Day 6 of vomiting bug - 4 year old?

[lollilou2]

Just looking for a bit of advice - my 4 year old son started 6 days ago, first complained of a sore tummy. Took him to GP Tuesday as he hadn’t wee’d in over 24 hours and wasn’t perking up, they sent us to A&E who said viral and sent us home after he’d eventually had a wee.

Now we’re on day 6, he is coping with slightly more fluid but still hasn’t ate anything and just looks to gaunt and ill. He seemed to have perked up yesterday, was watching his tablet and tried some dry toast (first thing in days), then started vomiting through the night and looks awful again 😢

anyone else’s child had a bug like this?

No that is going on too long, do you feel yourself that there is something really wrong?

6 days with no food is not good.

You need to go back to the doctor or the hospital TODAY if you think he is still unwell.

Has he still a stomach ache, why is he not eating? Is it that he can’t swallow? Could it be his throat? Tonsillitis?

He still has stomach pains, it’s usually just before he’s sick. He just has no appetite. Doctors in A&E checked his throat and all looked fine.

They need to scan & check his tummy. It could be appendicitis.
I would call NHS 111 first, they will likely say go to A&E
At A&E be sure to tell them how long it has been, all the history. Ask for an abdominal scan
https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/stomach-liver-and-gastrointestinal-tract/vomiting-in-children-and-babies

If he also has a fever, ask for blood tests to check for sepsis/meningitis too

Thank you. He has a fever in the first 48 hours which came down with Calpol. Doctors ruled out appendicitis because his stomach is soft?

Is he keeping liquid down at all? Because I'd be worried about dehydration more than food at this point. Have you tried some of those electrolyte drinks as water alone isn't really enough?

Is he wee'ing at all in between vomiting ?

If he's not drinking and wee'ing very little, I'd be seeking help. He's quite young to go this long without food or drink. You could call 111 in the first instance

We done a liquid challenge at hospital and he managed to keep 20ml down in the 3 hours we were there which they were happy with.

When was this though? Tuesday? That was two days ago, you'd expect to see some improvement in the intervening period. 20 ml down in 3 hours over 1-2 days, fine. Over 3 days... less so.

My daughter had similar when she was 2 years ago - a vomiting bug that lasted over two weeks 😢 it was awful. After the first couple of days she was able to tolerate water (only water plus diorolyte rehydration stuff) but nothing else, even the tiniest sip or bite of anything else would come back up. I was shocked by how disinterested the medical community (both GP and hospital) were - as long as she was hydrated they didn't care. I finally managed to get them to pay attention when I pointed out how much weight she had lost in a short time but prior to that I felt very helpless. Good luck op do keep pushing.

When she was 2 years old that should say. Not 2 years ago. Sorry on the app so can't edit.

@BournvilleEgg thank you, did they do anything once you pointed out the weight loss?

@lollilou2 they admitted her to the ward. Then there was some back and forth about what they were actually going to DO but ultimately what worked was a bit weird: at two she still had quite a lot of milk during the day and they gave her a cup that was one part milk 3 parts water so like water with a small amount of milk in. She was able to tolerate that so she had it again a few hours later and then after than kept slowly increasing the amount of milk in the cup. She was then able to tolerate other foods etc as well. It was like the virus that caused the vomiting had gone but her stomach was still too sensitive to accept anything but water? And this trained it back to normal. Very strange.