12 month old being sick for 2 weeks

[ItsClemFandangoCanYouHearMe]

Ok not an AIBU but posting for traffic, sorry!

My 12 month old has been being sick for 2 weeks now. Visited the doctor on day 5 who said if it continues up til Friday go hospital and gave antibiotics and rehydration sachets.

Friday comes, go hospital as still being sick and told gastroenteritis and sent on our way.

He didn't throw up from Friday until today and he's done it again now and sent home from school. Work extended my probation when he got sick earlier this year and I had to take time off and it's due tomorrow and guess what, I have to go off as DH took all last week off with him .

I'm worried about my son, why is he being sick?! Ive moved him to soy milk as he has bad eczema as well so considered CMPA but that was a long shot and it hasn't stopped it.

I'm going to lose my job if I'm off again and I don't know what to do! The doctors don't seem to think it's an issue but it obviously is. He lost his appetite and now that's come back is when he's started again. Anyone have any ideas / advice?

School?

Sorry. Pressed send too soon. Is he 12 months or is he at school?
If he’s 12months I’d push the doctors more, a lot. Tell them it’s unacceptable.
If he’s school age buy him some rehydration sachets from Asda and keep ringing 111, I’d push this.

My now 10 year old spent about 2 years puking weekly, turns out he’s got massive tonsils that are affecting his gag reflex and will need them removed. My friends daughter was being sick daily for a year and she had to push and push... found out she’s coeliac

Poor sod. Sounds like he's caught a second bug. They're forever catching stuff at this age. And sick bugs go round nursery like wildfire.

Sorry I say school, he's at nursery.

He's just been sick everywhere again. He only had some milk about 3 minutes before. To look at now he's quite chipper. He's been hysterical a lot of the time before.

Sorry sent that quick, I say school out of habit as it's pre school. He only turned one at the start of the month

Is he unwell with it (fevers etc.) or just being sick?

To be honest if it is dairy allergy (which sounds like a distinct possibility given the eczema), he's probably going to react to soy as well. The two are very similar proteins.

My ds was diagnosed as allergic to cow's milk (and egg) but could tolerate soya. ...until he was about 11 months and then suddenly couldn't. Then about 6 months later he started reacting to wheat as well. Oh that was fun! Reassuringly he's grown out of all of those allergies now at 3yo.

If he's seeming ill with it as well though I'd be more concerned I think. How's his wee output? Be really vigilant to signs of dehydration and see someone if you're at all worried about that side of things.

If it turns out to be allergies we found our HV to actually be far better placed to make the hospital referral. Do you have one you could contact?

Hmmm... really could be allergies, assuming he's not otherwise unwell then.

When you cut out dairy did you cut it out of everything? Or just replace cow's milk with soya milk?

BTW even if it is allergies you do need to get the attention of a GP or HV. Like I say, HV turned out to be better for us.

I put him on that as a chance because it said it had no cows milk protein. Argh. I can't get a drs appointment so did it without asking.

He has no fever, his nappy's have been hit and miss over the last week but seem ok at the moment.

I just don't know what to give him! Everything we tried made him more ill

Be wary of self diagnosing allergies, you can muddy the water by changing diet. The most important questions are

1. Is he ill
2. is he urinating

3 What are his stools like]

1. Is he thriving or losing weight

If all those questions are positive you do not have an emergency situation but a problem to be sorted. Children who are truly milk allergic will often be allergic to soya. At one year old he should be weaned totally so what ever milk he has can be stopped and all needs got from food. See your health visitor

He may just be unlucky and catch everything going. The number of parents that used to send their dc to nursery when my ds was there, obviously ill, but had to be in work and had no other support. I think it was when ds was around 18 months, it was over the Christmas period, and we had 4 weeks of sickness. It would stop and two days later start again. The nursery put it down to all the sick children they had coming in, and then struggling to get the parents to pick them straight up.

I will contact he HV as well. I moved house out of the area so need to look into that.

I have cut out other things but to be honest it's been a haze of no sleep and work so I haven't looked into is as much as I probably should have. Especially since I haven't spoken with a doctor yet.

The eczema is horrendous, like face weeping every day horrendous and we've tried everything but nothing clears it. I'm so surprised the doctor never mentioned allergies and it only dawned on me the other day but I didn't think it could be likely as we've had no problems the last year

Make sure he’s getting plenty of water, and if he won’t take water alone, add a tiny amount of juice. I found ds could keep that down better than milk.

My DS did this for a while around 12mo and was diagnosed with late onset reflux. He never had it as a baby so it never occurred to me! They couldn't do anything, so we just had to wait it out until he grew out of throwing up every meal! He also had pretty bad eczema, but that was completely unrelated. Luckily we had a very understanding childminder who would keep taking him unless he had other symptoms!

I just don't know what to give him! Everything we tried made him more ill

Whether or not it turns out to be allergies I do know how you feel. I was in complete despair at times as I felt I had no clue what I was supposed to do to stop the vomiting! It was relentless, I was dared not leave the house with him.

The main thing for now is to keep him hydrated, so use the sachets and keep an eye on nappies. Do you have a drop-in session at a local children's centre for example? Or an HV you can call? They should at least be able to advise you on cutting out dairy, and I imagine that's what they'll do as it basically can't do any harm in the short term.

Ugh, what a nightmare, I really do feel for you. Do you have a walk-in centre you can visit over the weekend? If you can at least get a GP to rule out illness (assuming it isn't an illness) I should think he'd be able to be at nursery; my ds was excused the whole "48 hours after sickness" rule on account of it clearly not being a case of a bug.

It sounds like an allergy to me actually! My little lass had a dairy allergy and the lack of diarrhoea made it go unnoticed until 11 months. They just said it was reflux until then!

It could be lactose intolerance. That tends to kick in at or soon after weaning, as it's a programmed genetic 'drying up' of the enzyme that digests this particular sugar. (Although it can happen later - a friend of DD's was diagnosed with it in her late teens after very similar symptoms to your DS). Interestingly, being lactose intolerant is actually more the norm worldwide, as the ability to digest milk beyond infancy is a largely Northern European genetic quirk.

Or failing that, is there a possibility of reflux? Either way I would push hard for tests and not let HCPs fob you off.

Thank you all for your wonderful advice and taking the time to answer me. I'm really grateful!

I think I'm leaning towards allergy too. When he finally settles I'll re read though and go armed to the gp to get this investigated

Just an update. Doctor again said gastro so my DH and I hashed our a few ideas and tried DS on infant gaviscon. The sickness has stopped 🤞 and he's not screaming anymore.

I'm going to try this for a week and go back to the doctors I think.

How is he on solids? With lots of water

At a year it's not the end of the world if he doesn't have milk.

He's pretty good with food but really only settles at night with milk.

I spoke too soon by the way, he was really sick at dinner. I'm so worried and the Dr won't take it seriously!

When ds was little, whenever he was unwell, he always got reflux symptoms after, and needed infsnt gaviscon to re-set his system.

I don’t have any ideas what could be causing his sickness, it’s probably a secondary bug but if he’s so rife with it I’m surprised you/DH haven’t had any symptoms.

In terms of work, the Situation does suck but it is what it is and unfortunately it’s a chance we take when we have kids. We have to put them first, which is fair, but employers don’t have to be understanding beyond reason. End of the day they’re a business and need someone who will reliably be there.

Which doesn’t help you and I get that. If you’re on probation then DH might just have to take some more time off but there’s no point getting stressed out in a ‘DH can’t be off - I’ll lose my job if I’m off’ circle A’s ultimately someone is going to have to be off!

No suggestion on the health issue but just to add that you do have a right to take a reasonable amount of time off to deal with an emergency situation involving a dependant. So it would be automatically unfair to dismiss you for a day or two take when your child is ill even it it happens quite a bit. As long as you look at alternatives such as sharing that with the dad (which you are doing) then there is a level of protection. Doesn't allow you to be off for 2 weeks straight but certainly a few days if required.