby.

I've just been giving him little sips of water for now, every half hour or so rather than one big drink because they tend to want to scull it.

When he was 7 months old he was hospitalised because he couldn't keep anything down for days on end - they told me to keep up with the breastfeeds in case I had it to so I could give him all those good antibodies.

I would express first so he didn't get too much and just bring it back up.

Good luck, it's horrible and my DP has it now too :crying: looks like I'm next in line lol.