Please help my daughter is so sick.

[Sunshine4you]

Please help. My daughter has coronavirus and she is desperately Ill with diahrrea, vomiting, fever..mm she has barely ate in the last two days and is drinking but little.

I've never seen her so I'll and I'm so worried. The doctor said it's normal as a lot of kids get sick in their stomachs with Covid and to just keep offering her water and making her eat a little of fruit etc even if she doesn't keep it down....

She's 7 for context.

Have you called 111?

Yes, we have been told by the doctor's it's normal and that as it's only been two days we are getting through the worst of it. Her fever seems to have calmed down today but she's barely eating or drinking and she was already a skinny child to begin with (just the way she's built).

I must say I would not offer fruit to anyone with d&v. Fruit is an irritant and so is fruit juice.

If you have some proper full sugar, clear lemonade, that would be far better.

It doesn't matter so much if she doesn't eat, the main thing is keeping her fluids up.

One thing you could try is getting some rehydration salts and using a calpol syringe to give her 5ml every 5/10 minutes. Little and often.

I find yoghurt good when ill. It coats the stomach. Plain toast to. Anything plain. Rehydration sachets to xxx

Flat lemonade and a pinch of salt can help. A Portuguese doctor told me this years ago and I always did this when dcs were little I hope dd recovers quickly.

Forget food for now, just get water and painkillers down her.
Check she is weeing.

If you don't have rehydration salts then flat lemonade/squash/diluted apple juice will do. Better than plain water as has sugars etc.

Yes to plain toast if she can actually eat something, or even toast with a thin smear of honey, no butter. No dairy and definitely no fruit.

There's lots of stomach bugs going round too. So she could have that on top of covid. I had a stomach bug this weekend and I'm still in bed with it.

I agree the fluid is key. You can manage way longer without food than water. How long has she had d&v for? Is she still weeing?

Offer frequent sips of water rather than big drinks, big drinks makes them vomit.
Keeping water and painkillers down is the big thing.
When she’s tolerating the water well, try adding a bit of black currant squash.

My go to when dd has vomiting bugs has always been lucozade that's gone flat and a few crisps now and then to get some salt and sugar into het along with regular sips of water. It's must be really worrying for you, I hope she gets better soon x

Freeze dioralite into cubes and then bash small quantities into ice chips she can suck slowly.
If you can't buy dioralyte you can make a solution of 1 pint water, 1 tsp salt and 1 tablesp sugar. Dioralyte is better once you can get it.
Keep going with the ice chips for 24 hours then review with gp again.
Keep a note of the quantity of solution she is taking and how much urine she is passing. If she isn't weeing you need to speak to gp or 111.

My ds (8) and dd (13) were really unwell with it. They were a bit unwell at first with cold symptoms and bad headaches but both started with vomiting and diarrhoea on day 5 or 6 and had sky high fevers. Don't worry about food, it's fluids that are important. We offered a lot of ice lollies, small sips of water, rehydration stuff and rest, rest and more rest. Hydration is key. If she's drinking, that's a good sign.

Don't hesitate to see somebody if you need to but try not to worry about food. It's fine to concentrate on the fluids for now unless she's hungry, in which case offer food as normal.

can you get some flat coke?

ice cubes?

try not to worry

Do you have ice pops? If she sucked them they’d be easier to tolerate and get some calories/ fluids into her, plus help with the temperature (some A&E departments/ paediatric wards keep a stock for kids presenting this way).

I always fed jelly to my child when ill - it's basically water but doesn't feel like you're drinking and it has a good sugar content if you're not eating. Can make vomit fairly alarming though!

Flat coke is apparently good for a dodgy tummy.....def would not be offering fruit.

Milk of magnesia and farley's rusks (not together obviously, that would be gross).
Hope she gets better soon! 💐

Don’t panic OP. We’ve just had norovirus in our household & my kids didn’t eat a thing for days! It’s drinking that’s critical & we did end up in hospital with one of them for dehydration.

Mine are 4 & 16 months old. The 4 year old had 2 days of vom & didnt eat at all for 3 days. And minimal for the rest of the week. But she did drink once the vom stopped & made a quick recovery!

The toddler was SO poorly. She vomited every 15 minutes for 8 hours straight & then every couple hours after that for 24 hours. Plus the other end. She couldn’t keep a thing down. And after she stopped vomiting, she refused to eat or drink. The key signs to be concerned about:

No passing urine. You need to keep a very close eye on how much she is going to the toilet for a wee in 24 hours.
Dry & cracked lips
A white fussy tongue & very dry skin
No tears when crying
Extreme lethargy

In hospital, she was given anti-sickness & we had to a syringe 5ml water into her mouth every 10 minutes for an hour. If we managed that, she was OK (for a while, she refused, it was very stressful). They also brought us things like fruit juice, lolly’s, frozen milk, ice cubes, jelly .. all things with liquid in. We also had to try syringing in re-hydration salts but my little one hated them!

Hopefully it’ll pass soon, it’s awful seeing them so poorly 😣 but if you are worried, trust your instincts. Don’t bother with 111, go to A&E. You’ll be put in the covid triage room. My DD was initially put in one due to a fever & there were loads of covid positive patients coming in. They are used to dealing with it. Don’t let a GP fob you off. If you think she’s seriously dehydrated, get help. But don’t worry about food, you can go for days without eating. You’ll feel crap but you’ll be alright.

Came on to suggest the lemonade or 7 up, just make sure it's not diet.

Sorry that you’re going through this. I think the unknown element makes it feel scary. However do take comfort that the doctors are by now
(unfortunately) very familiar with the different patterns of illness people get and if they are saying it’s normal then that will be based on probably a lot of recent experience. It’s good that her fever seems to have calmed down.

Rehydration sachets like dioralyte are really magical things. If you can get her to have some of those I’m confident that would help. They aren’t the tastiest unfortunately! But worth it.

Any concerns of course don’t be shy to call 11 again for further advice. They are there to help.

Hope she feels much better soon! When she’s able hope you can keep taking it easy and snuggle up to watch films and nice things.

Full sugar lemonade. Dr's right, it's only been 2 days. You just need to keep her fluids up.

My two year old had coronavirus recently. His throat was really sore so he struggled to eat or drink. He had lots of ice pops and we used a syringe to give him water every ten minutes or so to try to keep him hydrated.
I hope your daughter feels better soon xx

Rehydration sachets, Tescos own brand is about £3 , Dioralyte is £9.99. very good idea to freeze it.

Lots of squash/ water.

Don't worry about food unless she wants it. No fruit.