What do you do about nursing & solids when giving Pedialyte

[mharling]

We're in the midst of our first vomiting episodes; yippee!

I have heard/read different answers every place* I've tried in regards to nursing & solids when giving Pedialyte. What have you done?

*Nurse at ped's office, askdrsears.com, dh, websites I found from googling, a couple old threads here, etc....

ETA - I tried 1 oz of Pedialyte already and he did not keep it down. Will try again in a few minutes (assuming I need to wake him up from his nap).

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/2303.jpg Mary & Lane 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b346cc5b6556 - New pics 1/26

[sunny2003]

we just went through a day of ds vomiting every meal - per ped's advice, through it all I continued to nurse (maybe a little more often than usual) and gave pedialyte as well. Then, the next day I gave her nothing but applesauce (her fav) in addition to the nursing. Ped had said to give her rice cereal but we have none so he said applesauce was ok. I gave up the pedialyte once it was clear that she was keeping food down. Now (2 days after vomiting day) I am slowly reintroducing regular solids. One interesting thing is that her poops are applesauce colored peanut butter! I will keep an eye on that but hope it goes back to normal once she is back to usual diet.

Good luck!

Viv
Mommy to Kayley born on 4/28/03

[gisele]

I went through two rounds of the vomiting/rotavirus/stomach flu thing. When my son was sick with this, I only nursed him. I only gave 1 breast, every 2 hours. I did this because if he was too full, he would vomit. Just give a little at a time to keep him from vomiting - you want he to keep down liquids. I didn't give him any solids for 2 days (he wouldn't eat it anyway) The doctor's office said that breastmilk only is fine. We could give pedialyte, but only necessary if he was getting dehydrated.

I do think the breastmilk/nursing is important because breastmilk does help them get better sooner. My son always seemed to get over it faster than other children who were formula fed.

[barbarhow]

If she will nurse and keep it down than absolutely nurse. Sometimes, though I think the comfort they get from nursing ends up giving them too much bm for their tummies to handle so they end up vomiting everything up.
What we would recommend in the ER is to give 5cc of pedialyte every 5 minutes-by syringe if you have one-for 30 minutes. If it stays down for the 30 minutes than up it to 10ccs. Keep increasing it slowly. Once the vomiting stops-I would still only give clear liquids (plus breast milk) for 24 hours. I hope Lane is feeling better soon.
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03
Edited to fix a typo

[lizamann]

Poor Lane! I hope he gets better soon!

[heidi_timms]

The ped's office said feed half feedings of BM when we had the vomiting. She kept barfing huge amounts all over me!

It wasn't working so I called my Mom. She said to wait several hours and feed a tablespoon of pedialyte. If she kept that down then the next hour another tablespoon. Increase it as they can hold down more. It's so hard because your baby is starving and so thirsty, but this way they keep it down! Eventually, we moved onto to a little bit of BM.

It's a vicious cycle. If you keep feeding them large amounts then they end up throwing up more and more and getting more dehydrated.

I hope your little man feels better soon! Hugs!

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey Ashlin
4/27/03

[heidi_timms]

The ped's office said feed half feedings of BM when we had the vomiting. She kept barfing huge amounts all over me!

It wasn't working so I called my Mom. She said to wait several hours and feed a tablespoon of pedialyte. If she kept that down then the next hour another tablespoon. Increase it as they can hold down more. It's so hard because your baby is starving and so thirsty, but this way they keep it down! Eventually, we moved onto to a little bit of BM.

It's a vicious cycle. If you keep feeding them large amounts then they end up throwing up more and more and getting more dehydrated.

I hope your little man feels better soon! Hugs!

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey Ashlin
4/27/03

[mharling]

Thanks everybody! He's much better today and hasn't vomited since yesterday afternoon. I ended up nursing him for about 5 minutes every 2-3 hours in addition to the Pedialyte. He was definitely acting like he wanted more and it was very hard not giving in (especially since my husband seemed to think he should have more. grrr.....). If all goes well today, we're going to give him some applesauce and Cheerios tonight. I appreciate the responses!!

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/2303.jpg Mary & Lane 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b346cc5b6556 - New pics 1/26