Vomiting toddler... what to do?

[VTnurse]

My 19 month old son started vomiting this morning after breastfeeding. He has now vomited several times and wont keep any fluids down. He had rotovirus when he was 9 months and ended up hospitalized with dehydration, so needless to say I am nervous.

To make matters worse, I am 36 weeks pregnant. I'm having such a hard time keeping up with this.

I don't want to rush him to the Dr b/c I know they wont be able to do anything with this virus, with the exception of hydration, which he is not (yet) ready for.

Any suggestions? Do I keep breastfeeding?

Help!

[lotus.blossom]

Sorry mama. We went through the same thing last spring when I was 9 months pregnant. It was a loooong week. Just keep giving him tiny tiny sips of water or breastmilk. My guy was begging for water because he was so thirsty but couldn't keep it down. So I would give him a sip every 20 minutes or so. You could also try ice chips. Hope its a quick one for you!

[Katielady]

definitely keep breastfeeding. When my first had rota, my ped told me to stop breastfeeding and give him pedialyte. I did it for a few hours but it didn't seem right to me so I read about it online and found that many docs confuse breastfeeding with giving dairy (ie cows' milk) when a child is vomiting. Dairy should be avoided with a stomach bug because it's hard to digest, but human milk is designed to be easy for babies to digest!

If he will nurse, see if you can hold him still for 20 minutes (or longer) after he nurses to try to keep it down. If he won't nurse, you can pump or hand express, and use a medicine dropper to squirt small amounts into his mouth every 15 minutes. I did that when DS had rota and it worked great, he was very ill but never got dehydrated.

Lastly, call your doc if you feel like you need to, and if he shows any signs of dehydration or can't keep anything down.

So sorry! DD is throwing up today but it's nowhere near as bad as when DS had rota. You have my sympathy!