6 year old on Covid day 6, vomiting multiple times

[pinkgin85]

He's been ok for the last few days after his initial fever which prompted the PCR test and that was positive.

We've been self isolating and since last night he's had 4-5 incidences of vomiting. I'm worried about him dehydrating, any advice?

Did anyone else's child start vomiting half way through Covid?

I'm awaiting a call back from the GP but I'm worried

Give him small amounts of juice/water v often. Sips. If he was well hydrated pre the vomiting a night of being sick is unlikely to cause dehydration. Would you be as worried if he had a sick bug? It’s horrible seeing them poorly but the gp will call back and just keep making sure he’s drinking. Give him what he wants Ribena/diluting juice etc but little and often as I find large amounts tend to come right back up. Paracetamol for sore tummy?
Hope he’s on the mend soon op

Vomiting in children with COVID is common

Try not to worry just small sips of water or sugary coke. Bland food when he feels like it, crisps are good

Hope he feels better soon

@Tinkerbellfluffyboots79
@hotasharibo

Thank you...I was hoping he would be okay by morning but he's just vomited again :(

He's super skinny and a fussy eater as it is (in the process of being diagnosed with SEND) so I'm extra worried because of that. He's been taking little sips of water for a while and it all just came up.

So stressful seeing your child ill and not knowing how to help them.

Will he suck an ice lolly? (Freeze some squash if you you don’t have any)
Hope he soon feels better.

Poor thing, I hope this passes quickly for him.

I second ice lollies as a way of getting fluids into him and do ask the GP at what point you need to seek support for dehydration. Monitor his toilet habits as best you can and if he’s not weeing then seek more medical advice. Don’t concern yourself with being a nuisance, HCP’s work through a ladder of symptoms and solutions and will stop if they think the first few rungs of advice/treatment worked, so if you feel he needs more help then ask for it.

My DH vomitted a lot with Covid. Weird virus... it was like having noro and pneumonia all in one go. Awful.
Whatever went down, came back up, but he would only drink a little bit here and there from glasses that were half coke/half water or half 7Up/half water. I know rehydration sachets are probably the best thing but at that point, we were isolating and I was working with what we had. Your poor little boy. It's just terrible seeing them so ill.

half coke/half water

Given what coke can do for cleaning a toilet I consider it almost medicinal for stomach bugs - imagine what it can do to them

Poor thing

All you can do is keep giving very small drinks and keep wtaching for signs of dehydration. If he does get dehydrated you should get him seen straight away. www.nhs.uk/conditions/dehydration/

Keep a check on his urine output, dizziness and pulse.

Incidentally NHS advice is do not give fizzy drinks.

Also going to suggest ice lollies.

Freeze pops are great because they come in all sorts of flavours (if he hadn't lost his sense of taste)

We had gastric issues- vomiting and diarrhea about day 6/7 when we had it. Passed after a couple of days.

He hasn't weed since the middle of the night when he first vomited. I just asked him if he wants to go for a wee and he said no.

How long can he go without weeing before I should be worried?

He's lethargic but alert and answering questions for now

Incidentally NHS advice is do not give fizzy drinks

This is true - I should have specified flat coke or frozen (in a mould - you don’t want to risk an exploding bottle!). I imagine mixing it with water flattens it?

A bit of sugar in it will flatten it quickly, seems odd but its true.

Unfortunately we don't have any coke in the home, we're not big soda drinkers :(

I have some squash that ive tried to offer him but he only drinks water and at a push milk.

It's so hard.

Not into ice lollies either. He has sensory issues with a lot of foods

@pinkgin85

He hasn't weed since the middle of the night when he first vomited. I just asked him if he wants to go for a wee and he said no.

How long can he go without weeing before I should be worried?

He's lethargic but alert and answering questions for now

Have you read the NHS page I linked?

www.nhs.uk/conditions/dehydration/

It says go to A&E if 'you have not peed all day' - most people wee more in the daylight hours, but with a child of his age I would act more promptly - the advice for under 5s is go if they have not peed in 12 hours. You can phone 111 now as you are concerned, tell them what is happening.

Maybe even little syringes of water into him at a time ? With a bit of sugar /salt in ? Poor lad hope he’s ok soon

That’s fine @pinkgin85, just keep trying little and often with whatever he will tolerate.

Talk through it properly with your GP about what warning signs indicate a serious level of dehydration, they’ll be able to give you a much more thorough assessment. Alert is good and lethargic is expected when someone is ill.

Ring 111 if you’re fretting and don’t feel able to wait for the GP.

Can anyone bring you some lemonade? Mix with a spoon of sugar this creates a huge fizz make sure glass is big enough to contain it but then it’s flat. Give DS sips of this. This was recommended by our GP when my DS had gastro bug. Don’t worry about food yet.

He did a wee about half an hour ago, it was a decent amount and yellow but now too yellow so I think it's okay.

He's saying he feels better and by that I think he means he doesn't feel nauseous? His language skills are a bit behind his peers so it's hard to know what he's feeling for sure.

Fingers crossed this was the last time.

Thank you all so much for the kind words and support

Start the clock again on the wee watch but hopefully he's turned a corner

That all sounds pretty positive @pinkgin85

It’s really hard, but try to look at the symptoms for what they are. It’s scary because it’s covid but the symptoms aren’t any different to what you will have dealt with before. Make full use of the GP consultation to get a clear idea of what point you might need to seek further help.

Agree with @Cornettoninja, everyone goes into over panic because it’s covid but in reality, the symptoms are like many other illnesses & the same rules apply.

Vomiting - treat it like a stomach bug. Sips of water, lollies, ice cubes, jelly.. whatever liquid you can get in. We’ve recently had norovirus & my youngest was sick every 15 minutes for about 8 hours. It was scary. She did need hospital, she became severely dehydrated. There is lots of advice online for dehydration symptoms in kids. Follow those.

Fever & flu like symptoms - treat as you would a nasty cold or infection. Paracetamol, rest, any foods you fancy. Throat spray for sore throats. Lots of TLC! Keep an eye on breathing, check it’s not too fast or shallow or they are working hard to breathe (you can see this around their rib cage).

Hope he’s ok OP!

I spoke to my dr about this for dd2. He said as long as she was doong at least one wee every 12 hours that was ok and to ring back if she wasn't.