Please please help - FTM and daughter is ill

[Bbbbbbbbear]

I'm a first time mum and my baby who is now 15 months is unwell. I really need some advice on caring for her as I can't get a GP appt till Monday and my own mother is not around to ask.

Since Monday DD has had cold symptoms, a high temperature and fever (gone down now) and 2 episodes of vomiting. She also had diarrhea.

Questions:
Can I give her milk or do I just avoid milk 100%? If avoid, when can I start?

What do I feed her? So far I tried dry toast. Is anything else appropriate?

Do I just let her sleep as long as possible in the day?

Apart from calpol and tlc what else can I do?

Thank you!

Phone 111 and ask for advice.

Ice lollies to keep her hydrated? Or other high liquid foods like watermelon, cucumber? Not sure why you wouldn’t give her milk - she needs to drink to rehydrate.

Stopping milk is really, really old fashioned advice. Let her have whatever she wants.

Second phoning 111 as well.

You could try your health visitor or try calling 111 if you need medical advice but can't see GP.

If symptoms of covid then ideally get a PCR test but this will be stressful for you to administer so you may want to just isloate for 10days anyway to be safe.

To care for your DC keep them hydrated as much as possible, milk, water, weak fruit juice, squash are all fine. Milk if they will take it because of the nutrients. They may well be sick again but keep offering fluids regularly. Little and often is best.

Same for foods. Simple plain foods that are easy to digest and you can have little and often. Try cereal or porridge, banana, apple, toast, mashed or baked potato, baked beans, cooked carrots. Most children lose their appetite for quite a few days when they are ill so just keep trying little and often to keep their energy up.

If things get worse get medical advice. My GP told me most children with bad colds/viral infections peak around day 5 or 6 and you know after this if they are getting better or worse to see medical help. Any breathing issues etc should be seen right away

Thank you. I read online that milk fat caused the vomiting - to answer the pp.

I have managed to get an emergency dr appointment on the phone tonight thankfully.

Good to know which foods are ok.

Oh sorry - is it okay to let her sleep whenever? She's currently asleep and has been for 2 hours.

Be careful what you read online @Bbbbbbbbear, I'd try abs stick to evidence based sites or just the NHS over things like this.

Let her sleep, your body fights illness while you sleep. Honestly in the main babies are no different to anybody else. If you were ill you would still try to drink to keep hydrated and sleep to get better it is the same for her.

Oh sorry - is it okay to let her sleep whenever? She's currently asleep and has been for 2 hours

Usually yes but if she's being showing any signs of dehydrationn* I'd wake her and give her another drink

Thank you, yes of course. That's why I thought I'd ask here as I know mums will know better than Google. Got a Dr appointment tonight now.

Should I wake her up? It's 4.40pm and she's napped for 2hrs. I've checked and she's breathing fine.

Cross posted - ok thank you!!

If her temperature is down and she's breathing fine I wouldn't wake her personally.

With sleep one of mine always slept like a log when ill. The other I'd be following them round with the sick bucket as they wouldn't rest.

If more sleepy than usual I would just keep a v close eye and wake them every so often to make sure they are OK. Your local pharmacy can be useful if you are not able to get a GP appointment.

My 16 month old has just recovered from a horrendous cold, tonsillitis and D&V bug. He couldn't sleep because of a constantly running nose which ran down his throat when lying down and couldn't eat because of his inflamed tonsils. It lasted a week and was hell, for all of us!

If your daughter wants to sleep then let her, she needs rest. Def don't stop milk, fluids are far more gentle on her stomach than any food and provides much needed calories x

Ok thank you. I think I got confused because I'm not breast feeding, so it's cows milk which I thought was less soothing than breast milk.

Mine lived in the USA at that age and the standard advice was the BRAT diet. - bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. Avoid dairy, give frequent drinks of dioralyte and offer ice pops too. If you can't source rehydration drink (not as common in U.K.) squash with sugar in it rather than sweetener and plain crackers is a decent substitute. If they aren't able to take liquids seek urgent medical advice

@gogohm

Mine lived in the USA at that age and the standard advice was the BRAT diet. - bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. Avoid dairy, give frequent drinks of dioralyte and offer ice pops too. If you can't source rehydration drink (not as common in U.K.) squash with sugar in it rather than sweetener and plain crackers is a decent substitute. If they aren't able to take liquids seek urgent medical advice

Oh but PP's said that it's outdated advice not to give milk? I'm confused now!

Milk is more hydrating than water OP.

Basically, let her eat and drink her normal diet as much as she wants, and that includes milk. Sleeping whilst poorly is healing. Think about when you're ill, you eat and drink the bits you fancy and sleep when you need to.

I think with the milk it’s just trial and error. My dd has never been able to keep milk down when she was ill, it just made everything worse! So long as they’re drinking something it doesn’t really matter what it is.

Oh but PP's said that it's outdated advice not to give milk? I'm confused now! just follow the NHS advicee* OP.

Let her eat and drink what she is most likely to have. It's just important to keep them as hydrated as possible, you don't need to worry about what it is that you're giving her.

Speak to the doctor and if she's happily sleeping let her sleep.