Upside Down Weekend!
It was 4+ am on Saturday morning when we were awaken by Beatrice's cry for attention. She was coughing so hard, and it looked like something was "stuck" in her throat. "I wanted to vomit" was next she said. Beatrice has vomited something foamy, like phlegm or saliva with lots of bubbles. Shortly after the vomit, we were all back onto our bed, continuing our sleep. But before we even dozed off to dreamland, Beatrice cried for another throw up! Beatrice continued with the intermittent vomiting till about 7+ am, and we rang up the clinic with urgency for a queue number.
The PD checked on Beatrice's stomach and confirmed that Beatrice has stomach flu, and he even shared that a lot of kids have recently caught the bugs. She was given suppository to stop the vomit, and Pedialyte Freezer Pop to replace lost fluid and electrolytes. We were told not to give her plain water and milk for the time being, as it will not do good to her dehydrated blood stream if the vomit continued.
It was really tough to cope with, when Beatrice threw up everything we gave her. Be it the pedialyte or the porridge water, Beatrice would vomit everything. We were so worried for her, and I was badly stressed with the thought that if the vomit did not stop in the evening like what the PD said, then we might need to admit her! A quick check on her diaper, there was no sign of urine. And she was protesting to have anything we gave her, for the fear of throwing up again. By late afternoon, Beatrice showed sign of lethargy and fussed, and the vomit has not stopped. News on the TV showed numerous kids in China were also down with stomach flu, looks like it was an epidemic there, but how on earth did our little Beatrice got it!
Beatrice was actually down with a flu virus about 2 weeks ago, when the virus attacked her lung and she was down with a mild bronchitis. Back then, we were coping with Beatrice on the nebuliser and celebrating Daddy's birthday
We really wonder how did she caught the virus. Strands of different flu bugs has chosen our little Beatrice to befriend her with during this season! Well, Beatrice's weight has dipped by 600g in a day of vomiting. Without solid, milk, her favourite bread and cheese, and her crankiness has driven both Larry and I bonkers.
Anyway, not too sure what has overcome me, I had decided to give Beatrice only porridge water after her last vomit at 1038pm that Saturday night. Round that clock, at an hourly interval, I served her with porridge water. In the first hour, 30mls of porridge water was served. Then I waited for an hour to see if she would vomit. Well, Beatrice was coping very well, and I decided to serve her the next 30mls of porridge water again. And from the next hour onwards, I increased the feed by twice the amount, and she has stopped vomiting after that. And we were glad to hear her chattering on this beautiful Sunday morning, and she has regained her energy! Well, not entirely though, cause she was still complaining of leg pain.
Beatrice is still on a soft diet since her recovery from the stomach flu yesterday. And I have also started to serve her with her favourite milk milk drinking this morning, absolutely diluted for the time being. Now that my young baby has recovered, and she is back to her chattering and singing self, I have to attend to my BIG baby's need! It seems like those naughty bugs in my young one's tummy has decided to befriend our BIG baby!
My lesson learnt:
It is very important to remain patient when treating a child with stomach flu. Be it vomiting or diarrhoea, we have to go really slow when trying to put back those lost fluid from their body. Do not introduce a lot of fluid at one go. For a start, try to introduce 5mls of warm porridge water and wait for about 30mins. If there is no sign of vomit, give the kid another 5mls of warm porridge water. Then slowly increase the feed. The child must be on a soft diet after the episode of vomiting or diarrhoea, and that means only plain porridge with a little salt added. No bread, no meat and anything that is hard to digest, and no milk and plain water too until the symptom has subsided completely.
I prefers porridge water then any other liquid because the warm porridge water soothe the child's tummy. As there is a tendency that the child will have gastric upset when they are down with stomach flu, hence, warm porridge water is definitely better than anything else.
The PD checked on Beatrice's stomach and confirmed that Beatrice has stomach flu, and he even shared that a lot of kids have recently caught the bugs. She was given suppository to stop the vomit, and Pedialyte Freezer Pop to replace lost fluid and electrolytes. We were told not to give her plain water and milk for the time being, as it will not do good to her dehydrated blood stream if the vomit continued.
It was really tough to cope with, when Beatrice threw up everything we gave her. Be it the pedialyte or the porridge water, Beatrice would vomit everything. We were so worried for her, and I was badly stressed with the thought that if the vomit did not stop in the evening like what the PD said, then we might need to admit her! A quick check on her diaper, there was no sign of urine. And she was protesting to have anything we gave her, for the fear of throwing up again. By late afternoon, Beatrice showed sign of lethargy and fussed, and the vomit has not stopped. News on the TV showed numerous kids in China were also down with stomach flu, looks like it was an epidemic there, but how on earth did our little Beatrice got it!
Beatrice was actually down with a flu virus about 2 weeks ago, when the virus attacked her lung and she was down with a mild bronchitis. Back then, we were coping with Beatrice on the nebuliser and celebrating Daddy's birthday
We really wonder how did she caught the virus. Strands of different flu bugs has chosen our little Beatrice to befriend her with during this season! Well, Beatrice's weight has dipped by 600g in a day of vomiting. Without solid, milk, her favourite bread and cheese, and her crankiness has driven both Larry and I bonkers.
Anyway, not too sure what has overcome me, I had decided to give Beatrice only porridge water after her last vomit at 1038pm that Saturday night. Round that clock, at an hourly interval, I served her with porridge water. In the first hour, 30mls of porridge water was served. Then I waited for an hour to see if she would vomit. Well, Beatrice was coping very well, and I decided to serve her the next 30mls of porridge water again. And from the next hour onwards, I increased the feed by twice the amount, and she has stopped vomiting after that. And we were glad to hear her chattering on this beautiful Sunday morning, and she has regained her energy! Well, not entirely though, cause she was still complaining of leg pain.
Beatrice is still on a soft diet since her recovery from the stomach flu yesterday. And I have also started to serve her with her favourite milk milk drinking this morning, absolutely diluted for the time being. Now that my young baby has recovered, and she is back to her chattering and singing self, I have to attend to my BIG baby's need! It seems like those naughty bugs in my young one's tummy has decided to befriend our BIG baby!
My lesson learnt:
It is very important to remain patient when treating a child with stomach flu. Be it vomiting or diarrhoea, we have to go really slow when trying to put back those lost fluid from their body. Do not introduce a lot of fluid at one go. For a start, try to introduce 5mls of warm porridge water and wait for about 30mins. If there is no sign of vomit, give the kid another 5mls of warm porridge water. Then slowly increase the feed. The child must be on a soft diet after the episode of vomiting or diarrhoea, and that means only plain porridge with a little salt added. No bread, no meat and anything that is hard to digest, and no milk and plain water too until the symptom has subsided completely.
I prefers porridge water then any other liquid because the warm porridge water soothe the child's tummy. As there is a tendency that the child will have gastric upset when they are down with stomach flu, hence, warm porridge water is definitely better than anything else.
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