3 Year Old Son Sick with Stomach Virus

You may want to try a homemade electrolyte drink. Powdered Vitamin C (or fresh lemon juice) with water or chamomile tea (cooled), a little honey or maple syrup or banana to sweeten, and some sea salt. Also, chicken broth is an excellent choice. If he's really hungry, a banana or rice cake would be gentle too. Good luck, hopefully he's doing better by now.
A.

All three of my kids had this stomach flu this winter.

If he has a hard time keeping the liquids down try giving them to him just a few ounces at a time until he can keep down more. Then I recommend progressing to dry toast; later rice, applesauce and bananas - little by little, one item at a time. Not holding things down lasted 12-14 hrs. Progressing back to food and decreasing the fever took another couple of days. About day 2-4 expect a day of complete exhaustion and need to sleep.

I hope this helps.

ps- it's *highly* contagious... watch any kids that have come in contact. It seems to have about a week's incubation before appearing on the next person.

Hi A.,
I hope you all are doing better. My son used to get sick all the time. As far as medicine, our ped used to tell me to give my son Fever All suppositories. When your child isn't keeping anything down, they're not keeping the medicine down either. This gets around that. They come in two sizes, Children and Infant. They are available at most stores. Dosing instructions are on the box. Sometimes the upset stomach can be caused by the high fever. Just a thought. For the dehydration, the Pedialyte also comes in flavors. My son used to only drink the Apple and Grape flavors.
M.

Give him the BRAT diet, banana, rice, applesauce and toast.

It's a great sign that he is hungry. Our pediatrician has told us that kids will recover faster from the stomach flu when they are eating, as it gives their body strength and nutrients. Anyway, just start by giving him bland foods and see how it goes. Toast, plain chicken, plain baked potato, bananas,crackers,etc. Hope he bounces back fast!

Hi A., if your son is hungry, that is a great sign! try some soup broth, chicken noodle soup, crackers, crackers in his soup :), jello, popsicles, sorbet,... pedialyte pops, and then work into small portions of his favorite foods to see if he can keep it down.... and, BRAT is good! good luck! J.

Pedialyte makes a popsicle that may help keep him hydrated and feel like he's eating something.

A.,
Have you taken your child to see the pediatrician? With the high fever I believe he at least needs to be examined by a doctor to make sure there isn't anything else wrong. At my pediatrician's office any sign of a high fever we have to bring our baby in to be checked out. I would not just wait for it to pass I would head to the doctor's office as soon as possible.

Hang in there! My family has experience this type of flu to many times and my son will be turning three in August.
Just be sure to keep his fever down with tylenol or motrin, just to make him comfortable, of course make sure you get the OK and correct dosage from your son's Pediatrician. Make sure he is taking his Pedialite, there are other brands that might taste better for your son.
It will take a few days even weeks for his digestion track to get back to order. You can also try giving him some live yogurt cultures. Pobonics? I have not clue how to spell it, any whole food store sells it in liquid or powder form. Please consult your doctor.
Good Luck!

Hi A.,

I have an 11 1/2 month old daughter that just recovered from the stomach virus. I have to say that it is a vicious bug - my little one vomited 10 times in a 6 hour time frame. I called the after hours nurse advice line associated with my pediatrician's office and was told by the on-call doctor that she would vomit more and to feed her sips of Pedialyte to help her re-hydrate. However, after vomiting 6 times in 3 hours (first food, then liquid, then bile) I took her to the emergency room at the Children's Hospital in DC. To make a long story short, she lost a lot of liquids and had to be put on an IV to replenish. I don't know how severely your little boy is vomiting but to rehydrate is really important. After we got home from the hospital, I fed her sips of Pedialyte (from a 5ml syringe) and formula every 15 minutes. The main point is to give your child small amounts of liquid that he can keep in, until he can take more liquids.

A few days after the vomiting, my daughter started having diarrhea (and this lasted for about 3 days) and a slight fever. According to her pediatrician, this is a normal process of recovering from a stomach virus. The pediatrician and the advice nurse both recommended some baby Tylenol to keep the fever down and feeding her very bland wheat/rice type foods. I added some rice cereal in her formula and made some rice porridge for some of her feedings (the rice helps thicken the stool). Some other foods that she ate during this time period included toast, Cheerios, and whole grain waffle. Also try Pedialyte popsicles to rehydrate - he might like that!

I hope this information helps. I know it's a scary process - but hang in there, he will recover soon!

Best of luck!

L.

Your son probably has what my two year old just got over. It's a nasty virus from the enterovirus family. it causes flu like symptoms as well as viral gastreonitis. In other words, its a "stomach flu" It can last from 3-5 days or 10-14 days depending on how well you treat it. These instructions that I am about to give you are directly from my childs pediatrician and also from my experience. You must get your son to drink plenty of pedialyte solution. Only samll sips at a time. Too much fluid at once with upset the intestines. The child must have three ounces after each loose stool. Make sure he goes through at least two bottles in a 2-3 day span. It is a must that he drinks the pedialyte, because it is the only thing that will prevent dehydration in a small child. Water will not prevent dehydration.If the child gets dehydrated, he will need to go to the hospital for IV fluids. Signs of dehydration are sunken eyes, little or no urine, white tongue, lathargic and weak. DO NOT FEED THE CHILD ANY MILK, OIL OR EXCESSIVE SUGAR. especially no dairy, it will make the virus worse. Feed him bland foods for the next 7-10 days. Even after you think the virus is over, it can return if you go back to a regular diet too soon. After the pedialyte is done, only have him drink clear fluis but no juice, nothing that will cause a loose stool. Make sure you wash your hands each time you change him, the virus is highly contagious. Another name for the virus is the rhinovirus. BEWARE....GOOD LUCK

PS.
Children hate pedialyte solution, it taste salty. Youcan be creative and mix it with a little ginger ale to cut the taste, but he must drink it, lots of it. I had to force my daughter. It's actually the thing that he needs the most to get over this.

If it is just a stomach bug it probably will pass quickly. If he's been having diahrea too it could be Rotavirus - which can last up to 7 days. But even with Rotavirus, there's nothing you can do but make sure he doesn't get dehydrated. Good luck and be strong!

Get him to a doctor or a hospital. a doctor should never try to acess your child without first evaluating him. One thing to keep in mind is, it's your child that's sick and it's you that has to see him suffering,meanwhile the dr probably goes home without any worries. So, my advice is to get him some help.a fever of 102 is usually enough for a doctor see the child. I work in the medical field (INTERNAL MEDICINE) and he needs to be seen. mother of 3.( 16,9 and 12months.)

I hope that by the time you see this he's stopped vomiting! I'm surprised the doctor didn't want to see him since he has a fever as well as the vomiting. Like the first person who responded below, I have a doc who would have wanted at least to check him. How frequently is he vomiting today? If he is still vomiting frequently today, and this begin yesterday, I would have him checked today because you don't want to risk dehydration. If he's drinking well but not urinating enough, he may be getting dehyrdated and it's hard to tell because the fluid's going down--drinking without enough urination is a sign of dehydration. You also might ask the doctor about the fever medications; Motrin and Tylenol both deal with fevers but can both upset a child's stomach too, especially if taken without food, so ask the doctor about that too, maybe. If it's just a quick virus, the Cheerios are great, maybe dry toast (no butter or jelly yet), plain Saltine crackers. A variation on Pedialyte is Pedialyte popsicles which are available, or regular popsicles but don't make them from citrus or it may upset his stomach more. Good luck.

Hi A.. I just went through this last week with my son, who is 13 months old. The vomiting lasted about 6 days, gradually becoming less frequent. Diarrhea started on day 3 and subsided on day 6. Basically, I tried to give him as much liquids as he would keep down (small amounts, frequently) and introduced easy to eat foods gradually. Rice, cherios, applesauce and soft tofu seemed to work best for him. For the first few days, he would vomit after every meal/feeding, but it got better. Like some of the others have said, as long as he is not dehydrated, and seems himself, you just have to let this run it's course. Hang in there -- it'll be over soon. My son is now 100% better and eating like a champ. It's amazing how things change so quickly. Also, both my husband and I caught too but it lasted only a couple of days for us.

Hi A.,

The good old "BRAT" diet...Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast works well. My twins don't like the pedialyte type drinks and their pediatrician recommended Gatorade - they're still picky about the flavor, but it worked! A speedy recovery to your son.

T. A

I have two children 11, 13. I also run a childcare/ preschool. My pediatrician has always said to do the B. R. A. T. diet. You only have sips of water till you can keep it down then you slowly add in the B. R. A. T. diet which is bananas, rice, applesauce and dry toast. This works for adults and older children also when you get the stomache bug. Do this till you can build the tolerance back up for his regular diet of foods. Hope this helps. Kim

The stomach bug is going through our house as well. See if he can keep down pedialite (think that is how it is spelled), control the fever with motrin and/or tylenol, and try dry toast or banana. My 3 yr-old daughter vomited once, ran a fever for a day and a half, and slept most of it off. My 6th month old vomited for a day, is still having diahrea, fever for a day, but is in good spirits and is eating some. My oldest just started last night.

As long as he is keeping fluids in and urinating he should be okay. If the fever doesn't break, call your pediatrician again.

Good luck,
S. :)

I would have to say pedilite, jello and popcycles. Then when he is keeping those down, for at least an hour, I will typically give the kids a few crackers or toast with a little butter. But he needs to be able to keep the liquids down before you try food.

Hi A.,

Keep your son warm. Give him Children's Tylenol as directed on the bottle.

Give him Pedialyte for liquids. Popsicles are good. Soups made with water: chicken noodle, stars, etc.

If you see red spots on him call the Doc back. If not, it will run its course.

Do not snuggle with your child. Fix him a comfortable spot on the sofa or his bed and not with you.

Hope this helps. Good luck. D.

Hi A., the stomach virus pass through everyone in my house this past weekend, including my 6-month old daughter and my 21-month old son. Everyone got over it pretty quickly (23-36 hours), expect my son. He still has vomiting and diarrhea. I started him out on a liquid diet and have since put him on the B.R.A.T. diet until he is 100% (Bananas, rice, apples, and toast). He seems to be doing a lot better today. He can finally eat something and keep it on his stomach.

I hope your son starts feeling better soon!

He should follow the brat diet. Bananas, Rice, Apples or Applesauce and Toast. and onlya little at a time.

Our daughter had a stomach virus that lasted 10 days. And the pediatrician said the same thing. It will pass. And it did.