How do I keep sick baby hydrated? & other ?s

[heatherdeg]

So in a nutshell, my adoptive daughter is just turning 16mo (I've had her since 12 days old) and is formula fed. The bulk of her diet is an elemental formula right now (she reacts to dairy and soy). She takes a small amount of table foods... we don't really push her with it. She WANTS the food, she just doesn't swallow all of it.

Well, Wednesday night she threw up and I blew it off to 2 grape tomatoes that I cut up and gave her. It was her first time eating tomatoes.

Thursday she started running a fever but had almost no congestion--so I honestly thought it could be teething. She took an extra nap--extremely out of character for her. When she woke, she was VERY lethargic. She signed "belly" to dh unhappily and not 3 minutes later she threw up.

Today, the fever is high and she's been in and out of sleep all day--COMPLETELY lethargic. She occasionally moans when she breathes (I hold her and she did this for like an hour). Her fever has gotten as high as 104. She has an intermittent cough, but seriously--nothing very strong and not often. It DOES sound productive, though.

So I offered her a bottle and she actually reached out for it. She must've been thirsty--she missed a 4oz. bottle earlier. She drank maybe 3 oz. and threw it ALL up. In the vomit, there were small pieces of what looks like green nasal mucous. It's like what you'd expect to see running from their nose, but she hasn't had anything running from her nose.

I'm worried about keeping her hydrated. She's never really taken to anything but formula. I have pear juice in the house and had recently tried to get her to drink a little of that watered down; but she's just not interested.

And if she's throwing up the formula, I don't know what to do.

We have an awesome ped who is out until Monday and his backup is horrible.

Not sure what to do. I know if her fever goes over 104, I can wipe her down with some rubbing alcohol (although I dread doing that to her).

Thoughts...? My poor lovey...

[Llyra]

It sounds like she's caught a virus. Poor baby-- those can be so miserable. I sure hope she feels better soon.

For a child who's vomiting, I'd try tiny sips of water from a cup, but I'd wait until four hours have passed since the last vomiting episode. If she's not interested in the water, what about popsicles or italian ices? They're not the healthiest of foods, but being sick in our house means a few exceptions to the rules. I wouldn't offer more than a half ounce at a time. Larger quantities are less likely to stay down. I usually do a mouthful every ten to twenty minutes, for a few hours, and then attempt larger quantities.

Does she have diarrhea? Vomiting without diarrhea is a lot less likely to lead to severe dehydration. With diarrhea, you might want to think about something like Pedialyte or a homemade rehydration formula.

What are your feelings on giving tylenol or motrin to lower the fever? Even if you do it once, you can see whether she perks up a lot, or whether she still looks sick even when the fever comes down. A child can be lethargic from fever, and still not be really all that sick. But if you bring the fever down, and the child still looks awful, that's maybe a sign that the illness is more severe.

[heatherdeg]

We're not military holistic. Thanks for all of that. In an attempt to avoid Pedialite I offered up 1oz. pear juice w/1oz. water. She grabbed it so fast & downed it. She wanted more & I gave her the same & she was equally fast to take it. I didn't see your response until after that.

I'm not anti-Motrin/Tylenol and honestly, if she gets to 104 that's where I'm headed.

She doesn't have diarrhea... thanks for that because I didn't even think about it. Feeling MUCH better now!!

[moon mountain mama]

I just read one good trick for helping children deal with a fever is take one pair of cotton socks, wet with luke warm water then put a dry wool sock over that so she is wearing one wet cotton sock and one dry wool sock over the top. This is supposed to help dissipate the heat from the fever.

[blessedwithboys]

NO NO NO rubbing alcohol, please! that is a very outdated practice. it is potentially very harmful. please read this study

as for hydration, try something novel like frozen pops. you can put juice in a small paper cup and when its slushy put a stick in it. if you dont have popsicle sticks you can use a plastic spoon. once its frozen she can lick at it to get some fluids.

i personally stopped using antipyretics when my now 15yo ds was about 5. he used to go as high as 105 and stay there for days. he hasnt had a fever in years since i stopped and my younger ds has never had a fever reducer and also has never had a fever over 102 and actually rarely has fevers at all.

it can be scary to let a fever break on its own, you have to really trust in the process to do it but i personally have seen long term benefits from letting fevers burn out on their own in my kids. the key is staying hydrated. unless your dd has a serious medical issue, she will be ok with small sips here and there throughout the day.

[tanyalynn]

Can you make some homemade stock? The kind where you simmer bones for a long time? Chicken bones (or whole drumsticks) in the slow cooker overnight would work great. It's very soothing for my kids when they've got a gastro bug, but I'd also give slow sips til you're sure it'll stay down.

[heatherdeg]

ok... no alcohol--don't panic.

typing 1 handed--holding her

not holding anything down today but did get 1 oz water into her. not liking anything cold.

she took some watered down pear juice (4oz. over a few hours) and tiny bit (1oz?) of formula. The fever isn't quite as high. I am definitely pro-riding it out for the longterm benefits. Just worried about hydration. dh forced move to sposies to gauge urine output & it's minimal but so is intake.

her breath is HORRIBLE

thanks... still watching thread

[Kailey's mom]

it's not going to hurt to not give the formula for a little while, focus on clear liquids. Hugs to you and your dd, I hope you guys are able to avoid the E.R.