To not starve my sick baby?

[jamoncrumpets]

Baby, 6mo, has a gastro virus of some sort. Her last vomit was early this morning. She also did three explosive poos then too.

We took her to the dr who advised nothing but water or dioralyte for 24 hours.

She hasn't been sick or had diarrhoea since and is keeping the dioralyte down, but she's starving. Proper hollering the house down starving.

DH says we need to persevere with the dr's advice but it seems crazy to me to starve her half mad.

AIBU to give her a bottle and be damned the consequences? I really thought that starvation was an outdated concept anyway.

Update: I went downstairs at 3am, made baby up a bottle of formula and then everybody slept until 8.

She was hungry, pure and simple.

Paediatric/neonatal nurse here. I realise I may be late with this advise but I'll go for it anyway.
If she's hungry then feed her her normal milk. She won't take it if she doesn't want to.
Don't ever make formula milk more diluted than it says in the tin. This is terrible advise, don't even do it if the GP or HV tell you to. If you think she needs extra water then give it to her separately in a bottle or sippy cup.
Usually I'd say conitinue to give simple foods as you would an older child but as you have only just started your weaning journey, then lay off foods for couple of days.

Thank you @Wifeofapostie - she seems a bit more comfortable today and has had two small bottles of formula. She smells a bit 'fruity' and ketoney but I think it's probably because she hasn't absorbed many nutrients over the last few days.

Keep an eye on her wees.

If she's not producing her normal number of wet nappies, then she's still dehydrated and could do with extra oral rehydration solution or water in between bottles. Formula may fill her up but, with a reduced appetite from d&v bug, she might not be taking in enough liquid to rehydrate her properly. That's the reasoning behind recommending oral rehydration fluids for babies with d&v - it keeps their fluid intake up better than formula when appetite is low. (Breast milk does fine by itself for rehydration if baby is drinking it - no need for oral rehydration fluids usually).

If she's weeing as normal, then just offer her normal daily quantity of milk - half as much, twice as often.

All the above is NICE guidance in a nutshell. Hope she feels better soon!

I am absolutely gobsmacked that a doctor told you not to feed your child! Especially after vomiting a diarrhea when she needs the fluids most. I’m a nurse and we actively encourage parents to keep offering feeds, even if they’re smaller more often. If they vomit, so what, offer another feed when hungry!

If you think she's still sick get medical advice. Don't just say she smells a a bit ketoney

@jamoncrumpets

I’m glad your baby is improving. I suggested the oatibix as I used it quite early, just very watered down and smooth.

My DS has had lots of tummy bugs over the years unfortunately and it’s much easier to manage when they’re older.

And thank you to the PP who posted the link about temporary lactose intolerance - I knew I hadn’t imagined it.

Have you ever smelt ketones on her before?

One of my twins has Ketotic Hypoglycaemia and we all had norovirus a few weeks ago. It was absolutely horrendous. His appetite was lower, just having BRAT stuff and no milk (they’re 2) but not as much as normal. Two days after he stopped being sick his blood sugars crashed terrifyingly low - fortunately we have his emergency protocol and followed that and we avoided hospital. Both twins also had another bout of vomiting 48 hours after the first ended so do be cautious if you decide to offer solids

If your baby does have high levels of ketones they need plenty of fluids to flush them out and I would mention this to a doctor - there may be an underlying issue as that’s quite fast to be producing enough ketones that you can smell th

I remember one of mine had a tummy bug about this age (well under a year old anyway) and I was told to keep offering formula. In fact the GP said there was no point starving the baby because it wouldn’t have any effect on the bug and all I’d have was a miserable hungry baby as well as a sick one.

Basically I’d offer the baby her usual milk in your situation. Even if she’s a bit sick after she might keep some down and therefore benefit from it.

I was told by a consultant at local hospital to water down formula due to temporary lactose intolerance , wasn't going to ignore her 🤷‍♀️😂 the bug baby had presented as meningitis first so went through lumbar puncture etc before the gastro symptoms came about so needless to say it was pretty bad and I took their advice to the letter 🤷‍♀️ advice will be different everywhere I guess so just follow what you are given from medical staff

Feed the child!

The worst that can happen with feeding is that you see it again rather sooner than expected.