My seven year old has the stomach flu, what can I do to make her more comfortable?

Question

She is terrified of vomitting (this is the very first time she has ever thrown up) and she doesn't want to drink liquid for fear of throwing it up. What can I give her to keep her hydrated without irritating her tummy. She has thrown up Gatorade and Ginger ale - any ideas?

Answer 1

When my son gets it he usually gets it pretty bad. What I have done was crush up some ice and let him eat it.. So try that with your daughter. Also try popcicles.. Pedilite is good to. Make sure she sips it. Tiny bit at a time. If she drinks too much to fast it will come back up. Once she can hold down the ice and the other things work back up to Gatorade.. Once she can hold down liquids introduce.. saltine crakers, and dry toast.. work slowly up to regular food. It may take a day to do that. If she can't hold down anything. call the doctor and see if they can give her somthing for the vominting.. Good luck and I hope she feels better..

Answer 2

Hmm, tricky one.

Gatorade and water are the best for the stomach flu, but she needs to be taking very small sips every 5 minutes. That may help keep her from vomiting.
She has to drink in order from getting dehydrated, maybe you could tell her that if she doesn't try she may have to have a needle.(If she hates needles more.. it may work).
For the time being, I would keep her away from solids, when she feels like eating, you can give her broth(clear fluids are the best!) or boiled rice. In fact, the water from the boiled rice is great at treating stomach problems, especially if she is having diarrhea.
Let her rest, as long as she is not violently vomiting or running a high fever, she should feel better soon.

Good Luck

Answer 3

I had the stomach flu just this past November.. I couldn't keep any liquids down, even Pepto Bismal... So what I did, I waited a couple hours and just sipped... I mean just enough to wet my tongue and swallow a very tiny amount all through the night on every hour until I was confident enough taking sips every 15-30 minutes.

But it all depends.. I couldn't keep down ginger ale at first and about 2 hours after I threw up the ginger ale I started sipping water like I explained above. It wasn't enough to throw up, and just enough to slowly hydrate my body again.

Answer 4

The principal treatment of diarrheal illness in both children and adults is rehydration, i.e. replenishment of water lost in the stools. Depending on the degree of dehydration, this can be done orally with oral rehydration solutions (ORS), commercial ( like CERALYTE) or home-made rehydration fluids, or through intravenous delivery. Symptoms may exhibit themselves for up to 6 days. Bowel movements will return to normal within a week after that.

Because of the stomach's fragility due to the illness, rehydration through the drinking of fluids must be slow and spaced out as to not overwhelm the stomach and cause further nausea and vomiting. Give her slow sips every few minutes, and if vomiting still occurs, it is best to refrain her from any drinking or eating for the next half hour.

Answer 5

Try just teaspoons of water to keep her hydrated. She doesn't need more than that. As things settle down, flat warm coke is good. Also try warm tea. Both work well after the initial purging of stomach contents in complete.
Poor kid.
Poor you.

Answer 6

frozen Popsicles. when i was little they were called chilly willys. (the kind in the plastic sleeves you push up as you eat)...

i'd stick to just a cheap-o sugar variety (rather than the fruit juice based) because that way it won't burn her stomach (fruit acid).

good luck and i hope she feels better soon. realize that the less she hydrates the sicker she'll get (dehydration feels horrible and so does the needle they stick in you to put you on a drip!) and, its better to HAVE something to vomit that to NOT! (dry heaves suck!)

Answer 7

saltine crackers pedilite once she can hold down the crackers