CARING FOR A CHILD WITH SICKNESS AND DIARRHEA

Vomiting and diarrhea are a group of symptoms that may be caused by many different things. Probably the most common would be a good old fashioned intestinal virus. The major concern for a child with vomiting and/or diarrhea is that he/she not become dehydrated. If your child refuses or cannot hold down fluids and is also losing fluid in the stool or from high fever he/she can rapidly become dehydrated. If you should notice any one of the following signs you should call your doctors office immediately. Decreased or no urination (dry diapers), no tears when crying, coarse dry tongue and parched lips, sunken eyes, weight loss, pinching the skin on the abdomen leaves the skin standing up.

If your child is vomiting it is important to wait anywhere from 1 1/2 - 2 hours before starting clear liquids. Even though your child may say he/she is thirsty the stomach is saying don't put anything in me. Please don't be tempted to appease your child because the odds are that they will continue to vomit and become further dehydrated.

Once you have waited the appropriate amount of time you can give the heavy syrup from canned peaches, the syrup from fruit cocktail, white grape juice, or flat Coke or ginger ale. Give no more than 1 tablespoon every 15 minutes for the first 2 hours, then increase it to 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) every 20 minutes for the next 2 hours. After this, no more than 2 ounces every half hour. Once your child is holding down clear liquids and no longer vomiting for a period of 3-4 hours you can offer saltine crackers, pretzels, toast with jelly or margarine, Jell-O and baked potato. After this the diet should be advanced slowly (perhaps starting with chicken broth, chicken or turkey meat).

In most instances the vomiting will only last 24 hours. It is important not to give any milk or milk products, no water and no citrus juices. To keep the child's mouth moist you can offer a lollipop (not sugar free) or an ice pop (not sugar free) to suck on.

If your child is having diarrhea please stop all milk and milk products as well as all citrus products. You can give Gatorade, Pedialyte or Ricelyte (use these for the infant) , or white grape juice as a beverage. Give constipating foods such as banana, fresh scraped apple or applesauce, rice products, baked potato, chicken or turkey meat, and broiled ground beef. As the diarrhea subsides you can give Lactaid milk instead of regular milk for the next few days. Chicken soup, scrambled or soft boiled eggs are also good to give.

Because diarrhea impairs the ability of the intestinal tract to absorb lactose, milk and milk products should be introduced back into the diet slowly, once the diarrhea has stopped. Do not give too much too soon or the diarrhea will return. Obviously, stay away from spicy foods as well as foods that you know cause loose stools in your child.

If you want to slow down the frequency of stooling and increase the firmness of the stool you can buy Immodium AD over the counter and follow the directions on the bottle or call your doctors office.

If the diarrhea persists for more than a few days and is greater than 3 times a day in spite of the above regimen, or if blood is found in the stool at any time then please call your doctors office. Your doctor will most likely recommend that you obtain a stool specimen for culture. In general most diarrhea's are viral in etiology but some may be caused by food poisoning such as those from uncooked meats and poultry, and they may need to be treated with an antibiotic.