very sick babe, any suggestions...

[smartie]

dd, aged 2, has vomitted hourly since 8pm last night, saying that we've almost gone 2 hours this time, she's asleep at the moment. She has a constant temperature of 39'C that calpol hasn't touched, then again it's probably not in her for long enough to be fully absorbed. I've given it 3 times all immediately after vommitting, she's also taking sips of water that don't come back up straight away

It wasn't anything she ate, her siblings and I had the same. So I pressume it's just a nasty bug. She is absolutely exhausted, pale and thin, (don't they waste away quickly).If she continues to vommit this pm I will ring the on call doctor.

dh is at work and I suppose I'm feeling the effects of a crap nights sleep and no adult company, just had to cancel a boozy night tonight with friends because she's too ill.I feel better for 'talking' and do I feel like I'm doing everything I should be but any advice on how to make dd more comfortable would be welcome....

Hi smartie, I am in a similar position at the moment - ds has been ill with a vomiting bug since Thursday, temp. not as high as your dd's though. She probably isn't keeping much calpol down by the sound of it, so try and reduce her temp. by removing clothes and tepid sponging. Keep on offering sips of water. I'd probably ring the doctor for advice and reassurance at least.

Lots of sympathy - my dh was away last night so I felt very alone too.

Hi, same here, see vomiting thread. My problem is that he (10 months) won't take much water, just pushes it away.
Sympathies smartie, your dd sounds worse.

Have you tried giving water with the syringe, that was what I had to do when DS was ill last year with the sickness bug. Agree with the others about calling NHS direct for advice, also you could try those gel strips that go across the forehead to cool children down (soothies?????). I have always had flat lemonade when I have an upset stomach.
Hope she gets better soon (and the others too)

I've always been told by my doctor (and it seems to work) the Junior Neurofen is better at getting temps down. You can even give it at the same time as Calpol, or alternated the two. You'd have to check the ages but I think that 2 years is ok. You can also get calpol suppositries. You can ask your GP about these.

As you probably know dehydration is the biggest concern. You can try sitting her in the bath and actually let her drink the bath water. As long as its freshly drawn even a bubble bath would be ok to drink, and it would keep her cool and perhaps cheer the little one up.

I hope she's feeling better soon, and that you don't get too ground down

Hiya Smartie, dd1 had exactly what you are describing a while ago. If you go to the doctors they will just prescribe, cool baths, calpol and keeping her cool. If you ask they will be able to give you an anti-emetic (sp?) to stop her being sick.

When dd1 had this we were given a brill piece of advice. Give her Isotonic Lucozade, the orange non-fizzy stuff. Only let her have occasional sips, we noticed a difference within a few hours.

I agree with Pie on the junior nurofen, I find that better for bringing a temperature down but it is really not suitable if you dd has asthma, if it's ok for her to have it you can use calpol and nurofen at the same time or alternate them every few hours up to the maximum dosage so that she is having something every 2 or 3 hours. I think the maximum dosage for nurofen is 3 doses in 24 hours and calpol 4.

Also, when dd1 was being sick she seemed to be frightened of being sick in a bowl. We ended up letting her be sick on old towels and then putting them on a boil wash.

Those Kool 'n' soothe are excellent but we find they are too big for dd1's head, we cut them in half lengthways and found them just as effective but more comfortable for dd1.

Hope this helps and your dd gets better soon.

Hi
If she has been being sick for that long your dr may think she needs to replace her electrolytes basically sugar and salt. You can buy these in lemon flavour sachets but I don't know if they are suitable for children. Best call the dr and see what he thinks. Poor things - lets hope you all don't get it. Good luck.

Thankyou all for your comforting words etc

In retrospect, Pie, I wish I'd done the bath thing and saved us all several exhausting hours.

I rang NHS direct at 3pm, they said on hearing her lethargic, slightly floppy state, that they wanted to call an ambulance! I said I didn't feel that was necessary... mothers instinct and all that (it's worked for the last 9 years!)... The girl on the phone became officious and made me feel like an inconsiderate, inadequate mum. So I promised to drive her to A&E immediately. On arrival, as she lay floppily in my arms I told her siblings that we were in a room full of ill people and I needed them to be quiet and that there were bananas in the bag if they were hungry. Sickly dd2 squeaked 'I need a banana'. The 1st mouthful came straight back but she insisted on persevering, much to the disgust of several other A&E waitees, and kept the rest down.

3 hours later with a prescription for nurofen, a much revived little girl and lots of freyed nerves we walked free...(NHS direct had threatened me with IV fluids!)

I know they (NHS direct) do a great job, but talk about passing the buck! Dd2 has eaten a little tea and gone eagerly to bed. She is still roasting, why wont her temperature come down? Not been sick since first mouthful of banana, please wish me luck for the night!

Chiccadum, I had the same problem with the bowl, only, my sleepy brain didn't act kindly. After a night of sicky sheets, pj's and towels, I insisted on a bowl, 1st couple of times she coped, then the phobia began... as she began to retch I'd reach for the bowl and she'd plea 'no like it bowl' bless her, why did I insist on the bowl and not give in to the poorly babe?

We live and learn! Thanks again to you all.

hey smartie, two things for next time....I think that calpol might actually not be terribly good for an upset stomach making it more upset. Particularly if it's on an empty stomach (you mentioned giving it just after she threw up). And I seem to remember that when we were little banana was one of the few things we were allowed when we had upset stomachs...supposed to calm the stomach or be easy to digest or something like that.
Anyway, glad to hear that your dd has recovered.

gingernut and droile meant to ask last night how your ds's are, I sometimes think it's worse when they're ill for longer periods as apose to a short sharp burst as in our case.

dd still has a high temperature and hasn't eaten since last nights 30 or so baked beans and a little toast, but she's drinking water and in the last hour has taken to her feet for the 1st time in 37 hours! Not vommited since 4pm yesterday either.

Having slept some and thought through yesterdays events I'm a bit mad, to say the least... NHS Direct told me she needed urgent medical treatment, I disagreed and said I'd rather speak to the on-call gp, the telephonist got snotty and starting talking about ambulances and drips etc, so off I went to A&E. An hour later I'm told by a triage (?sp) nurse that there was a 2 or 3 hour wait to see a doctor and really I should be at the on-call gp site. Meanwhile ds and dd1 are bored stiff, dd2 is desperate for her bed, too hot in my arms and thoroughly miserable. The nurse rang the on-call gp receptionist who told him I had to call the out of hours centre to be referred. So I rang the center from a pay phone while standing in the hospital lobby holding my ill child, 50 metres from the on-call site, only to be told that I couldn't be referred without giving them a return phone number!
After several minutes of explanation and debate she agreed to refer me direct. From then on progress was swift, but what a faff, if I had only ignored NHS Direct and rung the on-call gp myself the whole process would have been far less painfull!

I don't see myself calling upon there services again.

DS2 is a bit better, he hasn't been sick for 24hrs and the nasty nappies have stopped.
DS1 threw up last night, then seemed brighter.
But I started with it at midnight and I feel dreadful, can hardly stand. Needless to say, nobody is looking after me.

Hi smartie, logged on to see how you were doing, sounds like your dd is on the road to recovery. Thanks for asking about ds - he's also a lot better, keeping down some food now and starting to show an interest in life again, although still very sleepy.

Sorry to hear you had such a bad time at the hospital. I've rung NHS Direct twice and once their advice was good while the other time I wasn't happy with it. I think it's difficult for them when they can't see the patient so they tend to err on the side of caution. Our on-call GPs are good but they usually suggest a visit to the emergency surgery which is at the local hospital, so we end up traipsing over there anyway.

Oh dear Droile . Hope you get over it quickly.

glad to her your ds's appear to be improving but sorry to read your ill droile, 36 hours on I hope you're improving. That's the trouble, us mums go into caring overdrive and give everything we have to aid our loved ones well being, yet when we crash ourselves we're expected to continue in our draining mother role come what may!

I was a bit quick to jump for joy, dd2 is still very ill, now refusing water more often than accepting unable to keep anything down, even water now and looking deathly white and very weak, got an appointment with the doc in half an hour.

smartie & gingernut, thanks for your concern. I'm feeling a bit better now but still weak. DH has got it!
Bless.

Droile poor old dh!

Sorry feeling cynical, when I asked my dh for a little more support today he told me that he did an awful lot for a man of his age, not many 38 yr olds do as much as him, I ought to consider that! I'm only 2yrs younger! Luckily I managed to leave the room b4 giggling.

DD2 still ill, what can I do for her? Doc says it's viral... Here we go, we're all ear marked for this one, I just know it.

Sounds like a nightmare! A&E is always a disaster, but then again I guess it is better to be safe than sorry (although it doesn't seem like it at the time)...
I must say I think the french are much more sensible with their obsession with suppositories, the English are so squeamish about them, but of course it is impossible to keep down liquid pain relievers and other drugs if you are vomiting constantly! I'd get a supply of suppositories in if I were you - they are jolly useful for sick children. Also when a child is vomiting that much you really should be concerned about their salts level, and give them something other than plain water. Dilute dioralyte (in sachets - blackcurrant flavour is quite palatable) is obviously good, but so is flat coke (which tends not to be thrown up again) and in fact banana is perfect as it is so full of potassium. Probably the best thing she could have had.
You might want to think about that when ministering to your husband!! (but he might not want a suppository....)

smartie LOL
I can't tell you what I would have said to that. What will he be like when he gets to 58?!

It sounds like your dd has something similar to my ds, smartie. He's much better today by the way. It could be a rotaviral tummy bug, I've heard there's a lot going around. Apparently this can cause vomiting for around 3 days, diarrhoea until about day 5 and `abnormal stools' for a week, so stock up on nappies (or loo roll for your dh, droile )).

Smartie, is your dd keeping water down yet? What did the doctor say? I should think the vomiting should stop soon, my ds had about 3 days of it.

When she can take food again, don't give her any dairy (it makes the diarrhoea worse). Fruit and vegetable purees are recommended. Lots of rice or pasta seems to limit the explosiveness of the nappies. I've been mixing fruit with pasta, strange combination I know but it seems to fill him up and bung him up too . As wiltshirelass suggests, banana is probably good because it has a constipating tendency. How about Weetabix mixed with a tiny amount of milk and some water and pureed fruit?

HTH. You must be feeling exhausted by now, especially with such an ancient dh

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opps!!
I was having amindless fiddle, trying to figure out how to make a grin!
How do you do it?

thanks for your responses.

Wiltshirelass can I get suppositories over the counter? I wish I had some for tonight.

Your (ginger & wiltshire) food tips all sound good she's just begining to eat but not keeping anything down for longer than half an hour even though she's absolutely ravounous. She's accepting tiny sips of water again now.

You talk about diarrhoea, bizarely her stools have been normal up until tonights 1st bout of diarrhoea. Proabably helped her to stay hydrated.

Whatever I really hope we're close to the end, 8pm tonight was exactly 3 days so fingers crossed.

Afraid the diarrhoea is probably only just starting (the bug causes vomiting when it is in the stomach and diarrhoea as it moves down the gut). Having said that my ds, who is on his strict pasta diet, has only had 1 really horrible nappy. He pooed in the bath tonight, so thank goodness that one wasn't really runny !!!

A grin is : o without the spaces between

Ta gingernut, that's really informative. DS2 has followed this pattern exactly - vomiting for a few days, then diarrohea.
What puzzles me is DH. He sat on the loo holding a bowl (both ends at once). I wonder what the rotavirus thought it was doing in him? Maybe it's been listening to the time I've had with him lately and thought, Bugger this, I'm getting out of here quick!

sorry to put you off your breakfast but we too had a messy bath incident, only ours was a runny one. Diarrhoea!!! I have never seen (or smelt) anything like it (that's saying something, I'm in the caring proffession). Bright yellow, exploding, offensive watery yuk. Sadly she's out of nappies, pj's, sheets and quilts (luckily we still use cot quilts) repeatedly soiled up until 1am! Poor little might, she then slept well and so far appears a little brighter, has even had a few rice krispies.

What is a rotavirus?...