rotavirus....

[megs4413]

DD spent all day friday playing with her friend who ended up sick on saturday and couldnl't make it to DD's birthday party. DD turned up sick yesterday with what seemed to be a cold and I took her to the doctor today just to be sure she was OK and the ped said it was just a cold and not to worry. I didn't know then that her friend (who i thought she got the cold from) had been admitted to the hospital with rotavirus. I have never even heard of this illness before, but now I'm keenly aware of it's potential to harm my child. She started vomiting this evening. Does anyone out there have experience with this illness? I'm not sure what to do to keep her well. She wont eat or sleep. She'll take pedialyte if I give it to her in a straw, but not a lot of it. What can I do to help my baby!!?? I hate seeing her hurting...

[randomkid]

Bump...in hopes that someone can help you.

[ribbit1019]

DD threw up four times this morning. UGH what a mess. I hate it when I throw up lt alone watching my baby do it. ;( I hope this is a short run of the flu and not rotavirus.

Just wanted to let you know you aren't the only one being thrown up on today...

___________________

Keep forcing fluids (pedialyte). Dehydration is a major concern. I am sure you knew that though.

We don't have any direct experience (DN had it) that was key. He was eventually admitted to the hospital. I would call your peds office in the morning too, so they are aware that one of her friends had rotavirus and so they know in case she needs to be admitted. Bad news is it lasts a while, DN was sick for a little over a week.

Make sure you are disinfecting everything too. You don't want to be sick next.

I am so sorry you are going through this!! Hugs to you and your DD. I hope she is feeling better very soon.

Christy
My Waterbabies
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Jarred born 3/8/06, 11 lb 14.5 oz 24" @ 6 wks, a happily breastfed babe.
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Co-Owner Ribbit Baby

[lisams]

Try to get her to take small sips of clear fluids often, as long as they don't make her throw up more - if she takes in too much for her stomach to handle she might vomit and that can lead to more dehydration. Don't worry about her eating, she'll know when she's ready to handle food. Keep an eye on urine output, moisture in her mouth, tears, etc.

Hopefully this will pass very soon. I'm so sorry your little one isn't feeling well.

[cmdunn1972]

DS had rotavirus the week before Easter. According to our ped's office, it's been going around. It causes gastroenteritis. Your DD's friend was probably admitted to the hospital either because she went to the ER after normal doctor's office hours or she was experiencing signs of dehydration. (We took DS to the ER only because that's the standard recommendation by our ped's office if it's after normal office hours.) The trick to keeping your DD out of the hospital is making sure she is absorbing the fluids you are giving her.

Signs of dehydration are:
* dryness inside the mouth (feels dry and sticky)
* decreased amount of urine or dark yellow urine
* No tears when crying
* Greatly decreased activity
* Sunken fontinel while lying down
* Obvious weight loss

If your DD is experiencing any of these symptoms of dehydration, call your ped. Also call if:

* Diarrhea lasts more than 24 hours in a child under 2 months old and/or persistent vomiting in child less than 8 weeks old
* Loose bowel movements continue more than 1 week
* vomiting continues despite frequent use of clear fluids
* Stomach pain doesn't go away after Tylenol
* vomiting with severe abdominal pain
* Blood, mucus, or worms in bowel mevement
* Severe diarrhea while on antibiotics

You're lucky your DD takes the electrolytes. DS hated all the brands and flavors and refused them unless diluted with water.

Treatment can get a little complicated and the specifics are based on your child's age. Our ped had a pamphlet about gastroenteritis which included age-specific treatment. Perhaps your ped's office does as well? Here's some additional info I found on the web:

http://www.medicinenet.com/gastroenteritis/article.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/rotavirus/article.htm
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=303&id=1437

HTH!

(Edited for spelling and to add another web link.)

[hez]

Fluids, fluids, fluids, especially something like pedialyte.

I spent the entire weekend Payton had it with him on our futon-- with a water proof cover and even then we ended up changing the sheets on it about 10 times. He slept a lot after awhile.

Watch for those dehydration signs, and don't hesitate to call your doc for advice.

Hugs!

[holliam]

Agree with all the others. We had a mild form of it in December. We had very little vomiting, but oh MY the poops were out of this world in terms of amount, mess, and smell. Rotovirus poops are by far the smelliest, vile things to come out of a cute little baby!

Good luck!!

Holli

[karolyp]

No specific advice here, but just wanted to add that I've read a lot of mama's here have had sucess with Gerber Liquilytes instead of Pedialyte.

Good luck and I hope your baby is feeling better soon!

[firstbaby]

While the fluids are key to avoid dehydration, it is SO important that you space out the fluids to make sure she's keeping them down. If she continues to try to drink but then vomits, you are actually running the risk of dehydrating her that way. I think the "rule" is something like a half ounce every half hour and then increase to an ounce as long as they are keeping it down.

DS had this last year and it was really tough - bad diarria (sorry for spelling), vomitting and finally dehydration which put us in the ER over night. Hugs to you and DD - just space out the fluids and offer the BRAT diet and she will hopefully bounce back soon. (BRAT diet is banannas, rice, applesauce and toast)

[TaChapm]

Ugh...I know what you are going through all too well. Tyler and Jackson both had it in early February. It only lasted 3-4 days with Jackson but Tyler was sick for over 2 weeks and was in the hospital twice. He went 2 straight weeks with NO formula. We could get him to take a little pedialyte but not enough to keep him from getting dehydrated. I had to start using a syringe to give him small drops of fluid every few minutes. It was MISERABLE!!! Two weeks of straight diarrhea and throwing up was just too much.

Jackson was able to keep crackers and pedialyte down. He still threw up a lot and had diarrhea but it never got nearly as bad as Tyler. By th 4th afternoon he was up and around.

Both boys slept alot. Tyler was sleeping 20 out of 24 hours. We would wake him to give him some fluids, let him throw up, change his diaper, change his sheets and he was out again.

Hopefully your DD won't get as sick. Just push as many fluids on her as you can. Jackson also did the pedialyte freezer pops and flavor ice (when we ran out of pedialyte pops). It was more like a treat than us forcing him to drink something.

Good Luck! I hope she feels better soon!



Tara
Mommy to Jackson 11-10-02
Tyler William 6-9-05
OMG!!! It's a GIRL!! Due September 5, 2006!

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[NatalieM]

Oh I'm so sorry your DD is going through this. My DD had it in February and it was not fun. I too, had never heard of it, but we quickly learned it was awful. DD first had a decreased appetite, then a fever and by the 2nd day she threw up all day! Her ped had us give her 1 tsp of pedialyte (we did actually have better luck getting her to take the Gerber liquilytes) every 15 minutes until we saw that she could keep it down and we increased it gradually. Once she was able to keep fluids down, I thought the worst was over. Boy was I wrong. She had AWFUL diarrhea for almost a week. So bad that we had to take her back to the ped and he talked about hospitalizing her. Thankfully, we didn't have to but boy what a scary ordeal! I sympathize with your situation and I hope your DD gets better real soon.

[kep]

I don't know a whole lot about Rotovirus, although my ds's cousin was hospitalized for it in the not too distant past. I remember they had a hard time diagnoising her, for whatever reason.

We'll all keep our finger's crossed that it's just a virus your dd has. I'm sure I brought the vomitting virus upon my own family, when I got a little too self-assured that ds had never had it before. Wouldn't you know it, within the next month... BAM! Of course, dh was out of town on business, so ds and I had to tough it out together.

One thing that really helped me was this info from Dr. Sear's website:

* First stage – severe vomiting every 5 – 30 minutes.

o During this time, do not attempt to give your child any food or liquids at all because they will just come right back up. This is called total bowel rest. Let the worst of the vomiting pass.

o If your child asks to nurse or drink something, then just offer small sips at a time, and don't expect him to keep it down.

* Second stage – the vomiting has started to slow down to every one or two hours.

o Go ahead and offer your child small sips of liquids every 5 or 10 minutes.

o Here are the three best liquids to try:

o Oral electrolyte solution such as Pedialyte has the best balance of salt, sugar, and other electrolytes

o Frozen popsickle or slushy made from an electrolyte solution

o Breastmilk is excellent for the nursing baby

A few other suggestions until you can get an electrolyte solution:
o White grape juice or slushy slightly diluted with water.

o Gatorade or similar drink

+ Again, these are not as ideal, and should be replaced with Pedialyte when possible.

+ Liquids NOT to give – apple, pear, and cherry juice may have too much sugar. This can worsen diarrhea and dehydration.

* Third stage – vomiting is now only 2 – 4 times a day or stopped altogether.

o It is now okay to try some foods.

+ Bland foods such as crackers, toast, soup broth, etc.

+ Continue breastfeeding.

+ Restart formula if formula feeding. You can mix half formula and half Pedialyte at first. This may be more easily tolerated.

+ Continue liquids as described above.

o Don't be alarmed if your child throws up this food. It may be too soon to start feeding again. Just take a step back to the second stage until the vomiting calms down again.

o RECTAL ACETAMINOPHEN – if your child has a fever but can't keep down any medicine, we suggest acetaminophen suppositories. Click on it.

o ANTI-NAUSEA MEDICATION – there are suppositories that can be prescribed by your doctor for kids two and older that can suppress the vomiting to get your child through the worst of it. These medications should only be used when absolutely needed. A commonly used brand is Phenergan.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t083300.asp

There's much more info on the webpage itself, as well as a "when to worry" section. I just found it very reassuring. Good luck!

Kelli
Proud Mommy to Lukey (4.2003)

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[Marcy_O]

My son had rotavirus at the beginning of this month. He ended up in the hospital becuase he couldn't stop vomiting and eventually had diarrhea. That said, he did very well after administering fluids. It was scary that's for sure. My son will not drink pedialyte for anything, so we put it in jello and he loved it. We used plain pedialyte and flavored sugar free jello. You can do the opposite, we just used what we had.

Good luck, your babe will get through it even if she has to go to the hospital. The mommy mantra "this too shall pass...this too shall pass...this too shall pass". :) Chin up.