Food after sickness for 17 mo

[Twohootsandapumpkin]

DD has this sickness bug! (third one this year -arghhh!!). I didn't give her any tea before bed last night and she seemed OK this morning so gave her toast - about 2 hrs later she vomited it up. She is hungry though so I gave her a little bit of dry bread just before she went for her nap.

I don't know whether to just keep her off food altogether until tomorrow and then try with bland stuff again? With the previous two bugs she has had it for days (last time it developed into reflux!).

She seems quite lethargic though. What should I do feed her toast/banana etc or not feed her and just give her drinks?

TIA

Bump - anyone. Have given her a little more dry bread for now.... poor child.

Ice lollys or fruit flavoured ice cubes are nice for little ones - gets some fluid and sugar into them but rests their tummies. I always kept mine on clear fluids for 24 hours, then progressed to clear soup, maybe a little jelly, then plain rice and work up from there. hope she feels better soon. she won't suffer for not having food, but keeping her hydrated is very important.

Keep her off food until tomorrow, plenty of water/Dioralyte. Then start with plain toast and continue on to BRAT - bananas, rice, apples, toast. Avoid dairy foods, including milk or formula unless breastfed, for at least two weeks.

Thanks to both of you I just gave her dry bread (poor mite) for tea and she seems OK. She has a terrible dry cough at the moment from a cold too, so, if she's not being sick with this bug, she's throwing up from coughing so much!

hi

my dd started projectile vomiting when we were in our local town yesterday. it was dreadful poor little thing.

she did this once about 6 weeks ago after my step-son was here and threw up with a bug.

no idea what's caused it.

i kept her off solids but she is still bf (12 months) so she bf and had water. she slept most of yesterday arvo.

woke up bright as a button this morning but i kept her off food till late morning when she had some scrambled egg (with rice milk) and toast.

she kept that down so has gone back on normal foods since.

hth and hope your little one is bouncing back soon.

PC666

Breastmilk is fine for babies/toddlers with stomach bugs. In fact, it's one of the best treatments, as it contains substances which soothe the gut rather than irritate it.

Thanks PC. I stopped bf'ing DD at 14 months and really wish now that I hadn't I felt sort of ready (partly because of her biting me a lot - not just every so often) but I realise now I wasn't - I think it was the pressure/expectations from all around me in the end to give up. I know no-one else that breastfeeds and any that did gave up around 9-10 mths or earlier It now makes me quite sad as often DD will point at my chest and make the sign for milk when she is having any milk from a cup

I've had nothing but problems since switching DD onto cows milk and we now think she has a lactose intolerance - different topic entirely but she managed on breastmilk for 14 months and seemed to be happy with it.

Sorry to go on... In relation to this thread, poor DD always seems to get sick bugs which knock her for days. Most other Mums like you say, their LOs are better within 24/48 hrs - my DD's always seem to drag on, I keep her off food, reintroduce slowly and then she starts being sick again, so make to beginning etc. As I said earlier she ended up with reflux after the last bug and it went on for weeks until I persuaded the GP it was no longer a sick bug but something else causing the projectile vomit and got some infant gaviscon (which she only needed for a short while).

should read "back to the beginning" not "make to the beginning"

My sympathies to you at feeling that way. So sad to be put under pressure over how you choose to parent. I was sort of responding to Paddlechick about the bfing, didn't mean to make you feel bad .

If you think your dd may be having problems with milk, why not try her on follow-on formula? It may sound ridiculous, but it makes sense really, as formula is designed for babies who can't yet digest ordinary milk. My dd couldn't tolerate ordinary milk, it just bounced straight back up again within 20-30mins, and if she had food cooked with milk too often then you could really see the result in her poos. She would also be obviously uncomfortable and a bit ratty. So when she stopped bfing at 23m I gave her SMA Progress instead of going on to ordinary fridge milk. She was fine with the SMA, and I tried fridge milk on her every few months and didn't move over from SMA to fridge milk until she no longer reacted. I think that was probably 6-8m after stopping bfing.

PC - sorry I know you weren't having a go at me I just felt like I needed to write to say I wish I was still bf'ing and then at least my DD would get some nutrition (she has kept her toast down so far from this morning so I am hoping - going to try banana on toast at lunchtime I think).

DD can stomach cows milk in food - cooked and cheese/yoghurts etc but just not to drink. She has had lactose free formula which was OK but was making her pile weight on - too much so tbh. I have just purchased some lactase drops which you add to cows milk to 'react' with the milk and I am going to try that. DD only got about one cupful of it though before this bug so I haven't got any further with it yet. Will try again maybe tomorrow if she is completely better.

Thanks for your support I really, really struggled with bf'ing in the beginning but would not give up and feel better for having done it but wish I'd kept it up longer. It is v hard though when your family and friends start thinking you are mad to carry on and keep asking when you are going to stop

My MIL advised to eat apple after an upset tummy - it's worked for us, seems to soothe and settle your tummy. Done it with DS and it's worked for him too. might be worth a try - just a little bit at a time.

Hope she feels better soon H x

Twohoots, don't give her milk tomorrow, even if she seems completely over the bug. Something about having a stomach bug makes the gut more likely to react to milk. IIRC it makes the gut walls more 'leaky', so certain molecules from the milk leak out of the gut and into the body, where they should't be, hence the intolerance reaction. I remember, as an adult and ignorant of this, I triggered milk intolerance in myself by having dairy foods too soon after recovering from a stomach bug. It took a couple of years of avoiding dairy to regain my ability to tolerate it. Can you keep her off milk for at least a week or two? She could have small amounts of yogurt or hard cheese if you're concerned about not having milk, as the lactose is already partially digested by the fermentation in those foods. Then reintroduce the milk diluted with water at first.

PC - was wondering myself about it after typing tbh. Yes I think I will keep her off it for a week or so but just reintroduce small bits of cheese etc. Thanks - I am clueless sometimes!

BTW - I think she has always been lactose intolerant - she was v colicky as a baby but got better when I switched to one sided feeding. All clicked into place when I started her on cows milk to drink.

PC - was wondering myself about it after typing tbh. Yes I think I will keep her off it for a week or so but just reintroduce small bits of cheese etc. Thanks - I am clueless sometimes!

BTW - I think she has always been lactose intolerant - she was v colicky as a baby but got better when I switched to one sided feeding. All clicked into place when I started her on cows milk to drink.

Sorry for the two posts - DD stomping on my keyboard for some attention