Sickness in toddler - is this normal?

[colsxjack]

Hello. Our DD is almost 20 months old. She is generally very healthy, although does have quite a few food sensitivities that we are gaining control over.

She is dairy free. Although we have been recently reintroducing dairy with a bit of kefir. She is also off of strawberries, citrus, tomato products and other berries.

We give her a dairy free probiotic every day.. We also give her a small dose of a multi-enzyme everyday.

She usually eats very very well.

On Sunday night/Monday morning she woke up vomiting at 2:30 am. She has not vomited since she was a little infant and spit up a lot. We cleaned us all up and went back to sleep. On Monday morning she had some very loose stools. And then again a couple of times that day. She was in generally good spirits, but also sucky and "not herself". Later in the day she started to get a fever. By Monday evening she had a definite fever. We gave her some infant tylenol that brought her fever down a bit for a little while and then it shot up again. She didn't have an appetite for anything.

Tuesday she was still feverish but lower grade, but didn't vomit again and the loose stools stopped. Her appetite was still null.

Wednesday she was back to normal with temp and stools. But her appetite was still very low and she wasn't herself. Still very sucky and not wanting to do much playing. She didn't want to go to drop-in playgroup or the library. She just wanted to stay home all day. VERY much not like her.

Thursday her appetite was low in the morning, higher in the afternoon and null in the evening. Still not much into playing or anything.

Today she had 3 stools. Loosish (consistency of pudding), although she never has firm poop. It was also quite pale in colour with lots of undigested food in it and what looked like flax seeds, although she didn't eat anything seedy in the last couple of days. And her labia and vulva were very red and I think stinging as she cried and fussed when we wiped her down. (we are used to undigested foods as we are still figuring out all of her sensitivities)

We put coconut on her "diaper rash" and she was fussy and clingy all day. She still did not have much of an appetite, although did eat some at lunch. She is definitly not herself. And her face is more pale than usual. It goes from being quite pale to fairly normal to back to pale again.

Any thoughts? She has never really been sick before, except for a bad cold about a month or so ago.

Do you think it may be a virus? Or maybe a sensitivity to another food?

At what point should we take her to a doctor?

She is seeing a nutritionist next week and her ped the week after.

Thank you.

[mkksmom]

Hmmm. I think I'd call for this one. I don't know if it warrants a visit, but a phone call would be nice. Is she drinking/peeing OK? Her fever hasn't returned? I'm not as good with the tummy bugs and clingy and no appetite would make me want some reassurance. I'd want to know if something like this was going around or if the doc wants to check her. I'd let it be known that I was perfectly fine with waiting it out unless the doc absolutely wanted to see her though.

When my dd won't eat much, I noticed it is when her sister has also had a sore throat. I might want a strep test in this case. Other than that, I'm not sure what else they would do.

[aim4balance]

OP did the stomach bug clear up for your dd yet?  All 3 of my boys recently had almost exactly what you described.  Its finally passed but it took forever--5 full days for each kid, we've never had a stomach thing for so long.  Anyway we just had to be religious about the fluids and homemade chicken soup in small amts every hour (you're nursing so thats best) to keep from dehydration, and lots of extra priobiotics when the vomiting was over, but they definitely slept a lot, ate very little and weren't themselves till it was over.

[Llyra]

Vomiting and diarrhea together are almost always infectious. The most common cause in small children (under about 5) is rotavirus. Most kids have their first bout with it in the first two years. Rotavirus can hang on for awhile-- up to two weeks, in some kids. The only really serious thing to be on the lookout for is dehydration. A child showing signs of dehydration should be seen immediately, in the ER if it's after-hours. Other than that, the disease is self-limiting-- it'll go away all on its own. The good news is that with each bout, a kiddo develops resistance, so that by the time they are teenagers, they are usually fully immune-- which explains why adults rarely contract it.

I hope your DC is feeling better already! Rotavirus is rarely serious, but it can be extremely unpleasant both for the child, and for the parents who have to do all the cleaning up!

[colsxjack]

Thanks for the replies. She seems to suddenly be doing much better. The diarrhea stopped 2 days ago and the colour of stool is back to normal and her appetite is back to normal.

She was always well hydrated and had lots of wet diapers, so we were not too worried about the dehydration.

It is scary when you kid get sick for the fisrt real sickness.

Again, thank you.