sick 14 month old refusing bottles and food

Hi,

my little guy was up from midnight till 5am vomitting he had a bottle at 6am which he managed to keep down. i took him to the doctor and he said he thinks it is digestion related, maybe found some food aon the floor or something and ate it. i think its a virus as my nephew had the sme symptoms 2 days ago.

anyway he hasnt eaten anything since hes had some water and juice in his sippy cup but now hes even refusing that, he wont drinka bottle and wont eat anything.

Im worried coz hes still so young - what do i do.

Fluids is your main concern. I wouldn't worry about food for a day or so to be honest, as long as my kids were drinking. Is there a food, or even better, drink that he can't resist? Banana smoothie? Fizzy? Something to get him drinking again, and then he might feel like some water later on.

If you can't get him to drink though, I'd be taking him to a dr or hospital before he gets dehydrated. Kids are in hospital for dehydration all the time, so don't stress, but I've heard it's pretty important that kids don't go for too long without fluids.

Let us know how you go. :hug: Sick kids aren't fun.

ive tried all his favorites he loves a little sip of my tea and he even refusing that .

Thats what im scared about him getting dehyrdrated. how long do i wait .

hes had today a 220ml bottle at 6am and probably 120 mls of water/juice but nothing since about 10am.

he hasnt thrown up since 5am.

he seems very lethargic and cuddley (doesnt normally) he usually has 1 sleep a day but hes having his 3rd now.

how do you know they are getting dehydrated.

I dont want to alarm you but i would get him checked - being lethargic and disinterested in play etc are signs of possible dehydtration... when N had gastro Dr told me to look for at least a damp nappy every 6 hrs and to go to hosp if this did not occur...
i would get him checked if it were me, rather be safe and they can dehydrate quickly...
Also you can try pedialyte or similar to replace fluids...
hope he is ok, let us know!

I found the number of a SA health line for a Parent Helpline on the internet - 1300 364 100. Or you might have a similar number that you know of. Why not try calling them and see what they say?

If in doubt, a trip to emergency - as I've pointed out to dh when taking our kids to emergency, kids can go from 'meh' to 'uh oh' in a pretty short time, so if you're not feeling good about this, then just nick down with him. :hug:

I already rang them and they said just try get him to have a few sips of water as much as he will take, He still hasnt had a full bottle buthe has drank about 80mls of water and probably 30 mls of milk and he ate 2 small pieces of fruit toast. he perked up almost straight away, he has had a wet nappy and hes dribbling, so im feeling better about that. hes still cuddly but he did do a few of his normal naughty things (turn TV on and off on and off, tip his cup upside down and paint things with the drips) the parent helpline said if he hadnt eaten or drank anything by the morninng take him to hospital...

see how he goes through the night and ill see how he is in morning if he wants to drink his milk or not. let you all know how we go

Thanks for your replies.

Ohh yay that's sounding good! Just keep offering stuff to him, hopefully he'll get his appetite back as he recovers.

meegm - I hope your little man is okay, or on the improve, it's awful when they get sick. My DS has had a couple of doses of gastro, and it's not much fun. With the last bout, which was a couple of weeks ago, the hsp told us to give him 5ml of gastrolyte every 5 minutes, using a syringe. We just squirted it into his mouth, and after about 3 goes he decided it was quite tasty, so started looking for it. They gave us the blackcurrent flavour, and it went down quite a treat. Would your DH (or someone) be able to duck off to a chemist and get some for him - or something along those lines, there's a few things to choose from. THe gastrolytes etc have replacement electrolytes in them, which I think helps them to feel better faster, although sleep also does wonders.

And don't feel like you have to wait until morning to take him - if you feel like something's not right just go.

Hes gone to sleep now and hopefully for the night :crossfingers::crossfingers: ill might get some of that stuff in the morning i considered trying to syringe some water imto his mouth but he started srinking a little bit.

This is his 1st real sickness its horrible - although im lapping up the cuddles i dont get them that often - hes far to busy . ;)

It sounds like he's on the improve :)

As the lovely ladies said, fluid is the main concern - but seems like that's picking up nicely. The syringe trick often works wonders for getting fluids in the mouth - little ones sometimes see it as a game/novelty which helps greatly. Kids healing abilities are amazing - often they turn off food and drink briefly to free up enough energy to kick a virus/infection.

If he's eating, and you can get fluids into him, I wouldn't be too concerned, but if you have any concerns or his condition starts dropping again, it's well worth dropping into hosp.

:hug:

yay glad he is on the improve....

The easiest way to assess dehydration is to look at their nappies. If they start to go for long period without wet nappies, then they should be examined. You can either take them to your GP, if you can see them the same day, or otherwise go to your local hospital's emergency department.

In terms of which fluids to give them, make sure that high sugar fluids, such as lemonade, soft drinks, cordials, or fruit juices, are watered right down. Drinks with too high a concentration of sugar will make diarrhoea worse.

meegm - how is he this morning? thinking of you.

we have spent the last 24 hours in hospital - he did 3 adult sized vomits yesterday so i took him ememrgency department, all thtle tests were good, ears pink inside, no temp, pulse etc all good they were at a loss, then we thought, he'd hit his head on Friday and i wondered if it was related - they admitted him for observation for initally 4 - 6 hours he ended up having a bottle which he brought up 2 1/2 hours later - they put it donw to possibly a stomach bug - WELL the ER doctor said she felt happy that we could take him home it was 9.30 pm by then and we said " well what if he keeps doing this" she then said we could stay and wait for the Peaditricain consultant that comes around in the mornings and see what they say.. we decided to stay we wanted answers real answers - so i went home about 12 midnight DP stayed bless his soul - im just to preggo right now to sleep on those cot beds with no pillows, - i returned at 5.45am this morning and he had drank some gastrolyte stuff and some apple juice - they put a wee bag on him to collect some wee, didnt get much last night but this morning he had 2 small bottles and gve them a good sample about 1pm this afternoon, They now suspect he has a UTI... which from my googling sounds like it - So if i had taken him home last night this would never have been discovered - we get offical results Friday so can start antibiotics then My poor little chicken still refusing to eat and not happy about drinking to much either again - i went chemist and got so of the gastrolyte so ill try give him small sips through the night.. god im so tired and run down and just want my little guy well....

Phewf! What a drama! Good on you for staying til you got some answers, and hoping he picks up and gets better really soon! :)

me too hes so wingey he wlks around just whinning and im so tired its really getting to me i know he cant help it but me neither.

Oh Meegm, what a drama and so glad you got to the hosp and waited til you got some real answers - hope he is feeling better soon.