Poorly baby - not drinking

[3littlebeasties]

Hi all, hope some of you can help. Apologies in advance for lengthy post!

DS3, who is almost 12 months, is not a well boy . Started vomiting Friday evening, didn't sleep too badly and hasn't vomited since but has had a temperature today. He's eaten and drunk very little since then. I'm not worried about the food, cos I know he'll eat when he feels ready, but I'm a bit anxious about the lack of fluid intake. When I took his nappy off at bathtime it was barely wet (hard to tell with a disposable though!!) though he had had it on for a good 4+ hours.

Does anyone know at what point I should start to worry? I'm not too worried yet (!!) as he doesn't seem TOO ill - just very very grumpy and tired, and hot, bothered, fidgety etc etc..... but when SHOULD I worry? Does anyone know what I should look out for? I know with young babies the fontanelle can 'sink' if they are dehydrated, but I'm not sure what the signs are with older babies.

Also, we've been giving him as much calpol as we can at his age (under a year) ie 5mls a max of 4 times a day. This only seems to perk him up for a couple of hours, then we have several more hours to get through before he can have another dose. Is it ok to 'double dose' with calpol / ibuprofen at this age? (ie alternate between the two to give better 'coverage', which is what I did with my eldest when he had a very high fever for a few days when he was 3). Or, given that he is so nearly one (in 10 days) can I give him the 12 months plus dose of 10mls? What would you do?? Am tempted, knowing it would prob be fine (especially as he is not a particularly delicate build ) but am also terrified of overdosing the poor little mite!

Oh, also forgot to mention that part of the problem is teething pain - he seems very uncomfortable and really doesn't want anything in his mouth, especially a nasty beaker spout, which is not helping with the fluid intake! We've tried an ordinary cup, spooning drinks down him, etc, but still with very limited success. Any other tips there? Ice lollies??!

Finally - do teething powders actually work? Can anyone tell me anything about them? I've never used them (which makes me realise how lucky I've been with DS1 and 2's teeth!)

Sorry - so many Q's... Hope someone has some answers!

you can pinch the skin (gently lol) on the top of his hand, and if it springs back into place he is no dehydrated, if it doesnt then u should phone your doc

oh and yes it is fine to give him the 12 month dose as he is only 10 days off that age anyway, plus u say he isnt delicate, and yes it is ok to alternate ibuprofen and calpol hope he feels better soon, it seems all i have done myself recently is spoonfeed my kids calpol and nurofen...tireing isnt it lol

Thanks, that's v helpful! Will be poised with a spoonful of each thru the night then - you never know, might actually get some sleep.....LOL.

your very welcome hope u get some sleep.

if his teeth are giving him trouble and he isnt drinking .. try wrapping a couple of ice cubes up in a clean muslin and letting him suck/chew on it ... it used to be soothing for my ds when he was like this. Ice lollies would probably be more appealing to him though! You could also try giving him some dioralyte rather than plain water (I used to either spoon it into him or put it in a bottle).. the flavoured ones are a little more palatable - and if he takes even a little at least it has some rehydration salts in it if he is a little dehydrated. I think you can do the 10ml calpol and the ibuprofen if you need to (though the ibuprofen is less often i think).