Pedialyte (sp?) - anyone used it?

[Domestic Goddess]

Hi

My DS has the flu (2 yo). He's running a fever of 103 right now and he has congestion in his chest.

I heard of this product called pedialite and was wondering if it had any use. I guess it balances out the electrolytes??

Deb

[jasnjakesmama]

Do you have reason to think he may be dehydrated? Is he throwing up or having the runs? Are you nursing him? If you are then I would just offer the breast frequently and not worry.
If not then I would watch him closely. If you are getting him to drink lots of fluids (water, fruit juice, herbal teas, broth) then I wouldn't worry.

[willibug]

I think true dehydration is actually very rare. Talk to your pediatrician about what signs you should look out for. IMO, Pedialyte is marketed to play on parents fears, rather than being truly necessary in most cases.

If you should find that you really feel the need for an electrolyte replacement solution, there are a lot of homemade recipes out there. I have a friend who sometimes makes these sorts of things when here kids have GI illnesses. If you are interested, try typing "homemade pedialyte" into your search engine.

I hope your son is better soon!

[Domestic Goddess]

Thanks for your quick responses.

He only threw up once in the night and I'm giving him crushed ice. So far he's kept it all down. He's refusing the breast though :

I hope he's better soon.

[chocobotkid]

if you ligtly pinch the skin on his back and it doesn't bounce back when you let go, that's a sign of dehydration. i used pedialyte once, breast milk is the best, it is digested sooo quickly even whne they are throwing up some satys down. try expressing some and giving sips from a cup. harper has had 2 flus, if you can keep the fluids up then you are home free, if they don't even keep bm down try one tbsp of pedialyte every 20 mins. after 3 hours try bm again. dehydration in little ones is really scary, i'd try and stay on top of it. but definelty only use pedialyte if you have to. it' made by "isomil". yuck

[gauge14iv]

ok, I gotta throw my 2 cents in here -

the tip about assessing pinched skin to see if dehydrated or not is right on - also the forehead is a good place to check too. It should not stay scrunched up more than 2 seconds.

Dehydration in children is not rare, and it can happen very very quickly. The key is to watch it like a hawk (which I know all of us mommies do anyway!) and call your pedi provider if you suspect your child might be dehydrated, or if conditions which could lead to dehydration continue for more than 24 hours.

Small amounts of fluids given often is best, room or body temp - ice or cold fluids can cause cramping and pain to a sick little belly. Pedialyte may be made by isomil, however it beats water when your baby is not keeping anything down and it sure beats having a kid in the hospital on an IV.

Symptoms of early dehydration may include:
-up to 5% loss of body weight
-pale skin color
-dry mucous membranes
-decreased skin turgor (the pinch test)
-lowered urine output (if you want to keep track, weigh a dry diaper and then weigh each of babies diapers to follow subtracting the weight of a dry diaper from the total)
-heartbeat may be normal or increased

Things to look for that would indicate moderate dehydration and that its time to call the doc if you havnt already:
-loss of 5 to 9 % of bodyweight
-grayish skin tone
-very dry mucous membranes
-poor skin turgor
-dry diapers or very little urine
-heartbeat faster than normal
-may have elevated temperature
-may be irritable

I love the brat diet myself and you can feed dry baked potato as well once the child is able to keep food down again.

[Clarity]

You can also make your own rehydration salts if you don't like the colors/artificial sweetener in pedialytem but it's needed. First aid books often have a recipe. It's what's used in most parts of the world, and before pedialyte. You must use the proportions exactly. I don't have a recipe handy but you can look one up online.

Clarity

[Deni]

I thought I had posted to this, but seems to have disappeared...so will redo:

Be very careful using pedialyte - it has nutrasweet in it. The label lists it as aspartame. I don't understand why they put that in when so many people are allergic to it. I get migraines from it, others we know have a gene in their family such that if they eat it they actually die! No kidding, when nutrasweet first came out they lost several members of their family before they figured out why!

Not to say that is very common, but be careful using the stuff all the same!

Denise

[gauge14iv]

I looked at the companies web site - it appears it used to have aspartame in it but does not now:

Is there aspartame in Pedialyte?
Aspartame is not in reformulated Pedialyte. If you are concerned about your child's consumption of aspartame, please check the ingredient listing on the product's label to ensure you do not have the old Pedialyte formulation containing aspartame.


If it has aspartame in it, I won't be using it! Of course that probably applies to the US, I don't know what they will sell you in other countries....

[Happy Mom]

I keep Pedialyte in our house at all times. The bottle I have right here in front of me has no listing of any artificial sweetners. It is used in exteme cases only. (I tend to have eagle-eyes when it comes to reading labels, and will not allow any artificial sweetners pass through my front door!

Dehydration, to me, is not taking lightly by any means. It can & does happen with bouts of diarrhea, vomiting & fever. When I was pregnant with my twins, I suffered tremendously from dehyrdration to the point where I had to be hospitalized a few times and be re-hydrated by IV.

Babies can get dehydrated very fast. I learned when ds was just 8 weeks old and in the hospital with pylorec stenosis, a great way to test for dehydration on babies under the age of 1 is to feel their soft spot. If the soft spot is sunken, they are dehydrated. They would not operate until it was no longer sunken. (They will not perform surgery on a baby who is dehydrated.)

If you are not comfortable with Pedialyte, you could contact an herbal path or natural food store and ask if they have a product called "Naturolite" (don't quote me on the spelling of that one!)

[Deni]

That is great to hear that they have reformulated it! I stopped even looking at it as a choice year or so ago. Of course, dehydration is serious, but so is becoming more ill. That is the only reason I brought it up. I am glad to know they finally changed it.

Deni

[Corriander]

Here are some sites with recipes for rehydration solutions.

http://www.health.com/health/wynks/D...-MAL/box0.html

http://www.sierratimes.com/cgi-bin/w...orum=7&topic=4

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-an...?msg_id=001dzV

They are all basically the same. The first one says that only Pedialyte should be used with children under 12, not the homemade stuff. But I bet that they say that just to cover their butts.

Deb, I hope your son is feeling better!