What do you feed your kids when they are stomach-sick?

[bolt.]

What are your go-to foods when your kids are nauseated or just not feeling well in the tummy? What do you offer to drink? Are there kinds of foods that you avoid? Items that you make especially? Do you encourage them to eat/drink a little, even if they'd rather not? Do you keep servings small, even if they would want more?

 

What do you do with well children when one is getting 'sick foods' or other things that seem desirable (like extra screen time?) or undesirable (like naps)?

[Snickerdoodle]

When mine have upset stomach or the like, they just don't eat and I don't encourage them to eat.     When they are ready to eat a regular meal, they will.

[KungFuPanda]

I give them whatever they can hold down. For us, it's usually homemade chicken broth with some rice and ginger ale. I just tell the other kid "You're not sick." I haven't really had trouble with one child envying the sick one.

 

I have a friend who keeps sick children in their rooms all day. No screens. She thinks it eliminates school absences due to kids embellishing their symptoms. Those boys rarely miss school :-)

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

If my kiddo is sick at her stomach and needing fluids, I give her (the most wholesome possible) popcicles.  Usually not homemade b/c we don't often make them much, it's usually a mix of juice and blended fruit and I get them at the HFS.  I do this if I feel that it is necessary to try to keep fluid going and the cold and soothing is generally welcome.

 

If my kiddo starts wanting solids, I I go to (whole wheat) toast, dry.

 

As she begins to recover, she almost always wants my minestrone or Mediterranean chickpea soup.

 

My darling kiddo has little fat and when she starts losing weight, it shows.  I tend not to try to encourage her to eat unless she wants to but when it's been more than a couple of days, whatever she needs aside, *I* need her to eat something.  I'll usually make the soup and just give her the broth and some crackers or bread.

 

I've never read the Love Languages book but I'm pretty sure my love language is food; not eating it but providing it.

 

I have one child and you might think that that eliminates the "but she gets a popcicle!"  It doesn't.  I buy them singly (they don't come in a box) and make sure I get a couple of extra for Dad. I make enough soup for everyone.

 

No extra screen time for sickness.  I tried that for a v.e.r.y short while when my daughter was little and talk about embellishment of symptoms!  

[Cinder]

We don't get a lot of stomach illness here but when we do I let the dc have sprite or ginger ale and saltines if they are hungry. They seem to want only these, probably because they are able to tolerate these better than anything else. I don't push food; I do encourage fluids.

 

In the even rarer occasion that only one has a stomach bug the well ones do not get special treatment.

[Lara in Colo]

This may sound weird, but it works for me........

 

There different types of tummy issues and they have different "cures" for different people.

 

I once knew a guy that drank milk for a hangover.

 

My daughter and I have low blood sugar, so somethings will make us ill when we eat it at the wrong times.

 

 

So-- I tell my children to ask their tummy what sounds good-- they envision eating the item and if the thought doesn't upset their tummy, then they can have it.

 

One child always has cinnamon toast waffles -- no milk

One child has milk exclusively

One child wants fresh oranges.

Once when I was really sick, I asked my neighbor to buy vegetables and I made green juice-- it was so good and just what I needed.

 

 

The only exception to this is when  I make them drink ginger ale when they are barfing.  I think that ginger ale is better to come back up than milk or water I believe that they need something in their stomach to barf up-- dry heaves are horrible and I honestly think that it helps to remove the rest of whatever is making them ill. (sort of rinses the tummy out). This phase usually only lasts for a couple of hours, then they do the tummy ask thing.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Polar Ginger Ale and Saltines.

 

 

[Amy in TX]

Gatorade or homemade broth or weak tea, depending on the kid and what they like.  For solids, only if they want to eat, plain boiled rice with a little salt, dry toast, saltines, bananas, plain yogurt, again depending on the kid and their tastes.

 

Screen time:  only for vomiting or documented fever.  Other dc may watch too when their day's school work is done. 

 

 

[bolt.]

I tend to do crackers, toast with honey, apple sauce, plain cold chicken and ginger cookies to eat, with tea/honey or weak Gatorade to drink.

[Annie]

Water, coconut water (full of electrolytes), and crackers at first. Once the initial phase is over, we usually add in things like pear slices, broth with rice and carrots in it, more crackers... :-P

 

Fevers and puking get extra screen time. My guy resists napping like nobody's business, so it helps him stay in one place and rest.

[Loowit]

Water or ice chips to keep them hydrated. Saltine crackers or dry toast when they feel up to trying a solid food. My mom always had jello and sprite for us but my kids never cared for those. I try to stay away from sugars with upset tummies anyway.

 

We don't do extra screen time usually if it is a school day because it is too distracting to others for the tv to be on and typically they aren't feeling up to sitting at the computer.

[happypamama]

Generally, if one of mine gets sick, the others will as well, although recently, my two little guys got a cold, and I super-dosed the big two and myself with vitamin D, and we avoided it, which was pretty cool. So if they're all under the weather, we might just have a movie day or two, but generally, I don't do extra screen time for the usual illnesses (colds, stomach bugs). At least one of my kids pretty much just sleeps for 24 hours straight anyway whenever he gets a cold; if I try to drag him out, he gets nauseated and is completely miserable, but if I just let him sleep, he does so and doesn't complain much.

 

As for foods, I encourage water if they'll take it, and I might do apple juice or maybe Sprite/ginger ale (for the older ones) -- I figure low blood sugar makes them feel even worse (the same child who sleeps is particularly prone to that when he doesn't feel well), so I'm okay with a bit of extra sugar. If they're up for eating, I usually encourage bread, bananas, yogurt, crackers, applesauce, other mild stuff. Nothing that would be particularly icky if they throw up! And Culturelle capsules dumped into yogurt or applesauce or drink, to help replenish the beneficial gut bacteria.

[Laura Corin]

Sips of water.  Then something very plain in very small quantities if they want it: plain steamed rice, plain crackers, etc.

 

L

[Laurie4b]

I feed them nothing until their stomach is settled. They sip water. I waited longer to feed them as I got more experienced. I think the stomach needs to rest after an episode.

 

Then we try something like a piece of dry toast and I wait a couple hours. If that stays down,  and they feel better, we go on to more regular foods. I do make sure they are drinking water the whole time.

[kewb]

Bland foods.  Plenty of water.  Usually they do not want to eat but if they do, chicken broth, white toast, egg noodles.

[SadieMarie]

Ginger ale or 7up because they stay down for my kids (and me) when nothing else will, and then I try crackers or toast when they are wanting something solid.

[Ravin]

Whatever they feel up to that's bland and not dairy. Or for the toddler, I nurse him and don't offer food, though would give it if he asked.

[jenn-]

It depends on why they are queasy.  DD gets queasy if her blood sugar isn't stable so she has to eat or it will just get worse.  As for queasy care of stomach illness,  I don't allow much until it completely subsides.  Then I start out with Nilla wafers as a nurse suggested they were better than crackers.

[Parrothead]

When dd was tiny her ped said the above BRAT diet. That is what she has had every time she gets sick like that. Those were our first foods after out swine flu battle a few years ago.

 

I give ginger-ale to drink.

[MissKNG]

I try chicken noodle soup broth and dry toast. Lots of water.

[Melissa in Australia]

If vomiting I give them grated apple sprinkled with cinnamon. If they have the runs I give them dry burned toast, it has to have a bit of charcoal on it. If they are recovering then chicken soup is the best thing.

[MyThreeSons]

We don't get a lot of stomach illness here but when we do I let the dc have sprite or ginger ale and saltines if they are hungry. They seem to want only these, probably because they are able to tolerate these better than anything else. I don't push food; I do encourage fluids.

I prefer the little Oyster Crackers rather than the big Saltine Crackers. They're almost fun, and less messy than all the crumbs from nibbling the big crackers.

 

I also prefer Ginger Ale. It just seems to settle the stomach better. My youngest son prefers sports drinks.