Signs and symptoms
•Gastro causes your child to feel unwell, and not want to eat or drink
•Vomiting may happen in the first 24 to 48 hours
•Then your child may have diarrhoea lasting up to one week
•Your child may have some stomach pains
•Your child may also have a fever
Treatment
•Young babies and children can become dehydrated very easily and need to be checked by a doctor. Signs that your child may be dehydrated include drowsiness (being very sleepy and not waking for feeds), dry lips and mouth, not passing wee and cold hands and feet.
•Babies under 6 months may need to be checked again by your doctor after 6 - 12 hours.
•If your child is very dehydrated and cannot keep any fluids down they may need to be admitted to hospital to have fluids by:
•A tube through the nose into the stomach (called a nasogastric or NG tube) or
•Directly into a vein by intravenous therapy.
Care at home
•Children with mild gastro can be looked after at home. The main treatment is to keep your child drinking fluids often. This is needed to replace fluid lost due to the vomiting and diarrhoea. It is important for the fluids to be taken even if the diarrhoea seems to get worse.
•Do not give medicines to reduce the vomiting and diarrhoea. They do not work and may be harmful.
•Your baby or child is infectious so wash your hands well with soap and warm water, particularly before feeding and after changing nappies.
•Keep your child away from other children as much as possible until the diarrhoea has stopped.
Infant feeding
If you are breastfeeding, continue to do this but feed more often. You can give an oral rehydration solution (eg GastrolyteTM, HYDRAlyteTM, Pedialyte or Repalyte ) as well.

If bottle feeding, give oral rehydration solution or clear fluids for the first 12 hours, then give normal formula in small, but more frequent amounts. Offer babies a drink every time they vomit.

Clear fluids
Give small amounts of clear fluid often - ie a few mouthfuls every 15 minutes for all children with diarrhoea or vomiting and especially if your child is vomiting a lot. Give older children one cup (150 - 200ml) of fluid for every big vomit or case of diarrhoea.

Gastrolyte,Hydralyte, Pedialyte and Repalyte are different types of oral rehydration fluid that replace fluids and body salts.