Suggest Treatment For Severe Vomiting And Diarrhea In A Child

Posted on Thu, 13 Apr 2017

Question: I breastfeed my 10 month old son & we started him on solids around 6.5 months. For the past 3 weeks, he has been having vomiting and diarrhea issues. I think he first got stomach virus from my older son (2.5yrs old) & daughter (5.5 yrs old) who were sick over 4 weeks ago. My 10 month old was throwing up consistently for 2 days and now it has been random sour diarrhea & vomiting for 3 weeks. He sleeps thru the night (11+ hours) & has been throwing up right after/ during his morning nursing. For the past few days, we've been limiting his diet to probiotics/water & bland foods like crackers, teething wafers, and random bits of steamed carrots, puree chicken and blueberries. He hasn't had a fever, except a few days, 3 weeks ago and his demeanor is normal & happy. What could be causing this?

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (11 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Proper hand hygiene is important

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

It seems that there is some source of contamination somewhere in the process. Proper hand hygiene is very important as is proper washing of the utensils. Consider your ABCs - applesauce, bananas, and cereal (rice, biscuits dipped in milk, or roti softened with milk/water). Boiled rice and dal with vegetables and give in mashed form. Gradually increase the amount and frequency. Introduce one new food item per week and stick to it at least for the week.

I would insist you to go through the following chart about what foods to give at what age:
http://www.superbabyonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Baby-Food-Chart-4-to-12-months-baby-SuperBaby.jpg

A detailed diet chart can be found at:
http://indianhealthyrecipes.com/indian-baby-food-chart/

Noting down so much information would have made the answer unnecessarily long. Pardon me for avoiding that.

Give ORS (oral rehydration solution) in case the child has diarrhea. If the frequency of passage of urine is more than 6-8 times in 24 hours it is not a cause for concern. You may give some antiemetic like ondansetron if required.

Hopefully that clears your queries. Feel free to write back.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (45 minutes later)

We practice very good hand hygiene. This is the first time in 8 years of parenting that any of my kids have been this sick. Also, I don't think re-introducing foodsis going to help. Could it be something else?

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (8 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Clinical examination needed

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for the update. In such a case it would be a good idea to visit a doctor and to get the child evaluated. Causes like intestinal obstruction, pyloric stenosis (usually starts earlier) or other pathologies need to be ruled out.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar