What to do when they can't hold down water?

[CAMom]

Poor dd! Yesterday was her 15th birthday and today she woke up in a bad stomach situation.

 

She started throwing up this morning. I just went to check on her and she said, "I can't even hold down water now." She said she threw up again and it was all just water and that's all she's had today.

 

We rarely get sick around here and it's even rarer to get a stomach bug.:blush5:

 

What should I be looking for and what can I do for her? I don't want her getting dehydrated. I offered her a popsicle and she made a horrible face at me and said, "no."

 

She and her brother are competing in our speech and debate league's national championship tournament in just a few days. I hope she's OK and that none of the rest of us get it!:001_huh:

 

Thanks for any advice you can give.

[MaMa2005]

Try some Gatorade. It will help replenish the electrolytes.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

See if she can tolerate little sips of water, and make sure she's still urinating.

[reading]

You could boil some water, let it cool down until it's safe to drink, and add a little bit of honey and a tiny bit of salt. Let her have 1/2 tsp. - 1 tsp of that warm water every 5 minutes or so. She should keep it in her mouth for a bit and swallow tiny amounts. She should be able to keep such tiny amounts down. The trick is to do that every couple of minutes, so those tiny amounts eventually add up. Over time, she can have more, and graduate to pedialyte and such.

 

Hope she'll be better soon!

[suppleasthewind]

How about ice cubes?

[RoughCollie]

This is what we do. I don't know if it is the right way any more, but it's our way. Does it work? I don't know. It is our way, so we do it whether it works or not. :)

 

Sips of flat Coke (pour and stir with a fork until all bubbles gone) and tiny bites of Saltine crackers.

[freeindeed]

Small sips of Gatorade for a few hours. If she holds that down, have her slowly sip chicken broth for a few hours. Then try soda crackers. That's what we do. I hope she's better soon and that the rest of you stay well.:grouphug:

[jenangelcat]

The Dr. Sears site has a timeline for vomiting. You start out vomiting constantly and it spreads out gradually over time. There's recommendations on the site for how to introduce liquids and eventually food. Basically you make sure she has sips of water or something with electrolytes in it every 10 minutes. Just small sips. You just keep increasing it as the space between vomiting increases.

[myfunnybunch]

You could boil some water, let it cool down until it's safe to drink, and add a little bit of honey and a tiny bit of salt. Let her have 1/2 tsp. - 1 tsp of that warm water every 5 minutes or so. She should keep it in her mouth for a bit and swallow tiny amounts. She should be able to keep such tiny amounts down. The trick is to do that every couple of minutes, so those tiny amounts eventually add up. Over time, she can have more, and graduate to pedialyte and such.

 

Hope she'll be better soon!

 

This is what we've done when our kids get that sick. Usually they can tolerate teeny amounts at a time. We started with a 15 minute wait, then 10, then every 5 minutes. If it comes up, wait 20 then start over with 15-15-15-10-5-5-5...

 

I've heard from several Facebook friends that this stomach virus is awful for their teens and children. (But the parents haven't been getting it. Weird.)

 

Hope she's feeling better soon and no one else gets it!

 

Cat

[Laurie]

I read about this here and it works. It must be the canned peaches in heavy syrup...just give tiny sips of the syrup (no peaches!) to coat/soothe the stomach.

[SweetBean]

This was recommended to us when our daughter was little, and getting dehydrated from vomiting. Drain the heavy syrup from canned fruits, and give her 1 tsp. of the syrup every 15 minutes over the next couple of hours. It will help raise the blood sugar - a low blood sugar can contribute to continuing nausea and vomiting - and being heavier it is more like to stay down. Gradually increase the amount of syrup that you offer each 15 minutes, and you can then switch to lighter clear liquids of her choice. Don't push her to drink anything that she thinks is nasty. I have never had any luck getting a kid to drink electrolyte drinks. You can then add in crackers.

 

This has worked over and over again for our family; I have never had one vomit up the heavy syrup or go on to having dry heaves since we started doing this.

[LidiyaDawn]

This is what we do. I don't know if it is the right way any more, but it's our way. Does it work? I don't know. It is our way, so we do it whether it works or not. :)

 

Sips of flat Coke (pour and stir with a fork until all bubbles gone) and tiny bites of Saltine crackers.

 

I grew up with it being flat gingerale and crackers. ;)

[Britomart]

The Dr. Sears site has a timeline for vomiting. You start out vomiting constantly and it spreads out gradually over time. There's recommendations on the site for how to introduce liquids and eventually food. Basically you make sure she has sips of water or something with electrolytes in it every 10 minutes. Just small sips. You just keep increasing it as the space between vomiting increases.

 

Here's the link to Dr. Sears' page on vomiting. We used it just this week. Ugh. But the advice was very helpful, and kept me from worrying.

[kalanamak]

Tiny ice chips. If she is still peeing and not dehydrated, you can wait it out. A 15 year old has a lot more reserve than a 9 month old. If she quits peeing, have unrelenting fever, gets weak, etc. a trip to the ER for a couple of liters of saline could do a lot for her. Often once a truly dehydrated person is rehydrated, they can handle sips of fluids again.

Hope she does better. The bug rocketing around here is a 24 hour one with chills, no fever, a headache and some diarrhea with it. Not too bad.

[mhgillil]

I spent a great deal of my childhood sick with stomach bugs, so here is what I would suggest (in order):

 

 

• Small sips of room temp. water
  
• Small sips of room temp. ginger ale or Sprite (if you have any Angostura bitter, a dash of these in either really helps)
  
• A few saltines
  
• Room temp. Gatorade
  

 

And be careful. Once I literally could not hold anything down and ended up hospitalized with dehydration.

[East Coast Sue]

Put a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol so the vapor can be smelled- apparently it inhibits the nausea. Then try the syrup from canned peaches. I hope it works. My friend who is a nurse says it works every time. I haven't had to put it to the test yet...

 

Sue

[CAMom]

Thank you for the tips. I got her to try some ice chips which she has held down for now. She said she's willing to try some gatorade so dh just went out to get some.

 

She says her stomach hurts and that she has pressure below her belly button.:confused: She also says she's hungry but she's afraid to eat anything. She's as white as a ghost (but she's normally super pale anyway ;)) but no fever at all.

[violinmom]

Love that syrup idea! Will keep that one on file.

 

This has worked for us:

Boil rice with extra water. spoon off the water and give it in tiny amounts.

[Robin M]

Our solution is pedalyte. Per nurse, start with shot glass (2 ounces I believe) and drink every 5 minutes. If keep down after an hour, increase to 2 shots every 5 minutes and so on.

 

If you press on her skin and skin doesn't bounce back or stay's white where pressed or eyes seem sunken, could be getting dehydrated. If she hasn't peed for 4 hours or more, that is also a sign.

[mhg]

Sips of 7Up or Sprite work with me when I'm in such a state.

[teamturner]

You should give her Pedialyte popsicles. Usually icy things are tolerated more than liquids and will give her some hydration.

[texasmama]

I have my kids wait a couple of hours after vomiting before trying anything. Then I give 1 teaspoon of gatorade, wait 15 minutes, give one more, etc. If this is tolerated, then I give a bit more of gatorade every 15 minutes. If not, I wait more time between sips.

 

You can check for dehydration by pinching up a bit of the skin on her hand. If it goes back to normal pretty quickly, she is probably fine. It it stays "tented" a bit or goes back very slowly, then she is starting to get dehydrated.

[kalanamak]

Thank you for the tips. I got her to try some ice chips which she has held down for now. She said she's willing to try some gatorade so dh just went out to get some.

 

She says her stomach hurts and that she has pressure below her belly button.:confused: She also says she's hungry but she's afraid to eat anything. She's as white as a ghost (but she's normally super pale anyway ;)) but no fever at all.

 

she may have diarrhea yet. **Biggest mistake when people start to be hungry is to go to solids too much too fast. ** Then they "relapse". Sips, more sips, 4 oz. Then warmish broth for salts (gatorade is actually very wimpy in the salts department), crackers nibbled. I often move to soft cooked white rice, esp. if diarrhea. After a bit, thin rice pudding.

[CAMom]

she may have diarrhea yet. **Biggest mistake when people start to be hungry is to go to solids too much too fast. ** Then they "relapse". Sips, more sips, 4 oz. Then warmish broth for salts (gatorade is actually very wimpy in the salts department), crackers nibbled. I often move to soft cooked white rice, esp. if diarrhea. After a bit, thin rice pudding.

 

Thanks! She drank about 6 ounces of gatorade over the past 3 hours. She asked for a plain piece of bread and I gave it to her. She just called me into her room and said she's feeling worse again and was going back to sleep.

 

How come I still worry so much even when they're teenagers?;)

[Kathleen in VA]

Thanks! She drank about 6 ounces of gatorade over the past 3 hours. She asked for a plain piece of bread and I gave it to her. She just called me into her room and said she's feeling worse again and was going back to sleep.

 

How come I still worry so much even when they're teenagers?;)

 

Not to worry you, but have you considered she might have appendicitis? I read through all the posts but I may have missed this.

 

Anyway, when I was 13 I had similar symptoms and it was appendicitis. Also, dd12 went through a similar episode 2 years ago and had to have her appendix removed - it was near rupturing.

 

If it were me, I would take her to the ER.