have you ever heard of this before?

Question

I have a 10 month old, who has had diarhea for the past week. I tried the BRAT diet, that didnt work, so I took her to the doctor. The doctor said to give her strictly pedialyte and yogurt for 24 hours, no formula or anything else. The reason Im asking if anyone has ever heard of this or done it with their own child is because it was a military doctor, and they arent the brightest bulbs in the box if you know what I mean. To me it doesnt sound right, I mean I cant imagine just drinking gatorade all day and yogurt without being extremely hungry and miserable. My insurance does not allow me to see a civilian doctor, and I cannot afford to foot the bill without insurance. Please no rude comments.

Answer 1

I think he was right. The first thing you want to prevent is dehydration. Also many times, with diarrhea, you want to let the intestines cool down from being inflammed, and the yogurt will help that too. But continue to watch him, if the diarrhea continues, then you'll be forced to bring him back. Best of luck.

Answer 2

Was this your child's regular pediatrician, or an Emergency Room doctor? My older son had a nasty bout with diarrhea when he was about a year old. We ended up taking him to the ER, and that's exactly what the doctor there told me. I called his regular pediatrician the next day and she said absolutely not...an adult could survive on Pedialyte (Gatorade) for a day or two, but not an infant or toddler. Not only would they be cranky from being sick...they'd be hungry too, which would make their temper/illness even worse. She said to continue to give him formula, but no solids for the next 24 hours. The only solids he could have were rice cereal and toast. (Part of the brat diet, which obviously didn't work for your baby.) If this was an ER doctor, I'd call your baby's ped. tomorrow and get a real opinion. ER doctors are nice for trauma, but they don't specialize in kids. If this WAS your pediatrician, I'd get a second opinion.

That's strange about the yogurt too. Most doctors (pediatricians or otherwise) stay to stay away from dairy when you have diarrhea. If you have a sick/upset stomach that's causing diarrhea, dairy can make it worse.

Answer 3

Your doctor advice actually is quite common. Don't worry about his advice. Many moms will agree with me on this. Depends on how bad is your son diarhea, especially if it is accompanied by vomiting also, drinking only pedialyte is a good way to settle the stomach first , to give it a rest first while preventing your child from being dehydrated.

My son is 6 yrs old now, over the years he had several cases of stomach flu. When they are not bad, I can just put him on BRAT diet. But when it's bad, I only gave him pedialyte because his stomach can't hold anything else.

When ever I am worried about my child's health but I could not call my doctor yet, I always go to find the solution in www.babycenter.com

In fact, here is a good article in there for baby (0-12 months ) that has diarhea:

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyills/babyconstipation/82.html

I hope my answer help to ease your worries.

Answer 4

My pediatrician told me to give my son Gatorade and forget the pedialyte because gatorade actaully has sodium in it and that is what you lose when you are dehydrated. Give that baby some food!!! If it is hungry and can't keep it down, maybe some crackers and peanut butter or chicken noodle soup. Hope it feels better. Yogart actually makes you go to the bathroom and if she has a fever, you don't want to give her anything with dairy because that will sour on her belly and make her sicker. Ask an older wiser person, I am a firm believer in older remedies. My father always has the best tricks. He told me about the dairy stuff. Hope this helps you and your baby out!!!

Answer 5

Pedialyte only is used for children with the flu - parents are told to give them small sips often, until they are able to hold food/more fluids down. Pedialyte usually isnt' recommended for your child's problem, parents are told to cut off fruits & fruit juice completely. The added sugar may cause more irritation to the bowels. Fruits actually increase diarrhea too.

Yogurt is usually used for yeast infections. Sometimes babies get yeast infections from diarrhea. There is new research saying that live cultured yogurt can be helpful for diarrhea, this is a new thing.

I'm wondering if you've possibly started to wean her on milk a little early. She may be lactose intolerant. My son & daughter actually are allergic to the sugar that they flavor milk with (so it tastes like milk), and aren't actually lactose intolerant (they can eat cheese, yogurt, etc). If you have been trying to give him milk, I would switch back to formula.

It sounds like a fever isn't present. If there is, it's a virus. If there's a high fever with cramping, then it's rotavirus.

I would keep with the formula, and switch to bottled water instead of tap. Continue the crackers, fiber, and breads. Try to increase fat in her diet. Diets that are too low in fat can actually speed up the digestive process.

Good luck. As a mom of 5, I know it's hard when baby's got the poopies. Both you and her are probably miserable!

Answer 6

Yes, it is very common to treat baby with oral rehydration solution and yogurt. The liquid is to keep baby from denydrating (hence the name). It works better than anything (even plain water) because it imitates the electrolyte balance in human milk. The yogurt (with live cultures *only*) is to help inhabit the baby's digestive system with the correct friendly bacteria.

If you are nursing, breastfeed *instead* of the Pedialyte (you might as well use the best, instead of the imitation!!). Otherwise, the Pedialyte is the best to protect your baby from serious health problems--babies (even in the US) can actually die from dehydration brought on by diarrhea.

Answer 7

I had a similar problem with my daughter, they advised me not to give her formula I used the Pedialyte as well. I was beginning to worry myself. It turned out it was just a stomach virus, but that week was pretty hard on me. It was because the formula can turn so easily in their stomachs; imagine if you had an upset stomach the last thing you would want would be milk the same for our little ones. Don't worry though, if you feel like you just need to give your little one some formula just add more water to dilute it. I've done that before just to ensure myself that she was getting some nutrients, but if the problem does persists go to the health clinic in your area it could be something more serious. But it's not unusual for a doctor to tell s parent to gradually introduce their milk back in after having diarrhea or vomiting. Good Luck to you and your little one.

Answer 8

I think your doctor is right,the pedialyte is to keep the baby from getting dehydrated and the yogurt to keep him or her from getting malnourished.I know the poor thing will be miserable but everything will be OK in a few days.
Also those symptoms sound like teething symptoms,probably hurts him or her too

Answer 9

pedialyte will replace electrolytes in the body that are lost through constant diarrhea.

But Yogurt? I have not heard of giving anyone dairy products while they have diarrhea, but maybe the doctor is trying to replace good bacteria in the baby's system.

If she doesn't seem to improve in the next couple of days, I would definitely go to another doctor...I know it's expensive, but something could be very seriously wrong.

Good luck and I hope what she is taking helps.

Answer 10

obviously the pedialyte is to prevent dehidration. make baby drink as much as possible. the yogurt will fill the tummy to give the "full" feeling, and it will not further irritate the already inflamed intestinal track. if you try to give solids, it could cause pain and discomfort as it passes through babys system. yogurt and pedialyte! broths, and other liquids are fine, nothing too salty though. jell-o is great too, just watch the total sugar intake, as all of these liquids, and foods contain a lot of sugar.

Answer 11

Get yogurt with "active cultures" because they will help fix whatever is wrong in her gut.

They are probably wanting the baby off of dairy while she is having the diarhea, so that is why no formula. If you were breastfeeding, that would be OK to keep nursing as that is different than dairy milk/formula.