What to give for a vomiting /diarrhea baby?

Hi,


Need some advice here guys. My LO is a reflux baby. Not long ago he had a bad bout of gastroenteritis and was throwing up badly with diarrhea. It got so bad that we couldn't keep hydrating him with the salts the doctor gave and continued to vomit even with the suppositories given, and so ended up in hospital for 3 days on a drip. He recovered after about a week.


However, he has started to throw up again and I fear he has caught yet another bug. Being a reflux baby, his tummy is particularly sensitive and as soon as he gets ill, he throws up....


I have now taken him off all milk and dairy pdts, and will feed him dry food (toast, dry cereal) and bananas, as well as bananas, and of course keeping him hydrated (also with pocari, apple juice etc).


It has only started this morning again when he threw up his breakfast. I will see if what i do will stop the vomiting - the doctor will tell me to do exactly the same as what I'm doing now - I only saw him 2 wks ago at the back end of the last bug!


And yes, I will take him to the doctor if he throws up again today.


However, he will probably start rejecting the hydration salt fluid fairly soon, so I would be grateful of any hints/ help for fluid and food we could give him. I desperately want to avoid going back to hospital - it was one of the worst experiences of my life.

Hi squiggles,


sorry to hear about what you and bub have been going through.


my mum has always advised me that if my baby ever vomits and diarhoea to give him rice water - literally the water you used to cook rice with. it supposedly helps. i think another mum "my thoughts" mentioned this on another thread before too. BUT do check with your doc for advice before feeding rice water.


not sure if the following link is useful:

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyills/babyconstipation/82.html


take care and good luck!

thanks for the advice

wheeleymate: rice water - we tried that with him last time and it helped up to a point. it's the reflux which makes all of this twice as bad. we will give him rice water again.

ruth: he has these suppositories which is supposed to reduce the vomiting. because they have been prescribed by the doctor, i'll stick with those for now.


my LO is 11 months and there is no breastmilk. as for frozen foods - haven't really tried but if he isn't keeping the liquid down then i'll give it a go (anything to avoid the hospital)!


so far he's eaten some toast and some banana - currently sleeping. but the test will be when he wakes up. past history indicates that if sick, he will throw up as soon as he wakes up - all over the bed!

Aiyaah Squiggles, I feel for you. My bubbs had UTI at 3 months and threw up three feeds. It was really one of the worst days of my life. We had to rush him to the hospital at 3am and then he was on drips for 3 days. They couldnt find any bacteria in the urine, but a very high WBC so it was UTI, but we dont know what caused it, and to this day I'm terrified it will recur.


When we came back from the hospital he threw up a few more times, but not his whole meal. The doctor advised me to feed him slowly, so I pumped a bit before I fed him so he didnt get overwhelmed by the letdown, and then we walked around keeping him upright. I'm sure you're doing the sloping bed thing already? We've put a pillow under bubs mattress so his head is higher - did that when we came back from hospital after he was born, because he had this tendency to reflux back then.


Is it possible to feed him slowly, small amounts at a time, but more frequently?


Good luck, I really feel for you.

Gatorade nicely supplies elecrolytes that otherwise are in the official "hydration fluids" and tastes a lot better. Give only small amounts at a time in the hope it will help him keep it down. Sounds like your doc also uses what mine calls the "BRAT" diet: bananas, rice, apple sauce and tea. (Apple sauce is when you cook peeled apples to death and then mash them, can add a little cinnamon and sugar if you like.) Dry toast as well. Keep away from fats and proteins for the time being, just easily digested carbohydrates. If you have baby #2 and assuming this runs in the family, consider extended breastfeeding for health reasons, as breastmilk offers immunological protection as well as optimum digestibility.