Norovirus in already underweight baby :(

[WorzselMummage]

My little Boy is 14 months old and has had Noro for a week almost, he's got chronic diarreah and is wasting away in front of my face

We've all had it too but it was just a 24 hour thing for the rest of us. Poor George is really suffering.

I'm giving him Dioralyte and the Drs have told me not to give him dairy but he needs the fat. We've been battling with his weight for the last year. He was only 16lb before this, it really is the last thing we need.

Any non dairy fatty gems ?? any skinny baby with the shits anecdotes ??

I really am fed up of shitty nappies.

"It is recommended that breastfed infants continue to be nursed on demand and that formula-fed infants should continue their usual formula immediately after rehydration with oral rehydration solutions. Lactose-free or lactose-reduced formulas usually are not necessary.[20] Children receiving semisolid or solid foods should continue to receive their usual diet during episodes of diarrhea. Foods high in simple sugars should be avoided because the osmotic load might worsen diarrhea; therefore, soft drinks, juice, and other high simple sugar foods should be avoided.[20] The practice of withholding food is not recommended and immediate normal feeding is encouraged.[21] The BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast and tea) is no longer recommended, as it contains insufficient nutrients and has no benefit over normal feeding.[22]"

This is from wikipedia. I did a search because I was under the impression that the no-dairy diet for stomach upsets was outdated.

My GP said No dairy yesterday but it normally makes up such a huge part of his diet im completly lost as to what to feed him. I've been tring to feed my as often as possible but he's not interested mot of the time.

Im still breastfeeding though so at least thats one good thing.

Thanks Pooka

Once the acute V&D stop, try pro-biotic drinks. I found with DS1 that this sorted out his residual horrible nappies after a long lasting tummy bug.

BF is great. For solids, let him nibble on digestive/rich tea biscuits for a few extra calories (not strictly dairy free though). Cereal without milk is another good one (eg cheerios). The thing with the BRAT diet is that it tends to be quite low in calories, and your little boy needs plenty of nourishment.

good luck - you have my sympathy. It's awful when they are ill

Is hard to think of things that will maintain weight that are dairy free. I think if I were you, I would try and breast feed as often as possible with a view to getting essential calories into him and as acebaby said, supplement with digestives/dried cereal and toast and so on. Have forgotten guidelines, but is he allowed nuts yet? If he is, how about peanut butter on toast/spread on biscuits and so on. That's pretty fatty.

Poor you and him - rotten luck. Hope you're all better soon.

my sympathies to you, it sounds awful and so worrying for you. just wanted to suggest houmus and avocado as 2 dairy free but quite fattening (yet extremely nutritious) foods. both are rather rich however but may at least be a good option for bulking up when he is a bit better. i used to mash avocado with banana for my super skinny, cows milk intolerant ds1 when he was younger and although it turned my stomach he loved it. good luck.

I just wanted to give you a crumb of comfort. My dd had amoebic dysentry a couple of times , the first time she was around 7 months old and lost half her body weight overnight. She has always been on the lean side but she looked close to deaths door. Her doctor gave me a recipe for soup. It is essentially just chicken breasts and rice boiled with carrots and pureed. Not very calorific but does have some nutritional value. She put the weight back on again within about 10 days so chin up.

SIL whose a GP had an underweight baby and she advocated adding olive oil to whatever food they were eating - good fats and calorific.

Would that help at all do you think?

There are some really good ideas on here, espcially the avocado and the hummous, i will try those definatly.

Kreecher, that must have been terrifying for you. Its awful when they are skinny, the look so ill

I put olive oil in everything ready. Mayber i'll double dose him

My dd had norovirus when just 1 and dairy can upset the tummy even more (she ended up being dairy free for 4 months) was a problem putting weight on but dietician just told me to feed them anything high fat and to add a spoon on olive oil to food if would mix in or another form of fat ie lactose free cheese etc. It worked and with patience she is now a perfect weight!