What food do you give your child after a stomach bug?

[topsyandtimison]

Child (age 4) had bad stomach flu (S&D) It's on way out now and she is regaining appetite. What foods are best to give her that won't irritate stomach apart for toast? I gave her cream of tomato soup yesterday (foolishly) as it's her fave but she vomited it straight up. Can anyone guide me on more suitable foods Thanks

Nothing with dairy in. I'd get her some kids probiotics too to repopulate her tummy.

BRAT

Banana
Rice
Apple sauce
Toast

Easy on the tummy and nutritious (sort of!).

As above, the BRAT diet and no dairy.

As above and then move on to boiled egg and soldiers iron baked beans.

"Or" not "iron "

If you want to do soup just a broth one - stock essentially with some very small pieces of carrot and potato. Or home made non creamy chicken soup (but that's a faff if you don't just happen to be roasting a chicken for other family members and have the carcass to then use!)

One of my DC goes the soup route but tbh my 10 year old had a stomach bug this week and when he could eat again I only let him have dry toast and dry cereal for 24 hours. I would have let him have bananas, applesauce, rice, or broth but he didn't fancy any of those.

BRAT diet here, too - I reckon those foods have good levels of inulin in, so as well as being plain and not upsetting the gut, they may also help repopulate the gut bacteria. We're in the same situation here at the moment.

Plain mashed potato is always a hit with my kids - no butter, cream or cheese just potato.

It has the added benefit of being soft coming back up if that happens.

Water. If they keep that down, then 2 hours later I'll let them have a (digestive, or similar plain) biscuit, same again if they're hungry in the next couple of ours. If that stays down, then for the next meal I'll let them eat whatever we're eating (although I keep that simple, and non-staining).

If it doesn't stay down, we go back to water for a few hours...

My eldest is fine with this regime (had a horrible bout of noro when he was little, and he'll do pretty much anything to not have to throw up or uncontrollable pooing ever since)

The youngest finds it torture, but might finally be learning since he snuck into the kitchen when ill, took a massive swig of juice from the fridge, and 30 seconds later while putting the bottle back vomited all over himself (and the fridge) like a fountain (head tipped back while reaching up). He didn't find that amusing at all.

The BRAT diet was considered outdated and ineffective when I had my children 20 years ago! I am surprised it is still being recommended. It doesn’t contain enough nutrients or fibre to allow the gastrointestinal tract to recover.

Digestive biscuits work for me! Small amounts of plain food and liquids.

Jammie Dodgers.

No nutritional value, but they stay down, cheer them up, and pave the way for better food later.

Seriously - I tried lots of stuff and Jammie Dodgers are the way forward after anything involving vomiting. We never normally eat the things (let's face it, they're crap), but I keep a packet in the cupboard specifically for this.

We always start with toast. Then plain foods that are carb rich. Avoid spicy and fatty foods. BRAT diet isn't recommended as its low in nutrients

Knorr Chicken and noodle soup. It's my go to food for illness.

Just plain food. And I do tend to give them biscuits if they want them

Apple sauce- wtf?!

Applesauce, yeah wtf.

Banana, rice, apples & toast...
It's not designed to be nutrition enriched, it's all things that make poo firmer.

Realistically mine would only eat toast out of that list so it's impractical too. No need to limit to BRAT but you could include components of it if your child will eat it.

Applesauce is a US thing. I had a pot of it as a pudding last time I flew to the US (coeliac so had ordered a gluten free meal). Very odd.

Not a parent myself but as a kid our ‘poorly’ diet was always toast and biscuits. Nothing wet like soup. No interesting biscuits either.... always a bloody digestive

Applesauce is because its bland and low fat (to avoid creating nausea) and apples contain pectin which reduces inflammation, but fresh apples (especially their skin) contain cellulose which is harder on the gut.

BRAT isn't meant to be high fibre or especially high in nutrients it's meant to be gentle and poo-binding. Clearly it's only meant to be followed for 24 hours or so, before returning to normal eating (slowly and avoiding rich foods and dairy for a bit longer if it's been a bad bug).

WTF right back at you asking for advice then wtf ing at it when you get it. What's that about?

Applesauce isn't only a US thing - pretty much every "US thing" is actually taken from another country originally.

It's not something most people have lying about though. Toast, crackers, pasta, potato would all be good.

Dry Cheerios also good.

From my home country:

Cup of broth/stock (body needs salt)

Some plain poached chicken, a bit of plain white rice

Scrambled egg

Grated fresh apple with a tiny bit of cinamon

Banana (not too green)

Apple juice mixed with water

Tomato soup would have been too acidic/sour. You need very easily digested "neutral" binding food, nothing sour, rich or fatty.

Plain chicken (poached) in a bit of broth with a spoon of white rice mixed in very good.

Small portions.

Will soon be back to normal!