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Original poster

Sickness and diarrhoea, very worried

29 replies

pinkmagic1 · 07/03/2005 08:21

My son who is 8.5 months old has had sickness and diarrhoea since friday. I took him to the doctors on friday evening who advised me to give him no food or milk for 24 hours and just diralyte solution. I was not comfortable with this advise and my son would not take the diralyte so I have carried on offering his milk but he has had no solids since saturday morning because he can't keep them down. He had a very bad case of diarrhoea this morning and I managed to get him to take 5 ounces of diralyte. Sould I offer some milk or solids later? He is very listless and I am worried he is getting enougth nourishment, please help.

OP posts:
bobbybob · 07/03/2005 08:25

You need to starve the bug, which does mean no milk too. He will be listless because he is fighting a bug, his little body doesn't need the added effort of trying to digest food.

Evesmama · 07/03/2005 08:27

ring doc back and if no joy i would get a second opinion from hosp as IMO i cant trust gp's

bathmummy · 07/03/2005 08:30

I agree about the no milk. I am not a medical expert but have had my fair share of tummy bugs with my children over the years. Every different GP have spoken too has told us to stay off the diary products when they have D and V. Apparently small child often become lactose intolerant when they have upset tummies and by continuing to give milk you could be irritating the gut more. I would follow the advice given and give plenty of fluids in form of water/weak juice if he has it and diralyte as instructed by GP.
I know that lack of food is worrying when theya re tiny but if the food is making it worse and prolonging the time he has an upset tum, it is not going to help nourish him. 24 hours without food won?t hurt him.
Hope he is better soon x

bobbybob · 07/03/2005 08:34

Just to add that if he gets the runs when he eats any food, he isn't being nourished anyway - it's going straight through him and using up lots of vital water in the process.

Dalesgirl · 07/03/2005 08:59

Boiled water, cooled down and put in a bottle. Just the fluids for now, don't give the bug anything to feed on. Re-hydration is your main aim. If worried still, go straight to the hospital...take control.
Good luck. To be sure this won't be the first bug you'll have to cope with. Watch for the signs that you are getting it also! Disinfectant at hand!
Hope all is well soon......

mummylonglegs · 07/03/2005 09:41

I agree with everyone else. A day on just clear fluids and no milk will allow him to get over the bug much more quickly than if you keep giving him milk which will prolong his recovery.

LIZS · 07/03/2005 09:52

Agree, forget the nourishment of food or milk for today and persist with dioralyte. it contains sufficient minerals and sugars to rehydrate him and if he'll drink milk he'll drink this instead, just sips to begin with. Once you are happier that it is not going straight through start him on plain toast or crispbake type biscuits, rice, carrot, banana

handlemecarefully · 07/03/2005 09:57

Absolutely no milk as the doctor suggested and just the diarolyte. Sorry to be harsh but why didn't you take the doctor's advice? He / she has been to medical school and had extensive post registration training you know! Sorry to lecture - it's probably not helping.

Anyway, my 10 month old was referred to hospital after 5 days of vomiting and diarrhoea (suffering from dehydration). They told me to stop the milk and all but the diarolyte, and he improved after 24 hours.

Hope your little one picks up soon

Chuffed · 07/03/2005 10:45

Have you got a syringe? Try giving his about 5ml of diralyte about every 5 mins with the syringe. This worked well for dd as it isn't too much like 2 swallows.

Chuffed · 07/03/2005 10:45

just do it for about 1 1/2 hours and you'll see a difference really quickly.

Sponge · 07/03/2005 10:51

My ds had tow really bad bouts of thios recently and was only 5 months so not even on solids the first time.
First tiome roubnd we were like you and kept giving him milk and it took ages to clear up. Second time we trusted the advice and gave him just dioralyte for a couple of days and he improved more quickly. He wouldn't drink the dioralyte on its own but would with a bit of squash in to take the taste away.He did get pretty hungry and cried a bit but we just kept giving him the squash. After a couple of days when the vomiting had stopped we gave him a bit to eat. The best things are pure starches so mashed potato (no milk or butter), plain toast, plain rice. Not very exciting but it does fill them up a bit and doesn't irritate. I was advised against banana as depending on how ripe they are they can have the opposite effect tot he one you're looking for.
It's painful not to feed them I know but it's the only way to get rid of the bug.
Once it had cleared up ds just ate like a horse for a couple of weeks and is now back to his happy, chubby self.

handlemecarefully · 07/03/2005 10:57

I should have written Sponge's post. It is much more helpful than mine and she is spot on.

Fwiw my ds's vomiting and diarrhoea continued for so long and he became dehydrated precisely because I had continued giving him milk when I should have stopped....(which is why I lectured you a bit about not following the doc's advice on this - sorry!)

LIZS · 07/03/2005 11:34

I'm assumed pinkmagic's ds is on formula, as she said "offering him milk" but wonder if I was mistaken. If he is breastfed you could continue to offer it.

blodwen · 07/03/2005 20:10

A baby I childmind has had this bug since Weds last week. Went to dr on thurs, who said stop milk, give dioralyte. 24 hrs later back to dr, who sent baby to hospital to be checked for dehydration. Paediatrician confirmed no milk, just dioralyte for at least 24 hours after last vomit. She warned it could take several days! Baby is only 6 weeks old, weighing 9.5 pounds, so very worrying. She has today kept down half strength formula feeds, and finally appears to be on the mend. AND she's put on 3oz whilst on (lots of) dioralyte (blackcurrant flavour). So, the moral is, KEEP OFF MILK!

Muller · 08/03/2005 14:42

My 10 month old daughter has had d and v for 3 days now. NHS Direct advised to carry on with the milk as ususal. She will not drink water anyway as a rule or any form of juice. Dont seem to be getting anywhere tho, vicious circle now of food, vomit, diarrhaea. Docs appointment later, Am very worried and unsure what advice to follow

LIZS · 08/03/2005 14:51

Sorry Muller, but nhs direct is wrong unless you are exclusively breastfeeding. Hope the dr can give you better advice and that your dd improves soon.

KathH · 08/03/2005 15:40

i rang gp yesterday for my ds who is 5 months and has diarhea - sorry for spelling - i was told to carry on feeding as usual and just to give extra fluid.

Sponge · 08/03/2005 15:47

I had mixed advice too. NHD direct told me to keep feeding as normal or to try half strength feeds and the first time we went to the GP they said keep feeding normally as milk is his main nutrition but at second GP visit I was told to avoid all milk and dairy. I tried all 3 approaches and I can tell you what worked - no milk or dairly, just diarolyte until vomiting stopped then introduce very plain carbohydrate unil diarrhoea stops.
Read Blodwen's post. Paeds know more than GPs about babies. No milk is painful but it is the only thing that wrked for us.

Sponge · 08/03/2005 15:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

handlemecarefully · 08/03/2005 16:08

Some health professionals are clearly not as up to date as they should be (KathH's GP) - its no milk apart from breast milk. My son got very poorly because I persisted with formula and therefore dragged out his illness

KathH · 08/03/2005 16:34

just rang gp again and spoke to different one who said if hes hungry give cereally kind of baby food and extra fluid and his recommendation was to stop milk and diary because even after initial bugs cleared up babies can develop temporary intolerence to cows milk which can drag the bug out.wish gp i spoke to on saturday had told me that.

Muller · 08/03/2005 19:08

Went to GP this arvo, and becuz my baby will not drink any water or juice whatsoever, it is better that she drinks milk than nothing at all. Was told to give her half strength milk tho. Tried it tonight, and will see if i get a nappy explosion during the night! he was very good tho, and showed me lots of signs to look for in a dehydrated child, ie pinch the back of the hand and if skin springs back then she is ok. Also look for dark sunken eyes and dry lips as a sign.

Abirosie · 08/03/2005 21:24

My 8 month old Daughter has D & V she has had it for 2 weeks now and her nappies are so bad they leak. Dr suggested she stay on milk and solids but she keeps throwing them back up and won't take dyoralite can anyone help?

handlemecarefully · 08/03/2005 21:38

If she has had it for 2 weeks I would be sorely tempted to bypass the system and take her to A&E. I know that it is neither an accident nor an emergency but sometimes you have to work the system to get a decent medical opinion.

Have you tried mixing diarolyte with ribena or some other fruit cordial to make it more palatable?

KathH · 08/03/2005 21:57

Abirosie - did they take a sample? when i rang gp this afternoon he said if not cleared up by friday then to bring ds to the surgery and they will have to send a little present to the lab!

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