how to get non-eating 2.5 yo over tummy bug

[smaths]

Bear with me, this is a bit long, sorry. DD is 2.5 and has for a week been suffering from a bad tummy bug. Days 1&2 were horrendous, constant vomiting, accompanied by diarrhoea and a high temp which persisted for another couple of days (to compound matters, we were abroad at the time). She ate absolutely nothing for 4 full days, but I managed to keep her reasonably well hydrated with pedialyte. Since Saturday (day 5) she has picked at a few bits and pieces but not eaten very much. She has lost around 1.5kgs of weight and she didn't really have it to lose, she was only 13kg to start with and is quite tall for her age.
After not vomiting (or having any meaningful bowel movements) since Day 2, yesterday (Day 6) she vomited at dinner and today she refused dinner, had 2 bowel movements in quick succession (pale but normal-ish) then vomited (around 2 hours after eating afternoon snack).
So now I feel i'm back to square one... how can i get her digestive system to settle down and recover (and stop puking?)
she was a picky eater before, but now is refusing pretty much everything. I have no hope of getting her to eat a BRAT diet as she won't touch any of those things except toast (but only with chocolate spread!) i have heard probiotics are helpful but how do i get them in to a 2 year old and where do i buy good ones? How can I get calories into her to put weight back on and regain strength when she just won't eat? She won't even try things she would have previously enjoyed such as pasta, yoghurt, potatoes. She doesn't drink smoothies. I made peanut butter brownies this evening in the hope of getting some calories in and she did eat part of one. Anyone had similar problems? Chocolatey stuff seems to be the only thing she will willingly taste at present! What else should I try?

[FuckOffJeffrey]

Would she eat/drink soup? You could start her with smooth soup (such as heinz tomato) that she could sip on rather that eat. She might be scared to eat due to previous vomiting episodes.

I would suggest ice cream for calories but not sure if dairy would be a good idea if she's had a bad tummy.

[smaths]

Formerly she would have enjoyed soup, but she has turned it down several times. I'll keep persevering! I'll maybe try a cup rather than a bowl though, thanks for the idea

[SagaAndMartinsLiftConvos]

This happened to DD when she was 20 months old. It was so awful. I do remember that it was a good few days after she stopped vomiting before she would eat anything, and how frantic I was - she was small and slight to start with. Eventually she nibbled on some plain noodles, and very slowly, in tiny amounts, she got back to normal. It was horrendously worrying though as she refused everything I offered her. Breast milk got her through it.

[FuckOffJeffrey]

Come to think of it I'm sure boots do a powdered milkshake drink to help build up underweight children - I think it's called something like peadiasure. It might be something to consider as a short term thing if she's lost a lot if weight and won't eat anything.

[Nevercan]

I normally stick to dry plain food like toast, plain biscuits or Cheerios with no milk

[dementedpixie]

I would give her whatever she wants tbh so if she will eat toast with a small amount of chocolate spread then give her it. Carb rich foods are normally recommended. Biscuits, brioche, scones, toast, etc might be good (and pale coloured if they come up again!)

[Pancakeflipper]

Optibac do a powder probiotic for children. You can add it to Apple juice and cordial.

I would remove all dairy for 2 weeks as it can irritate tender tummies.

I read somewhere the plain ready salted crisps are good cos they are tasty, have fats,carbs and salt. A few of those might interest her appetite.

[dementedpixie]

Nhs says nothing about stopping dairy although you can have a temporary lactose intolerance after a tummy bug. I wouldn't remove it from the diet unless she has a specific reaction to it

[WhatTheActualFugg]

If Saturday was day 5, then today ha day 10. But you said yesterday is day 6. So in a bit confused.

But either way, if a toddler has spent that long not eating and has lost over a 10th of their weight in around a week, I'd be taking them to hospital.

I am not a medical professional. But this sounds pretty serious to me.

Have you spoken to a doctor since she fell ill?

[smaths]

Thanks everyone for all your replies. went for the "just let her eat whatever she will eat" approach for the past few days (i.e. mainly toast and nutella) and thankfully she has not vomited since wednesday (sorry, I got a bit confused with counting the number of days). I did not take her to the docs, but did consult the pharmacist who gave me a vitamin/mineral supplement and I got some optibac probiotic powder thanks Pancakeflipper. Yesterday and today she appears to have finally got her appetite fully back with a vengeance, she's eaten loads including things like fruit and ham that she wouldn't have touched for nearly 2 weeks - hopefully she's finally over it and will start putting on some weight again. phew!

[WhatTheActualFugg]

Glad to hear she's feeling better OP