"I don't feel very good," says Vinny.
One Hour Later
Intermittent vomit, from 7-10 pm.
My biggest worry when my kids get the stomach flu, besides being vomited on, or barf missing the bucket, isn't the flu itself, but rather dehydration.
Several stomach flu's ago a pediatric nurse gave me this advice and it seems to work quite well for us:
Give child one sip of water. If he keeps it down for 15 minutes have child take two sips of water. After another 15 minutes have child take three sips of water. And so on. If child vomits then go back to number of sips child kept down previously. For example, if child kept down 2 sips of water, but vomited after 3 sips, go back to 2 sips.
One of my main parenting goals is, avoiding late night emergency room visits. So I set a timer on an old cell phone (with an age appropriate ring tone: theme from Scooby Doo) to go off every 15 minutes.
The alarm tends to have a Pavlovian effect on the kids, after it goes off five or six times.
"Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?"
"Time to drink water," says Gio in a raspy voice when he hears the alarm.
5 comments:
Keep 'em hydrated!!
Oh...poor guy. Give him an "air hug" from us. I hope he gets well soon and the rest of you can avoid it. Hang in!
"Making" my daughter sip water when she is ill is a challenge sometimes. This is a great tip!
I tend to give my kids sips of flat ginger-ale. They get hydration, a bit of a sugar boost and ginger is good for an upset tummy. It's also a bit more appetizing for someone with no appetite than plain water, therefore easier to get them to take it.
Thanks Kat. I was hoping people would add to this..............
Post a Comment