Rotavirus - what a delight! To feed or not to feed?

[Ewe]

DD has Rotavirus it seems - it has been going around nursery and DP and I haven't got it yet so seems likliest culprit.

So she has had pretty bad diarrhea since Saturday (about 15 nappies during the day) but doesn't seem especially unwell in herself but is clearly uncomfortable. Have continued to offer her food and she has been eating but I am not sure whether or not this is the right thing to do?

She is 11 months so still has 3-4 bottles of milk a day and is drinking at least half of each bottle so not too worried about dehydration, just don't want to make her feel worse.

What do you do when your children have something like this?

generally i just follow my ds lead and bfeed on demand, if he wants solids he can have them - but simple, easy to digest food like rice porridge or fruit. My preference is to avoid solids all together if I'm honest, give the digestion as little work to do as possible, but some people aren't comfortable with that approach.
Standard NHS advice is to avoid dairy products with tummy bugs.
she will be losing fluids and beneficial bacteria with the diarrhoea, so i would invest in an electrolyte replacement drink and give her that regularly, and a good probiotic powder should also help to shorten the bug & replace lost bacteria.
I also find that the homeopathic remedies china and arsenicum are brilliant for shortening the bug and rehydration.
Hope she's better soon ! We had it the other week, it's not pleasant.

Bloody Nora.
My DD had Rotavirus and was in hospital on a drip for three days and very nearly died - so your pseudo jolly OP stopped me in my tracks somewhat.
..

Sorry to hear that pagwatch, my GP said it is relatively harmless providing the child stays hydrated so obviously didn't expect this to upset anyone. Hope your DD is ok now.

puffy, thank you, I have some rehydration sachets so will get her on those, she had a high temp with it at the weekend but hasn't since so I am hoping she is on her way back to full health. Will def avoid dairy and try and stick to plain foods, isn't there an acronym for the foods you are supposed to give when ill? B something?

Will look at probiotic powder too as she gets loads of bugs at nursery.

The consensus now is to let children eat and drink what they want. They can have dairy if they want it. They used to recommend the BRAT diet (Bread, Rice, Applesauce and Toast) but the guidelines have changed and it's not recommended any more.

This tells you a bit more

Thanks Sidge, that is really helpful, will just keep on as I have been. We BLW so if she doesn't want to eat it then she will throw it on the floor won't!

sorry to hear that pagwatch

you could have just....not posted though

I wouldn't give dairy...my DD is generally off it, but because she has D&V I thought I'd give her a frozen yeo valley yogurt. It came up 2 hours later, all curdled.

The BRAT sounds sensible, I'll look at the link.

She did eat her tea after being sick, but has definetly got a very wobbly belly