DS 18 months not drinking and barely eating

[surprised]

Hi all,

My usually "wolf it down" 18 month old boy is refusing pretty much all liquid (has drunk I'd guess less than 100mL today), and all day has eaten about 3 rice crackers and a banana (despite me offering some of the favourites). I've tried getting some hydralyte into him, to no avail. He is refusing milk, which he normally loves.

This has been going on all day today, and yesterday he wouldn't drink milk and only had a little water, although did eat marginally more.

The weird thing is that he actually seems completely fine. We were mucking around and laughing before bed. He didn't wee from about 10am to 5pm today (did one when we put him on the toilet - nappies have been dry), and has had a couple of yucky smelling poos.

My questions:
- have you ever come across this, and what was the cause
- at what point do I worry (he has gone to bed for the night)
- when I reach the point of worry, what do I do?

TIA xoxo

[*LittleMissSummer*]

My DD had been acting weird and i took her to the doctors and she had tonsillitis, pretty severe tonsillitis as well. Maybe hes got a sore throat?

[surprised]

Thanks LMS

Did she have a fever? Was she otherwise happy or was she cranky?

[delphmoon]

Hmmm. My DD went through a no eating and little drinking stage for 3 days! She was perfectly fine the whole time- her usual happy, bubbly self. She ended up cutting 3 teeth at the same time the same week...Not sure if thats why she stopped eating but it was a worry for us.

She is younger than your DS but maybe its teeth?

HTH

[HotI]

have you tried icy poles/frozen yogurt? they usually work with my LO and can help with pain if it is teeth or a sore throat.

a bath can also help with rehydrating, especially if bub will suck on face washers or play with cups in the bath.

[surprised]

Thanks ladies. Will try to convince him to let me look at his teeth tomo! HotI the one time I've tried to give him sorbet, he laughed at me and refused to eat it! I think he thought it was a joke because it was so cold! Great idea about the bath.

I'm wondering if he might have hand foot and mouth disease (without the rash on hands/feet)? Have a GP appt on Mon so will ask her then, provided we don't end up in hospital for fluids before that!

[human bean]

Suprised my DD has hand foot and mouth at the moment, a fairly mild case, with only 2 spots on her hands, a couple around her mouth, and far too many sharp teeth for the Doc or I to get a good look inside her mouth! And it feels like she's eaten basically nothing for the last 3 days, although she has been drinking her water and milk cups like normal. We've had lots of cold watermelon and rockmelon on offer as she has some teeth coming through too.

I don't know how she manages to run on such little fuel but she is hardly skipping a beat! Hope your DS is back to wolfing things down soon!

[surprised]

Thanks human bean. That's good to hear (although sorry about your poor little poppet) - I wasn't sure if it was one of those things that was really obvious, or could be much more subtle. Will try to pin him down for a good look in his mouth tomo! Hope your DD is feeling better soon.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

My DD was her usual self, a bit cranky here and there but shes also getting teeth through but then on monday she woke up crying and wouldnt stop and thats when i took her to the doctors and found out she had tonsillitis and it was ulcerated so she had it for a fair while, and i was none the wiser i just noticed she didnt want to eat and was drinking more often. Her poo's were awful but as shes cutting teeth i just blamed that.