How long to recover from tummy bug?

[bouncingblob]

DS is 11 months and had their first proper viral illness. Vomiting on day one (only the one day), very cranky on day two and slept for a LONG time (16 hours sleep in total in a 24 hour period), day three onwards has been in better form but still off their food and milk. They're eating and drinking SOMETHING but they're not even taking their bedtime milk, and the milk they are taking they're maybe taking about 200-250ml in total over the course of the day. They are still drinking water and not refusing that but it's from a sippy cup so hard to measure intake.

We're on day four of the illness now and they've had diarrhea today, still off food and milk. BUT still having wet nappies, and in generally good form when awake rather than upset or cranky.

At what point does the refusal to take food and milk become worth a GP call? Essentially how long would you expect this to continue for a tummy bug? We're over 72 hours now.

I wouldn’t expect a GP to be overly concerned yet as he is eating and drinking, and wet nappies suggest he’s not dehydrated. When my DC had what we thought was a prolonged tummy bug (but was actually temporary lactose intolerance) I was at the GP for something else but asked how long a tummy bug could go on for and he was very unconcerned and said around a week can be normal. Your son’s stomach might feel a bit delicate still, and if he’s been resting, he may just not feel as hungry as usual. I often find that with any sort of virus, my DC tend to go off their milk for up to a couple of weeks afterwards. If he seems to be getting worse or doesn’t improve in the next day or two however, it might be worth a call to the GP to be on the safe side.