When does d&v become serious?

[plannedshock]

My dd has had 2seriously runny foul smelling poos last night and has brought up every milk feed, she's not herself and understandably lethargic it's definitely a bug because I have started this morning, she's 11mths.
What should I be doing? She's now ff. should I keep offering food/ milk how often?
I feel so worried

[BeaWheesht]

Basically you need to keep an eye out for signs of dehydration

Less wet / dry nappies
Sunken eyes
No tears
Dry mouth
Skin not pinging back
Lethargic
Floppy

[Rooners]

I think give her water for the time being and no solids, definitely no formula for a while.

Make sure she is not sleeping for too long, or if she is, that you can wake her easily - keep an eye on her temperature.

Otherwise hopefully it will pass soon and she will be back to normal.

If she doesn't have any fluids worth a mention then also keep in mind she could become dehydrated. But generally a 24 hour thing won't cause any need for hospital admission/IV fluids.

[crazykat]

Ds2 had gastroenteritis about that age and was as you describe for a week.

I found the best thing was to forget about food as he wasn't interested and to give 5ml water from a medicine syringe every 10 minutes or so as he seemed to keep it down better than from a bottle. It also stopped him downing an oz of milk and promptly bringing it back.

It's awful when they're really ill like this. We took ds to a&e as he'd only kept down 3oz water in as many days iirc. The paediatrician said as he was able to keep 5-10ml water down to keep an eye on him and try dioryalite (sp?). Ds looked awful, really pale and his eyes were sunken which is a sign of dehydration but the doctor said he was fine at home, thankfully he improved within a day or so.

Don't worry too much about milk or food, its water that's important. Ds lost a shocking amount of weight due to gastro and was back to his normal weight within a few weeks.

I hope your dd is better today and its just a 24 bug.

[BeaWheesht]

Oh and personally I'd only offer water / dioralyte until she starts wanting mlre

[Patilla]

We are just coming out of the same thing with DD the same age.

I read on NHS website to get under ones checked out if vomits three times in 24 hours.

They were happy her tummy was soft and she was hydrated.

I started by just giving sips of water every few minutes from a tippee cup. After her keeping that down for a few hours I tried a very small breast feed and did that hourly sp she got a steady stream of liquid rather than larger drinks. Also if she vomited then hopefully she would lose less liquid.

Five days on she is still mostly just on breast feeds but has taken a little apple purée. I think her return to food has been complicated by her also getting another tooth yesterday poor mite!

I always head for the "BRAT" foods when returning kids to food after a vomiting bug. These are bananas, rice, apples, toast. Though I don't know if that is still the current advice.

That said, she is still little and it's just before the weekend so if I was in your position now and worried I'd pop off to the drs while it was still easier to do so. Or at least ask a dr to give me a call back.

Hold in there it's grim isn't it? DS(5) got this before DD and then our tumble drier broke. Perfect timing!

[plannedshock]

Thank you, it's horrible seeing her off food and milk, so not like her, I hope it's a quick one!
She's drinking plenty of water and had a tiny buttered toast soldier so I'm hoping she keeps it down, on the plus side she finds it hilarious when I heave into the loo!!
I will go by what you guys say-little and often with the water maybe the odd oz of milk throughout the day. X

[Patilla]

How are you doing today OP? Hope you're both on the mend.