Dehydrated daughter

[Mumma1822]

Sorry for the long one I don’t want to drip feed :)
DD 17m has been unwell for the past 5 days with some sort of viral infection her temperature finally broke yesterday morning but she’s still poorly and refusing most fluid. She usually only drinks milk and water but has been refusing water completely and is drinking maybe 200ml of milk throughout the day. We have tried milkshake, squash, fruit juice (diluted and undiluted) ice lollies and yoghurt but DD is probably having 400ml max total fluid a day. We are at our wits end today I’ve got some jelly setting in the fridge and I’m hoping she will eat some. She’s had about 150ml of milk so far and a couple sips of juice :/ she has had a couple of sips of my lucozade sport orange by accident and wanted more when I took it away but very hesitant to let her have anymore. Any advice would be much appreciated and AIBU to think she shouldn’t have any more lucozade DH thinks I should let her

@IsThisOneAvailable Yes I ordered the lucozade with some bits for tea too on Deliveroo and had to show ID at the door for the lucozade

Lucozade themselves say it's not harmful for children. It's on their FAQ's.

From the lucozade website:

This is not to say that Lucozade Sport would be harmful in any way, it is just not designed for use by children. Water is adequate for children during exercise or otherwise.

it’s not harmful. It’s not going to land a child in a&e.

do your own fact checking.

Not when they're dehydrated due to illness and irs the only fluid they've shown interest in - that sugar is something they need.

It's not the sugar

The other elements - the salts /minerals could cause a body to fail if overloaded

Get a sugary drink not an adult sports drink

Yes this. But god forbid the baby has sugar

Do people who post this kind of stuff want their kid to be admitted to hospital? Because that's the reality of the situation if she doesn't drink.

No doubt you'll be posting about how sad you feel that she has a cannula in if she does get admitted.

Thank you everyone for the helpful/ nice comments I’ve emptied a bottle of lucozade into a cup for DH and put some tropical juice and water in the bottle and she’s drank more than she would have done if it was just juice in her usual water cups/ bottles.

Not exactly likely to be overloaded if they're dehydrated, are they, though?

Except Lucozade themselves say it's not harmful. It's on their website if you look it up.

And @Runningbird43 I read this myself thanks.

That definitely does NOT say it's OK for children, nor does it say it's definitely NOT harmful. In fact the sentence before your snippet actually states its not really suitable for children. And prior to that says:

Lucozade Sport is designed for adults who take part in exercise or sport. It contains carbohydrate (i.e. sugars) and electrolytes (i.e. sodium) at levels appropriate for an exercising adult

As an experienced paediatric nurse, I would not give my small toddler lucozade sport. I'd do as previously said by multiple posters and give a full sugar drink instead.

@Treesarenotgreene clearly you can’t read as this has never been about the sugar. I couldn’t give a monkeys about it. I was worried the sweetener in it would give her the sh*ts and dehydrate her more or that some other ingredient in there would harm a 1 year old. Obviously I don’t want her in hospital hence asking for advice not abuse. God knows how I’ve managed to raise 3 children without your help.

@IsThisOneAvailable if it was harmful for children then it would say so, just like it does under the FAQ for Lucozade Alert.

This product is marketed only to adults. It is not recommended for children to drink due to its high caffeine content.

Nobody is saying it's the ideal drink for a toddler, just that it's much better than her drinking nothing.

I appreciate that, but it doesn't say it isn't harmful. Just that it probably won't do any harm.

That for me, is not good enough. Coupled with them stating its not really designed for children...

"Here, give this drink (that isn't designed for children, and its sale is widely restricted to over 16s) to your child, it probably won't do any harm"

I wouldn't risk it, would you?

If the alternative was my child ending up in hospital on drip because they were refusing all other liquids then yes, I absolutely would @IsThisOneAvailable.

@IsThisOneAvailable thank you, your comments have been very helpful xx

@fieldsofbutterflies but until recently, OP hadn't tried putting juice in the lucozade bottle and trying that.

And that worked. And that is infinitely more preferable to something that probably won't do any harm

Yes, I know. I wasn't saying otherwise

You asked if I'd risk giving my child Lucozade Sport and I said yes, I would if that's all I could get them to drink.

Mumsnetters can be so brutal, especially on AIBU. Just wanted to let you know you’re not a bad parent for worrying about your DD have lucozade. It is typically a drink for older teens / adults so you’re right to be hesitant. Yes a little bit isn’t going to hurt but yes they do ask for ID when you purchase so naturally you’d worry.

Glad little one has had some tropical drink x

Put some squash in the lucozade bottle and say no but then give in and she'll bump it down.

Honestly I don't think 400ml a day is too bad, but then I did have a DD who often refused to drink!!

I hope your little one is better soon. Glad she's had some tropical juice.

If she's still having wet nappies, albeit fewer, and you're following the medical advice (think you said if she doesn't wet a nappy in twelve hours then see a doctor?)... it sounds like she is 'ok'.

I used to distract mine with kids' TV (even at a very young age if necessary) and try and get some sips in while they were distracted!

How much is she peeing? If she is not wetting more than a nappy a day I would take her to A and E.

@Mumma1822 ice cream, ice lollies, cucumber, water melon any or all of those are also good.

When my similarly aged daughter was refusing drinks I got some into her using a calpol syringe. It also helped me keep track of how much she was drinking. I’m glad your girl has managed a drink, and I absolutely would have had the same thoughts about lucozade as you at that age. I tend to have a fairly strong digestive reaction to even small quantities of sweeteners and if my child was ill and hadn’t had them before I would have been worried about giving her them for the first time under those circumstances.