Sick baby - please help *New Update*

[SharpMomOfTwo]

Hey all, my DD 18months is rather sick - she is vomiting everything she drinks (which is not that much) and also have very bad direah (sp?). She has been lounging/sleeping most of the day, though she was playing for a bit, but is now sleeping again. I called the Dr and he said that if it doesn't clear up soon, I was going to have to take her to the hospital, but I really don't want to do that. He told me to call back around 4.00-4.30 if she hadn't gotten any better, and I did, and he never called me back! I called again about 15-20 minutes ago - they are closed now and I asked for the on call dr to give me a call, but nothing yet.
I'm getting nervous because she has not had anything all day and is rather lathargic. Is there anything I can do other than take her to the emergency room for an IV? She can't keep anything down for very long, no more than an hour, and she doesn't even look at food. DH is a pharmacist and suggested giving her fenergan which is Rx or emerol which is OTC - anyone ever use either? Please give me any advice you can, I hate seeing my babies sick!!!


Sarah

 

[staci]

give her one or two teaspoons of pedialite every 10 minutes and see if she can keep that down. Continue that all night.

Is she still wetting?? If not that is a big sign of dehydration.

I would give the on call doc about 10 minutes and call back again. Good luck.

 

[katiesmom2]

My daughter is much older (just turned 5) but she had something very similar a few months ago and we had to take her to the hospital. Turns out, she was severely dehydrated. When they get very lethargic, it's often a sign they are dehydrated. I wouldn't fool around - take her to a walk-in or hospital.

 

[gibsontrio]

i've been there when my ds was 2 , we ended up taking him to the hospital and it was just horrible. Try giving her pedialite ANY way you can get it in her. Try a syringe , bottle ANYTHING. How about popcicles? jello water? Even if she is throwing it up she is still absorbing some of it so keep trying. If she isnt wetting her diaper at all take her in. Also try pinching the skin, if it sticks together thats is a sign of dehydration. Crying also (tears means hydrated still)

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I am giving her the pedialite - she drinks it, though not to much, and throws it up about an hour or so later. Right now shes sleeping on my lap, and has been asleep for a while now. Its 6.38 and the Dr still hasn't called me back yet. I'm going to call the service again right now and see what the deal is. I'm already not at all happy with this pedi, and this is pushing me over the edge now!! I'll keep you posted.

 

[tinkerjess]

i know how you feel its so hard to see your kids sick dont worry about her eating.just try to get small amounts of liquids in her. does she have fever? her sleeping is ok she needs rest.

 

[bumbershoot]

Is she still nursing? If so, do that, even if she throws it up. Extended nursing has gotten DS through some icky illnesses, even two rounds of rotavirus, without having to worry all that much!

If not still nursing, just keep offering her liquids, even if she throws them up. Especially if it's an hour later, she's already gone a good ways towards digesting whatever you gave her, and unless she's disturbingly and drastically ill, it's only stomach contents that are going to come up.

My guy just got through a 5-days-of-fever thing (we don't mind fever in my house so just let it go on) and he barely ate the whole time. And now I have the dang illness, and understand why he didn't want to eat, everything tastes DISGUSTING! I drank my coffee this AM (don't want to deal with caffeine headache on top of the pain that goes along with this illness, and don't want such a bad headache I might take a pain reliever b/c it would take away the fever, and as I mentioned we like fever!) and it was just nasty. Tried to eat something else and just YUCK. Apple juice was OK, but it still tasted funky, not the way I wanted it to taste at all. No wonder DS wasn't eating.

Anyway, just give her little bits of nutritious liquids as often as she'll accept them. Sleeping is so good, by the way. DS refused to sleep for very long for the first 4 days or so of his illness (he's still coughing and has a runny nose, so this is actually day 7 of the bug, but when the fever went away, his appetite came back), and once he finally would sleep I saw it as being on the road to wellness. And now that I have it, I can see why it was hard to sleep, because everything hurts.

Anyway, I wouldn't wish what DS and I had/have on others, but if it IS the same thing, that's what my experience has been with it...

Good luck!

 

[bumbershoot]

Is she still nursing? If so, do that, even if she throws it up. Extended nursing has gotten DS through some icky illnesses, even two rounds of rotavirus, without having to worry all that much!

If not still nursing, just keep offering her liquids, even if she throws them up. Especially if it's an hour later, she's already gone a good ways towards digesting whatever you gave her, and unless she's disturbingly and drastically ill, it's only stomach contents that are going to come up.

My guy just got through a 5-days-of-fever thing (we don't mind fever in my house so just let it go on) and he barely ate the whole time. And now I have the dang illness, and understand why he didn't want to eat, everything tastes DISGUSTING! I drank my coffee this AM (don't want to deal with caffeine headache on top of the pain that goes along with this illness, and don't want such a bad headache I might take a pain reliever b/c it would take away the fever, and as I mentioned we like fever!) and it was just nasty. Tried to eat something else and just YUCK. Apple juice was OK, but it still tasted funky, not the way I wanted it to taste at all. No wonder DS wasn't eating.

Anyway, just give her little bits of nutritious liquids as often as she'll accept them. Sleeping is so good, by the way. DS refused to sleep for very long for the first 4 days or so of his illness (he's still coughing and has a runny nose, so this is actually day 7 of the bug, but when the fever went away, his appetite came back), and once he finally would sleep I saw it as being on the road to wellness. And now that I have it, I can see why it was hard to sleep, because everything hurts.

Anyway, I wouldn't wish what DS and I had/have on others, but if it IS the same thing, that's what my experience has been with it...

Good luck!

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

When my daughter was 9 months she had the same symptoms. The nurse at the doctors office kept telling me stuff to do but not to bring her in. When she got to the point where she was so lethargic she just layed there I pushed the issue and took her in. She had the rotovirus and was dehydrated. Her eyes even started to look sunken. They put her right in the hospital and put her on an i.v. It's been 14 years and I still feel bad about not pushing things sooner. Do you have an urgent care you can take her to? It's better to be cautious.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

We just went through this at our house, although my kids are older. As the PP said, you need to watch for dehydration. Here is a link that might help:

http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/common/stomach/196.html

Keep trying Pedialyte or another Oral Rehydration Solution - some of it will be absorbed. There are some medicines that can reduce nausea. Emetrol is basically sugar water. Phenergan may cause extreme drowsiness - I would not give it without a doctor's approval since you could mistake the signs of dehyration with the sleepiness caused by the medicine. There are phenergan suppositories for young children - not sure at what age they start. There is another anti-nausea medicine that can be used for kids (starts with an O, but I can't remember the name), but I don't know the ages that it can be used for - your doctor should know that.

ETA: I looked it up - it is called Ondansetron.

 

[_queenie_]

My DD13 has a similair thing almost three weeks ago, except we were in WDW!

We believe (after now talking with a docter in person) that she became dehydrated after getting food poisoning and throwing up about all of the bile in her system. She had the full 102 degree fever and all. Your DD definately sounds dehydrated, but it may from a different cause.

Back to when my DD was sick in Florida, I contacted the on-call docter, and she said that very dry lips were a huge sign of dehydration in children (at least in older kids). I was very close to taking her to the ER, as her lips and gums looked like they were turing to stone and she really wasn't urinating normally. The other thing the docter told me to keep a look out on was her becoming "listless" (I believe that's what she called it). What it means is being sort of out of it, not really able to walk, not able to talk normally, unable to keep limbs up (sorry, guess you already covered that). She too had a hard time keeping down liquids, and every few minutes I had her take a sip of Vitamin Water (which she couldn't keep down). Since she wasn't getting any nutrients whatsoever I had her suck on a Push Pop to keep her blood sugar from getting any lower. What ended up helping her more than anything was sleep. She took a nap for about an hour and a half and afterwards looked a lot better. She was able to talk and walk a little, and her lips moistened up. She fell asleep again for a good two hours plus after being up for an hous or so, and every little bit of sleep helped her pull out of it. Once she was able to hold liquids down I gave her a fruit popsicle, and that helped her stomach. We were able to make it to MK the next day (barely), though she continued to have diarrhea for a few more days. She still hasn't gotten her full appetite back to this day, but normally when she gets stomach things like this it takes her a while to completely recover.

I hope this helps in some way, though you may have to translate it to work for a toddler.

 

[julie007]

I have a 2 yo and when she got Rotta the doc said the main thing to watch is even if they only have a temp of 100 if they are lethargic to act quick. They can be 105 and if they are still up and cranky then let it run. No plain water needs stuff with the salt in it Gatorade even. I would go ahead and take her in if they don't call you soon.

 

[snugglepeas]

My daughter is much older (just turned 5) but she had something very similar a few months ago and we had to take her to the hospital. Turns out, she was severely dehydrated. When they get very lethargic, it's often a sign they are dehydrated. I wouldn't fool around - take her to a walk-in or hospital.

I second that, my daughter was the same way back in Jan while we were at Disney, we ended up at the ER and spent 4 hours with her hooked up to an IV.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

If she has a fever, that could be the cause of the vomitting. Whenever my daughter gets sick, the first sign is vomitting, which leads me to take her temp and sure enough, it's way up. If she has a fever and you've given it to her in the past, try Tylenol or Motrin to bring down the fever. Or maybe tepid baths if her fever is very high. Another sign of dehydration, which I learned the hard way last year when DD was 11 and had the flu is red spots on the sides of the face, chin and neck area. Pediatrician pointed out that it's all broken blood vessels from vomitted, which in turn means they're likely to be dehydrated. Took DD to hospital and they kept her overnight, giving IV. After first bag of IV it was amazing, the difference in her. Call back and if no one returns your call, go to the ER. You'll feel better and so will your daughter.

 

[annie1995]

I would honestly take her in if it were me. I'd bet shes dehydrated since she is acting lethargic. KUP on what your Doc says and good luck!!!

 

[hildarumpole]

My son had a nasty stomach virus last month. I had to call our insurance co.'s 24 hr. nurse hotline at 4 a.m. His symptoms were just like your daughter's, throwing up whatever he drank after an hour later. The nurse told me to give my son diluted gatorade (1/2 water) on a teaspoon every few minutes. He probably only consumed about 4 oz. in an hour, but it stayed down. He also had to maintain a clear liquid diet for 24 hrs. after the vomiting stopped. This was followed up with 2 days of bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. It wasn't a lot of fun, but he did fully recover quickly.

 

[EverythingDisney]

I work in a pediatrician's office. We are seeing a TON of stomach virus cases right now- all ages. It even hit 9 nurses in 1 day.
We recommend not to give anything for 1 hour after vomiting. Then give 1 tsp of pedialyte/gatorade/fruit syrup-from the can... If she keeps that down, wait 10 minutes- give another 1 tsp. It's better that she is vomiting over 1 hour after you give her the drink- she is getting something.
Watch for no tears, non wet diapers, lethargic, put your finger in her mouth and swab the side- is it wet ?
I can't believe your pediatrician closed already- and hasn't gotten back to you !! We are open M-F 8am-9pm and Saturday & Sunday. We also have a doctor on call everyday & night.

Good Luck

 

[Steve's Girl]

Go to the ER! We had this when my daughter was younger and waiting too long will only make things worse.

 

[Nancyg56]

I would not mess with this, if there is a children's hospital in the area try there. My DGD was like this when she was little and she was dehydrated. Better to be safe then wish you had not waited.

 

[waltsgirl]

I would be in the ER.