Vomiting bug - when to worry?

[Jojotodd]

Hi lovelies,

my DD has been vomiting (there’s a tummy bug doing the rounds at school) since 6pm yesterday (Sat). She was vomiting every 30mins from 7pm - 4am and then it’s gone to every 1-2 hours since then. She’s just been sick again which is now over 24 hours. She has been drinking water, has had a biscuit and a tiny bit of toast, and we’ve managed to get a bit of dirolyte into her - but of course she keeps bringing everything up so not sure what benefit.

she does seem ok in that she is talking, watching her tablet, although she is complaining of tummy ache just before being sick and is tired as she had no sleep last night.
Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is, should I ring 111? I’m happy to but don’t know if they can do anything apart from send us to A&E which I don’t think is necessary? Has anyone experienced this frequency/length of a tummy bug? It feels like it will never end

I've had it with two of mine. If you go to A&E after however long you have to wait for they'll get you to do a fluids challenge, which is where you syringe in a small amount of dirolyte every so many minutes (can't remember how many I'm afraid). Only when we failed repeatedly (ie vomited it all back up) was DD put on a drip and admitted. They gave no medication to stop the vomiting, it was just fluids.

Have you tried syringing in small amounts of liquid every 5 minutes or so? I normally start with 5 ml every 5 minutes and then if after an hour they've managed to keep it all down, I up the frequency to every 2 minutes. If your DD can keep that down, I'm not sure going to A&E will gain you anything except a long uncomfortable wait (I'm not medical though!). I went to the GP once when DD was still occasionally vomiting 5 days in, and because she was getting enough fluids in, they weren't concerned, so I think being able to keep food down is much less of a concern.

Thanks @CrabbyCat
How long do they have to keep it down for? DD is keeping water/dirolyte down for an hour but then being sick - it’s so hard to know if she’s digesting much of it - she has done 3 small wees today so that’s good. Good idea on the 5ml x 5 - will try that. How long do they have to keep it down for? Won’t that all just come up again after an hour?
xx

Yep agree with above, they will check if you have done the syringe test. They care about fluids. Other options are ice pops / rocket lollys etc. taste the same coming back up, adds in sugars / electrolytes and they can’t consumer it too fast.

Thanks @Namechange1267 will def try this

Ice pops, and they stringing a little bit of liquid in. Sounds like noro. Good luck!

If it stays down for 20 mins it’s considered
a success 👍
As above poster said it’s only when they can’t keep any down at all that it becomes an admission for fluids issue, and in my experience not after 24 hours, more like 72+ . The fact she is talking and watching tablet is all good. When my
daughter was finally admitted on a drip she was
on day 5 of keeping nothing down and was literally
grey And crawling from couch to bathroom she was so weak ☹️and even then they initially didn’t think she needed admitted.
hope your dd feels better soon xx

Thanks all ☺️ she hasn’t been sick since about 8pm so I’m hoping that will be it - she’s asleep now. I, on the other hand, am awake hoping I’m not next!! 😂😂

Gosh @outragetin that sounds scary - so sorry your little one was so poorly with it xx

My DTs had this at xmas. I agree with syringing diarolyte. We did 5mls every 10 mins.

I've found in the past that sips of diluted apple juice stay down better than plain water. No idea why.

Get well soon

Pinch the skin on the back of your child's hand. If the pinched skin stays raised they are dehydrated, if it goes down then they are OK. (Our GP did this when DS had a bug and said its the quickest way to tell).

@Jojotodd glad your DD is doing better.

I don't think it's a fixed time period before they'll admit for sickness and not keeping fluids down, DD we were in a late night out of hour's GP appointment within 7 ish hours of it starting, but she was only 18 months old and she'd vomited 20 plus times by then - and did a further 3 within the appointment. They sent us next door to A&E. They were reluctant to admit though. I suspect the reluctance is because they really want you in a side room for infection control so finding a bed is even trickier than normal.