DD 11 months - throat infection and won't drink/eat

[Digitallife27]

My DD caught some form of tonsillitis from her half sister and now she's got extreme high temp, inflamed tonsils and major loss of appetite. Normally she'd have three good meals and 510ml milk during the day with a few snacks.

We had to go see the OOH gp last night as her temp peaked at 40 degrees and wasn't going down.

She only took 180ml milk all day yesterday (normally takes 510ml), now this morning she only took 25ml. Trying to get calpol and nurofen in her is a battle as well.

How do we go about getting fluids in her?! We tried force feeding it but it was traumatising for her and she ended up playing quite intensely with her toys trying to escape mum and dad.

Isn't 510ml of milk a massive amount for an 11 month old?
Have you tried ice lolly's or frozen fruit in one of those wee net bags that they can suck on?

I don't wish to alarm you but babies can become dehydrated quite quickly. Is she weeping okay? Wet nappies?

Have you tried an ice lolly?

Either water or juice on a teaspoon/in a syringe every 5-10 minutes.

Milk is thicker and hurts to swallow, so just push fluids which aren’t thick. I’m just over tonsillitis and it hurt like hell.

Ice lollies too help, and help to prevent dehydration.

She has the recommended amount of milk for her age from what I've been advised. 150ml - am, 150ml - pm and 210ml bedtime.

She's crying (with tears), wet mouth. She's looking tired today but we had a late night trip to the doctors so that was 2 hours out of her bedtime sleep.

We've tried ice lollies yesterday but she only sucked on it a few times and lost interest. Whenever we try a syringe, normal drinking cup, her cups etc she stubbornly pouts and turns away.

Typical that this has happened before a big heatwave in our area!!

Frozen frubes? Or ice cream?

Tonsillitis is horrible, my DS really suffers when he has it

If she's not taking anything, force her to have some water through a syringe (I know you've said you tried but with my son we had to hold him down and then after a few syringe fulls he started to enjoy it)

This is what we were advised to do when he had bad hand foot and mouth and got dehydrated

PS it is traumatic, but better than dehydration!

And yes to forcing it with a syringe if necessary. It’s not pleasant, but dehydration in a small child comes on bloody quickly and can be very dangerous.

DS1 got it as a baby as a result of a sickness bug and it was terrifying how quickly he deteriorated (literally half an hour from awake to unresponsive and floppy). Thankfully all was well in the end, but it was they who told me about syringing.

There’s a chart where you can find the right amount of fluid for their weight to avoid dehydration, and split it into manageable sized portions. It really is a literal lifesaver.

Yes I would go with a syringe if she won't accept anything else. If you can't get any fluids into her, then she may have to have an NG tube - which is what happened to one of my babies and it's a lot more horrible having one of those fitted and being stuck in a hospital bed.

Thanks everyone. I'll look for the chart and get on the forcing her to drink via syringe. It was awful yesterday, she started to gag like drowning. :(

We do have some rehydration sachets if needed after she caught a vomiting bug from her half sis. (8 hours vomiting every 20 minutes- awful).

A few less wet nappies but she's still producing normal poop so it's making me wonder what she's pooping out!!

For every kg up to 10kg = 100ml/kg/day
For every kg between 10 and 20kg  = 50ml/kg/day
For every kg over 20kg = 20ml/kg/day
Divide total by 24 to give rate in ml per hour

This is the chart they gave us for DS1 I’m sure.

use a spoon or syringe and every 10 minutes spoon a spoon of liquid into her mouth. Just a bitt at a time, trickled into the side of her mouth.
One spoon doesn't require much to swallow, it can even be absorbed by her mouth.
trickle, trickle trickle, all day long. Any fluid, don't worry for a few days about food, she will be fine for a couple of days as long as she gets fluids.
(although, if the fluid was milk, then she would be getting something)

Keep track of how much she is drinking, so measure out some in a measuring jug and use that.

Everyone always suggests ice lollies. None of mine would eat those when ill, to sweet, too sickly, too much effort, and they didn't like the cold. I have found that the trickle is most effective when done with room temp fluids as they don't notice them going in

If you cannot get enough fluids in, she will need to go in and get a drip.
Do not underestimate how quickly they can dehydrate

and don't worry about feeding charts at the moment, this is different, she just needs fluids to tide her over for a day or two until she can eat properly again

It’s fluid charts OP is talking about.

Difflam spray ... it’s amazing really soothes their throat when they have an infection

Good luck with it - I really feel for you all. Hope she starts to feel better v soon

Definitely syringe every 5-10 mins. Will also help stop her throat ‘drying out’ - that horrible feeling when you have tonsillitis and haven’t swallowed anything for a while and then it hurts like hell.

Hope she’s better soon.

I tried to get difflam spray but the pharmacist couldn't sell it to me due to my DD's age.

Thanks everyone. coulsnt even tempt her with a syringe of banana milk 😟

Difflam website says it’s for all ages though?

Milk is too thick to swallow when your throat hurts, clear fluids are best.

Really? I’d try a different pharmacy, we had it at 8months. Or phone ooh say what is happening and I’m sure they won’t have a problem writing a prescription for it. Worse case if she’s still not drinking you will have to go to a&e and they will definitley give it to her there along with IV fluids.

Yeah it's strange...I had the same issue when I was buying rehydration sachets but then showed them the bottle of made up fluid the hospital gave me.

Just to update, she's managed 385ml today which is about 205ml more than yesterday and ate a tiny tiny bit of food (because she saw me eating and nicked some). Temp was fine during the day but is higher now it's bedtime...hopefully the half calpol dosage (she spat the rest out on my other half) will help.

That’s a decent amount she’s managed OP, hopefully she’s over the worst now.

Does she have antibiotics?

Yes we have antibiotics ready if she needs it. That's in the fridge. Doc said try and let her immune system and time to work because of the potential side effects of anti biotics etc

Nearly 9am and she's still sleeping...not sure whether to wake her or not. Still breathing etc

She woke up just after 9am and was happily chatting to her teddies in her cot. Guess she really needed a good sleep (6.30pm - 9am)! She even gave us our first lie in. Haha.

She's a lot better today. Thanks for all the advice. She took 7oz this morning and ate some crackers x

Great news, sounds like she’s on the mend. Must be a huge relief for you OP!