Rotavirus Question

My 10 month old had that too. She also lost weight and everything. She stoped the diarrhea after like 4 days, although the Dr said it could go as long as 7 days, but it really took her about a week and a half after that to start getting her appetite back. Keeping him hydrated is more important than food, and he'll get back in the swing of things soon.

Erica-
I am so sorry to hear this.. its a tough flu -
My son had it for his first birthday. We ended up in the Emergency room - because he was so listless, and sleeping all the time... Try and give him fluids - gatorade or electrolites - teaspoons at a time, I tried that before - but my son had to be hooked up to an IV - so I don't want to scare you, but he also wouldn't eat or drink and was very dehydrated.. his with his IV lasted about 5 days total - with the 3rd day being in the hospital. just change him constantly to avoid the nasty diaper rash...follow your heart.. i hate to say ER - since i know it costs.. but nothing i was doing was improving our situation..

best wishes - you'll be in my prayers

i am a WM of 2yr, 6mos and step mom of 10y and 8yr.. busy busy

I'm sorry to hear your son is suffering so with rotavirus. Did the doctor give you specific signs of dehydration to look for? If not, I would call to find out because he is definitely at risk for this. For right now, check the mucous membranes in his mouth. Is his tongue very red, wrinkled rather than smooth? This is a sign of dehydration. Also, lightly pinch the skin on the back of his hand. Does it immediately recoil to smooth again or does it remain tented? Tenting is a sign of dehydration in a younger person. In the very young, babies that is, their fontanels are sunken if they are dehydrated. And a person can still urinate if they are dehydrated. It will be significantly less, but they will still go. The color will also be much darker than normal. Hopefully this helps, but I would definitely call your doctor or even a nurses hotline for more advise. Good luck, hang in there. The good thing about virus's is that they are self-limiting and won't last forever. Your son will beat it. ; )

Dear Erica,

I am so sorry that your son is sick. My daughter (now 2) had the rotavirus when she was about a year old. It was awful to watch and had my husband and I worried sick. The only thing you can do is exactly what you are doing...let him sleep and keep him hydrated (pedialite, water, milk, etc.). I saw my daughter loose a ton of weight and she was very out of it, but she recovered completely. I remember it lasting about a week and she slept all the time...all day and all night. I sympathize with you and am so sorry.

Hang in there,

C.

My daughter had this in early April, when she was 11 months old. She had it for about a week and a half in total, and went to the hospital for a couple of days for IV fluids when she was about 6 days into it. I asked the doctor what we could do next time to help prevent dehydration and he said it's really hard when they're young like that because you can't make them drink if they refuse (you can't necessarily reason with them). He said offering pedialyte in small sips every 10 minutes or so would be good but if they're sleeping, don't wake them to drink. Our daughter would drink once in a while, but, overall, she refused, which is how she wound up so dehydrated.

Hi Erica:

My daughter had the rotavirus on her first birthday as well. She was vomiting and had horrible diarrhea for about 5 to 7 days. The only way we could keep her hydrated was to give her 1-2 oz of pedilyte ever 30 minutes to 1 hour for the first two days. If your son has trouble keeping done an ounce, you can try starting off with just 5 ML via syringe at a time. Water and dairy products are too hard on their little tummies, I would suggest using plain or apple flavored pedilyte, the other flavors can stain your carpet if he throws it up, we learned this the hard way. Once your child keeps the fluid down for a day or two, you can slowly added things like bananas, rice, applesauce, and Toast (BRAT diet) back into his diet, but only in small amounts. If you give the child too much it over load his little tummies and then he could start vomiting again. This is a horrible virus, but you will get through it. It could hang on as long as 7 to 14 days, but usually the child is feeling better in about 7 days.

Good luck!

My 16 mo. old had it for 7-8 days, keep up the pedialite, and give him something like cheerios and bananas and he should be fine, my little one lost over 2 lbs and only weighed 20 to begin with, but she bounced back quickly. Good luck!

So sorry to hear about your son. It is a tough virus.

My daughter had the virus right after Christmas a year ago. She had no appetite and water just went right through her and she was incredibly tired. The exhaustion is due to the diarrhea and they are not getting any nutrients. The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to avoid dehydration. Give him teaspoons of water every few minutes. Even if he has diarhhea he is still getting something.

Watch for signs of dehyration - no urination or wet diaper for long periods of time, no saliva, no tears when he cries, sunken eyes and pale/greyish skin. If dehydration sets in, he will need an IV.

My daughter had the virus in full force for almost a week but felt the effects for almost a month - low appetite and fatigue. Also, it is common that kids will be more susceptible to other illnesses for a few months as rotavirus really is tough on the immune system.

Hang in there and just watch for signs of dehyration. Also, if you don't feel your doctor paid close enough attention, take him to the E.R.

Good Luck,

L.

Erica,
Your poor baby. I had never heard of rotavirus, so I was curious to learn more about it. I found this really great website that might help answer some of your quesions...

http://www.rotavirusinfo.com/consumer.html

Good luck and I hope your little one gets better soon!

My 18 month old son had this too. Once we took all dairy out of his diet, his stomach went back to normal in a couple of days. When they get the diarrhea, it takes the lining out of the stomach and this makes them unable to process milk or dairy...lactose intolerant. We switched to soy milk while he was sick and went back to cow's milk 2 weeks later. The dr. also told us to try yogurt. It has a bit of dairy but not enough to hurt. The cultures in yogurt can really aid in digestion. Once your little one can take in some nutrients, he won't sleep so much.
And the good news is: Once they get this, they become immune to it so it won't happen again!!
Good Luck!

My daughter is 18 months old, and she had the rotovirus a few weeks ago. It was terrible. My pediatrician said that the first time they get it is always the worst. It lasted 5 days, on the sixth day she got off the couch and started to move again. Don't worry about the sleeping or the weight loss. That is completely normal. Your son will bounce back as soon as it's over. In the meantime.... just let him do what feels best for him. I know this has been a terrible week for you, but it will get better. Hang in there.

My daughter had rotavirus at 14 months. It started on a Thursday and she was vomiting every 15 minutes... literally. She couldn't even keep water down. It was very violent, heaving, even bringing up bile. We saw the doc Thursday and then called again on Friday for advice.

We ended up going to the hospital Saturday night and she was put on an IV for dehydration. The vomiting had subsided, but she was so lethargic it scared me. Just because he has tears doesn't mean he can't be dehydrated. My daughter peed when the hospital staff were checking her in the ER and they said she couldn't be dehydrated since she peed.

Well, once we finally saw the doctor, they did blood work and were shocked at how low her levels were and put her on an IV immediately. They even ran the tests again because they couldn't believe that she could still be up and alert and have levels as low as hers. So, I don't think the pee/tears test is very accurate when assessing such a young child.

If he is still vomiting Thursday, I'd take him into the doctor again or even to the ER just so they can run some proper tests. Since Saturday seems like a long time to me, if you're not seeing improvement. For my daughter, we had the vomiting for 3 days and then it went to diarrhea. Once it turned to diarrhea, that was a real turning point and we could see it was improving. I think the vomiting poses more of a danger to dehydration, but I'm not sure. All in all, it was at least a week.

Also, the ER doc told me not to give her just water and not cold drinks. She said water offers nothing - give juice, gatorade, pedialyte (which my daughter HATED) but not plain water. And offer the liquids at room temp, not very cold or with ice. Apparently, the coldness can be a bit of a shock to the stomach, especially for a little one who's belly has been in such spasms for days.

Good luck, don't panic, but do insist on tests if you feel uneasy about him. I was very surprised to learn how dehydrated she was - it was a wake-up call for us. I also thought that as long as there were some tears and urine that it wasn't dangerous and I was wrong. I'm glad we took her to the hospital, especially since it was the weekend and waiting until Monday was not an option for me.

Isn't this something they immunize for? Did your child catch this EVEN WITH the immunization that he received? I am so sorry...your poor baby...

I would be concerned too - especially if the doctor I took my kid to didn't seem to be. I don't trust doctors because they usually just want to give pharmaceuticals to patients instead of teaching them to be healthy. Dehydration can occur very quickly in babies - even if they still have tears. Once there are no tears it is way beyond simple dehydration. If this was my baby I would be giving him drops of Sangre de Drago in water - it is a sap from a tree that grows wild in the Amazon rain forest - it has been shown to help the body heal internal/intestinal damage and to be anti-viral - it stops bleeding (internal or external) and is very high in anti-oxidants - your doctor may not be aware of this product but if you are interested in more information about it you can contact me back here or check out my website: www.shootingstarherbs.amazonherb.net - good luck healing your baby before he needs very serious medical intervention.

I am only giving this info second hand because my son hasn't had this but a friends child had. Her son was in the beginning stages of liver failure after 24 hours due to the dehydration. She said she went through a costco size box of diapers that day. I would watch the eating and drinking like everyone else said. I just had to take my son to the E.R. last night due to dehydration from a severe sore throat, it just happens so fast.

Good luck, and trust what you are seeing. You know your child better then anyone else. If you have to go to the E.R I would take him to Gilbert Emergency. That way he won't have to wait long to be seen. We have had to go a couple times with my son and they have been the fastest by far. It took us less then 2 hours last night, tests and all.

Oh I am so sorry. Watch him very closely and make sure he is getting fluids. My daughter had this and was hospiatlized due to dehydration for four days. The best thing for him is pedialyte if he will drink it. Unfortunately my daughter would not drink a thing and she hated the pedialyte. What I did try was a syringe of fluid every so often. I would let him sleep as much as he needs. He is probably worn out from all of the vomitting and diareah not to mention his body is run down from losing so much weight. Don't worry, he will gain it back as fast as it came off, my daighter did. Hope he is better soon!

they told me it can last up to 10 days. try giving him gatorade. i had a stomach flu a few weeks ago and it didn't go straight through like the water did.