What's the procedure when a child can't keep anything down, even fluids?

[headfairy]

dd (just 2) was sick at 11.30 last night, since then she's been sick/dry retching every couple of hours. She can't hold down any water. Do I keep giving her clear fluids in the hope that some stays down? She's completely fine apart from the puking, jolly even! At what point do I get worried about her lack of fluid intake?

How much is she drinking? Have you tried giving her just 5ml every 20 minutes to see if that will stay down?

I must admit I haven't been measuring it, after he was sick the fourth time last night I stopped giving her anything to give her tummy a rest. She's just had an ounce of water and it came back up ten mins later. But now she's asking for a banana!!

Well she's just had a mouthful of banana so fingers crossed! It's so hard to judge because she's obviously hungry and thirsty! But so far she's chucked everything up.

could you try ice lollies for her to suck?

watch out for lethargy/dehyration - small children can suddenly deteriorate very quickly. If so, you will need to get to GP/hospital for an IV drip

When ds1 was 3 he had a night of vomiting like that, even water was coming straight back up. By morning dh and I were worried so dh took him to gp (got emergency Sat morning appt), gp sent dh straight to hospital and ds was there on a drip for a couple of days. They had to put the needle for the drip in his foot because they couldn't find a vein in his arms. Poor ds1 I was stuck at home bfing ds2 who was only a couple of weeks old. Anyway....point is, children can become dehydrated very quickly, and I would always consult gp if you're at all concerned. Ds1 made full recovery, and doesn't even remember really - he's 14 now!

Thanks everyone, I will keep a close eye on her. Poor thing has only had about 6 hours sleep as opposed to her more usual 12-13 hours, so lethargy is going to be a giv.en today anyway. Hard to tell if it's related to dehydration or not. Nappies are a good sign I guess. She's held down that mouthful of banana, but she's jus done a very runny poo so not out of the woods yet.

DD has just had this, it passed after 24 for hours (the vomiting at least). Now DC2 has it - it was only a matter of time really

hmmm, I stop the water when they are like this, and just give ice cubes if they are desperate. (I find that bugs tend to pass quite swiftly this way)

I wouldn't do this, obviously, with a baby or if there were any signs of dehydration

If you have any rehydration sachets, you can try small sips of that periodically. They have various salts and stuff to help rehydrate more quickly than just water when you are at risk of dehydration and I have found they sometimes stay down more than plain water, but v small sips every 10 mins or so. Hit and miss at that age whether she'll like them enough to persist though.

If you're at all worried, get her seen, she's too young to risk waiting a few hours, they really can deteriorate fast.

thanks for the advice everyone. she's had some dry toast, a couple of nibbles on a cracker and some more water, and she hasn't been sick any more, so I think we're over the worst now. Just hope ds doesn't get it now

I find squash or ribena sipped very slowly works, very slowly though. But the sugar helps get them back to normal. Or flat coke works.

Sorry, just realised she's only 2, so no ribena or coke, maybe fruit squash. The fact she wanted a banana is a good sign.

Hi there,

My DD started being sick on Wednesday at 6pm. She was also bringing up everything including water. She stopped being sick at about 3am yesterday morning. She then ate and drank normally. Then randomly she was violently sick again last night at about 11pm. Not been sick again since but now has the runs...

Unfortunately I'm not holding my breath though because she has just insisted on having some Apple juice... she did eat a dry cracker and toast before it but still...

We have rehydration ice pops in Australia available from the chemist which are really good, for kids & adults! Maybe you could freeze rehydration drinks in ice cubes if you can't find the ice pops themselves.