My 2 Year Old Has a Stomach Virus. Help Please!

Updated on February 27, 2011
D.F. asks from Monmouth Junction, NJ
16 answers

My 2 yr old woke up this morning and vomited. He also has been having diarrhea all day long. He has no fever, but hasnt eaten anything all day and wont drink anything except small sips of water. He did drink some juice but then vomited all up almost immediently after. He is also sleepy. This is his first stomach bug and was wondering if anyone can give me any advice on how to deal. Thanks

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L.L.

answers from New York on

yeah just keep him hydrated, don't worry about his food intake. You can give him small amounts of gatorade, pedialyte, and small sips of gingerale. Just treat it as you would if YOU had the stomach flu. Fluids is most important.
Good luck, it's so hard when they are sick.
Lynsey

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R.K.

answers from New York on

My daughters had similar issues a few weeks ago. dr recommended gatorade, pedialite (which my daughters didnt really care for - so it was gatorade the entire time) and a brat diet. crackers, bread, bananas, rice. you can also give ice pops.
Hope he feels better!

More Answers

L.M.

answers from Dover on

What my pediatrician has always had me do w/ my kids (son is now 19 and daughter is 4) is to stop ALL dairy and foods immediately. Day 1: Give only pedialyte, gatorade, kool-aid, weak tea, and/or flat soda (I never gave flat soda because it turned my stomach if I wasn't sick so I couldn't imagine giving it to them if they were already sick) for a full 24 hours. If they are doing well, you can also give clear broth and/or gelatin. Once no longer vomiting (for 24 hours) move on to Day 2: Add fruits (and if tolerating also vegetables). Day 4: Add vegetables. Day 5: Add cereals, crackers, etc. Day 6: Add meats. Day 7: Normal foods except dairy. Day 8: Add milk as tolerated.

We rarely had to go a full week without dairy because I could typically able to add foods quicker than scheduled. My daughter loved milk so much that I had to get her non-dairy milk after just a few days.

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N.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

I feel for you on this one, we just went through it recently with our 2 year old. A helpful website that I found is the Dr. Sears website: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T083300.asp

It should help a lot and tells you exactly what to do during each stage of the illness. We made the mistake of trying to get our 2 year old to eat crackers, and applesauce, etc. early on and it just made her throw up. The important thing is to keep up the fluids, at least water. Our pediatrician recommend a mix of 1/2 gatorade 1/2 water because ours would not drink pedialyte.

Good luck! Hope you get through it quickly and stay healthy yourself!

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E.P.

answers from New York on

Haven't had time to read any of the answers but my sister taught me years ago that when a child is vomiting/having diarrhea and you want to get fluids into them, sit with them and spoon feed the liquids to them. Drinking down a cup of juice will usually result in it coming back up. Spoon feeding the liquid to them slowly will help keep it down. Something about it being absorbed super slow and not hitting the stomach all at once. My daughter always drank tea (a little sugar and lemon added). She would get the whole cup down one spoon at a time even if it took an hour. Have to keep them hydrated - don't worry if he's not eating - a day or so without food is OK just keep the liquids going.

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J.G.

answers from Chicago on

My five year old just had a stomach bug yesterday...all she did was sleep drink some poweraide or water and throw it up again. We just let her sleep, continued with the poweeraide and water slowly and bits of plain crackers. a cool rag on the forehead, etc...Today was a bit better. She kept everything down but still has a small appetite. More active though. keep an eye out for tears and pee, its the most important! Hope he feels better!!

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M.B.

answers from Rochester on

you are doing great getting him to drink water at the very least. stay away from sugar! try simple rice - and treat it right before you do make it - rinse it and let it soak 2-12 hours before you cook it (rinse directly before cooking also!) and it will be enough for his tummy to endure. If he turns away from it - simply put it in the fridge.

look up cracker recipes online ifyoudon't like storebought - they're a simple recipe and just require an extra step or two. maybe not depending on recipe. he can HELP you too, if he'sup to it. better than giving him playdoh to play with, and it doesn'tmatter if he eats it. : )

BRAT for diarrhea - bananas, rie applesauce, toast. I would go the step further and dry crackers. mny son LOVES crackers sothis is a very big treat for him.

good luck,
M.

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C.D.

answers from New York on

you have to give it time dont let him eat or drink till he has stopped vomitting for a few hours.then eat rice or toast only. hang in there if it last more then 2 days call dr

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C.O.

answers from New York on

Ice chips!!!!!!!! They feel so good and cold on his dry mouth.

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M.T.

answers from New York on

He needs to stay hydrated. Get him Pedialyte, which will help replace electolytes - they make pediatlyte pops for the freezer, he may be tempted to have an ice pop. Keep pushing fluids.

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S.R.

answers from El Paso on

see if he can hold down some pedia-lyte. it'll help replace fluids AND electrolytes lost from the vomiting & diarrhea. if not, just keep at it with the water. he probably won't be interested in eating anything until his stomach calms down some. if you want to offer him something, go with some saltine crackers. Hope he feels better soon!

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C.W.

answers from Washington DC on

lots of water, diluted juice gatorade. stay away from dairy. When he can begin to digest, bananas, rice, applesause and toast for a while. our biggest mistake was letting them have food when they felt hungry (pizza vomit is not fun to clean) Let him rest, it takes a lot out of you. hope he feels better soon.

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T.B.

answers from Washington DC on

My 4 y/o woke up the same way this morning. This is her 1st time ever vomiting, poor thing is just pitiful. I spoke to her DR this afternoon. #1 - limit the amount of plain water, it can cause more harm then good. She suggested pedialyte drinks and pedialyte freezer pops, or gatorade. Monitor the number of times he urinates within 8 hours, also make sure he still has tears when crying. No tears or urination mean dehydration which may require IV fluids. After vomiting subsides a bit do 1/2 piece of dry toast, if successful follow BRATT diet - bananas, rice, applesauce, tea and toast.

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L.W.

answers from Cincinnati on

freezie pops and gatoraide or pedialite..hopefully since its a stomach bug, it should only last 1 day of really bad vomitting and diarreah...he will probalby be weak tomorrow but be on the upslope. sorry about your baby.

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R.J.

answers from Seattle on

Stomach bugs usually don't have fevers (it's really really rare for them to).

If you can't get fluids into him, you'll probably need to take him to the ER for an IV. Usually that's not necessary. Slow sips until they can start keeping down larger ones. Just make sure you're familiar with the signs of dehydration so you can bring him in if necessary.

I'll bet your problem with the juice is that he gulped it / drank a lot more than he was of the water. The body naturally fights drinking water when we have the stomach flu, because our electrolytes are already out of wack, but *dives* for the sugars in juice (which it desperately needs for brain function). To "ease" into it, try making juice popsicles, OR give him some suckers to get a little sugar into him so that his body is gulping at the juice.

Soda (sprite/7up typically) & gatorade/pedialyte are the best rehydration options short of an IV (because all 3 have salts and sugars, which the body needs). Shake the soda a bit so that the carbonation doesn't act like a propellant. It doesn't need to be totally flat (pedialyte and gatroade are both essentially flat soda with more kinds of salts than most sodas). Later, straight chicken broth (just drain the solids out of chicken soup and put the broth in a sippy cup) can get the fats and proteins into him that he needs for manufacturing antibodies. I personally skip BRAT and go straight to McDonalds ((there is no better sick food on the planet that McDonalds hamburgers and Sprite -or in my case, coke, for the caffeine, but I'm adhd) but McD food is practically predigested and loaded with fats... it's exactly what a sick body needs once it can keep food down, because it requires minimum digestion for maximum absorption... of course the same reasons why it's bad for us when we're healthy)).

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C.H.

answers from Dallas on

My granddaughter just had this but no vomiting. Doctor suggested a modified "BRAT" diet to slow down the diarhhea.

I looked at Wikipedia (not really the best source) but it had some good information in there. It worked for us pretty well -- but then she came down with Strep Throat. (She tested negative for that the first time) Her fever increased and she got a moderate sore throat. For that, she needed a prescription too. Then she got well within 2 more days.

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