When do I worry about dehydration (sickness bug)

[Crouchingdragonhiddentiger]

My 6 year old started throwing up this morning around 10:30am.
Since then he’s thrown up multiple times and I’ve lost count.
I am assuming it’s a bug. He looks very pale and he’s incredibly lethargic too.
He had a wee first thing this morning before the vomiting started and another around 11am.
Since then he’s thrown up everything we’ve given him (sips of water and even an ice lolly).

I know he’s only had these symptoms for around 5 hours , but I’ve never known him to be unable to keep down anything before, normally ice lollies stay down.

I do tend to panic in these situations and always think of the worst case scenario.

It’s only been 4 hours since he last had a week, it’s not abnormal to go that long without weeing anyway! Keep getting him to sip bits of drinks, even if it comes up tiny bits will get absorbed. Chances are he will start keeping down tiny bits by morning. I hope he feels better soon OP

Keep up with the sips of water and ride it out.

You can buy children’s rehydration salts from the pharmacy so that might help if you are worried xx They are strawberry (ish) flavour. Hope he feels better soon x

My youngest once had a bug where he threw up every 20 minutes for about 12 hours. He was around 3 at the time. It was unpleasant for him but he was fine. Once the vomiting stops, start getting him rehydrated; mine never like plain water if they’re ill and tend to favour a salty snack and sugary drink to sip.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diarrhoea-and-vomiting/

I would try offering him 5 ml of rehydration solution every 5 mins and then if he still vomitting every time I would ring 111.

I’ve ordered some re-hydration sachets on Amazon but they won’t be here until tomorrow.

That works out well cos there’s no point today, but you can help him rehydrate tomorrow once he’s recovering

He says his skin feels sore and keeps crying saying his tummy hurts. So I’m assuming that’s the bug - giving him aches & pains too.

Urgent care told me diluted apple juice basically did the same thing as dioralyte so I was told to give 5ml of that every 5 mins with a syringe when my six year old had a vom bug. Any fever? I’d probably see someone if past 10-12 hours no wee at that age.

@Blueoak
His temp is 37.1. I’ve just given Calpol , he keeps crying saying he hurts but can’t say where. I think it’s his tummy as he said it was earlier and like I said in a post further up, said his skin feels sore. I’ve had similar sensitive feeling skin when I get ill.

Sounds like you have it under control. UC also advised calpol if you can get it down so good shout. Good luck!

So far he’s kept the Calpol and two 5ml syringes of water down.

Still no urine output - but hopefully by this evening.

He’s just had a wee - was a reasonable amount but quite dark colour. He’s just been sick again too - seems like it’s just fluid coming back up, so not sure what to do, I guess just let it ride out.

At least he has had a wee, just keep going with some fluids.

He’s also had a little sleep.

You can go to a pharamcy now and get rehydration sachets or ask people you know if they have a few you can have.

Encourage drinking but don't panic. These things are awful but usually quite shortlived. I recommend ice lollies for getting fluids in them slowly and steadily.

I wouldn't be worried at all at this stage, though I know how utterly horrendous your child will be feeling. Stomach bugs are awful.

He keeps saying his hungry but he’s still throwing up even water.
I don’t know what to do - he’s crying saying he’s really hungry.
NHS advice says to eat if you want to,

Something bland and small? Bread stick, rich tea biscuit, half a piece of dry toast

Aww hope he is better soon. Agree with the above, i would try him with something like dry toast , breadstick or plain biscuit. Get some rehydration sachets tomorrow, offer another ice lolly. Most stomach bugs are normally short lived for kids, so hopefully it will ease off by tomorrow.

He’s just had some dry toast about 10 mins ago but unfortunately has thrown it back up. So not sure his stomach is ready yet.
He’s not having any diarrhoea though (yet).

I really hope he’s better tomorrow , it started around 10:30am, so it’s been about 8 hours of vomiting every hour or more.

I tend to not offer food when they’re vomiting to that extent and concentrate on fluid intake. When my toddler had suspected sepsis and wouldn’t eat or drink hospital said they wouldn’t worry about food intake for up to a couple of weeks in an otherwise healthy child. Fluids was their primary concern so if he’s vomiting still, I’d park the eating as you don’t want to lose water intake unnecessarily.

@Blueoak
Would you stick with plain water or something like flat lemonade ? I don’t have any rehydration sachets atm