Life desk :
Coughs, colds and sniffles are rife right now, along with that particularly nasty little visitor – Norovirus, also known as the winter vomiting bug.
But, although it may seem harmless enough, you need to be aware of the risk to your child’s health when they can’t keep anything down.
Like lots of families, we were recently hit by Norovirus, which is the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in humans.
First, I was laid low. Then my two-year-old daughter Marianne joined in the fun and started throwing up.
After a couple of days in Vomit Central, I took Marianne to the GP, who advised me to get her to regularly sip Dioralyte – sachets of rehydration salts dissolved in water.
But by the following day – day three of her illness – she was still bringing up everything that she ate or drank. We’d reached a point where she was point blank refusing to drink anything because she knew that it would make her sick.
Instead of her usual bouncy little self, she was lethargic and just wanted to snooze in my arms. Her nappies were dryer than usual, her lips were dry and she seemed to be breathing more quickly too.
At first, we wondered if we were worrying over nothing. After all, this was just a run-of-the-mill winter bug, right?”Sorry if we’re wasting your time,” I told the GP. But far from it. This time, he didn’t tell us to take Marianne home.
Instead, he referred us straight to our local hospital’s urgent care children’s ward.
There, doctors checked her over and told us that she had early signs of dehydration – freezing cold hands and feet and a high heart rate.
We were shocked to think that she was at risk of something as serious as dehydration – something that kills millions of people in developing countries, where medical treatment for stomach bugs, vomiting and diarrhoea is not readily available.
What shocked me even more was that this had been caused by something as commonplace as Norovirus – and how huge a problem it is.
“There are three other children on the ward right now with the same problem,” the doctor explained.
Marianne was placed on an Oral Rehydration Challenge, which meant that we had to give her 15mls of Dioralyte into her mouth using a syringe, recording her fluid intake on a chart.
It was certainly a challenge – she felt so ill, she didn’t want to swallow anything. Patients on the next ward probably heard her protesting! But we persevered and, over the next six hours, we gave her 15mls of liquid every 20 minutes.
Thankfully, she didn’t bring any of it back up again. And, after an afternoon of snuggling in her hospital bed watching Disney DVDS, she eventually perked up. Further tests showed that her heart rate had dropped and her feet and hands had warmed up too.
We were relieved that we didn’t have to move onto the next step of rehydration, which would have meant an overnight stay so that she could be put on an IV drip. Leaving the hospital that evening with our little girl, we were relieved to know that she was on the mend.
At home that evening, she even managed to nibble a digestive biscuit – the first food she’d kept down for three days.
Within another couple of days, she was back to her usual lively self, demanding to make fairy cakes and then eating three in one sitting. Definitely a full recovery.
But not all children are so lucky.
“If dehydration isn’t treated, patients can go into a coma or develop kidney failure and it can be fatal,” says Dr Carol Cooper, GP and author of ‘Baby and Child: Your questions answered’ (published by Dorling Kindersley).
“Everyone thinks that the winter vomiting bug is mild and it’s true that, of the many people that get it, not many end up in serious trouble. But it can become serious in the very old and the very young.
“With children, they can change very quickly. Often they can get better very quickly and suddenly perk up and want to eat three packets of crisps.
“But it can quickly go the other way too. If an infant or toddler has a stomach bug and aren’t keeping anything down, they can lose fluids very quickly.
“They can get dehydrated very fast and if they also have a fever, it can be a risk. It does not matter what the cause is, what matters is the effect on the child’s fluid balance.
“The younger the child, the more things can become serious and the more quickly thing change. Children aged two years and under are more at risk.”
So how can parents detect dehydration before it gets serious?
“If you have a small baby, you may notice the soft spot is sunken,” says Dr Cooper.
“If they’re older, you can’t check the soft spot but there are other signs, such as crying and not producing tears, freezing hands and feet, dry skin or lips.
“Another way to check is to pull the skin up on the back of the hand and if it doesn’t immediately ping back, that is an indication of dehydration. Also check their pee.
It should be straw colour. If they’re dehydrated, it may be darker. They may also be lethargic and breathing more rapidly than usual.
“Always take vomiting and diarrhoea in young children seriously. Watch your child, trust your instincts and remember that it’s better to be safe than sorry. Doctors prefer false alarms than to be alerted when it’s too late.”
-Internet
Coughs, colds and sniffles are rife right now, along with that particularly nasty little visitor – Norovirus, also known as the winter vomiting bug.
But, although it may seem harmless enough, you need to be aware of the risk to your child’s health when they can’t keep anything down.
Like lots of families, we were recently hit by Norovirus, which is the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in humans.
First, I was laid low. Then my two-year-old daughter Marianne joined in the fun and started throwing up.
After a couple of days in Vomit Central, I took Marianne to the GP, who advised me to get her to regularly sip Dioralyte – sachets of rehydration salts dissolved in water.
But by the following day – day three of her illness – she was still bringing up everything that she ate or drank. We’d reached a point where she was point blank refusing to drink anything because she knew that it would make her sick.
Instead of her usual bouncy little self, she was lethargic and just wanted to snooze in my arms. Her nappies were dryer than usual, her lips were dry and she seemed to be breathing more quickly too.
At first, we wondered if we were worrying over nothing. After all, this was just a run-of-the-mill winter bug, right?”Sorry if we’re wasting your time,” I told the GP. But far from it. This time, he didn’t tell us to take Marianne home.
Instead, he referred us straight to our local hospital’s urgent care children’s ward.
There, doctors checked her over and told us that she had early signs of dehydration – freezing cold hands and feet and a high heart rate.
We were shocked to think that she was at risk of something as serious as dehydration – something that kills millions of people in developing countries, where medical treatment for stomach bugs, vomiting and diarrhoea is not readily available.
What shocked me even more was that this had been caused by something as commonplace as Norovirus – and how huge a problem it is.
“There are three other children on the ward right now with the same problem,” the doctor explained.
Marianne was placed on an Oral Rehydration Challenge, which meant that we had to give her 15mls of Dioralyte into her mouth using a syringe, recording her fluid intake on a chart.
It was certainly a challenge – she felt so ill, she didn’t want to swallow anything. Patients on the next ward probably heard her protesting! But we persevered and, over the next six hours, we gave her 15mls of liquid every 20 minutes.
Thankfully, she didn’t bring any of it back up again. And, after an afternoon of snuggling in her hospital bed watching Disney DVDS, she eventually perked up. Further tests showed that her heart rate had dropped and her feet and hands had warmed up too.
We were relieved that we didn’t have to move onto the next step of rehydration, which would have meant an overnight stay so that she could be put on an IV drip. Leaving the hospital that evening with our little girl, we were relieved to know that she was on the mend.
At home that evening, she even managed to nibble a digestive biscuit – the first food she’d kept down for three days.
Within another couple of days, she was back to her usual lively self, demanding to make fairy cakes and then eating three in one sitting. Definitely a full recovery.
But not all children are so lucky.
“If dehydration isn’t treated, patients can go into a coma or develop kidney failure and it can be fatal,” says Dr Carol Cooper, GP and author of ‘Baby and Child: Your questions answered’ (published by Dorling Kindersley).
“Everyone thinks that the winter vomiting bug is mild and it’s true that, of the many people that get it, not many end up in serious trouble. But it can become serious in the very old and the very young.
“With children, they can change very quickly. Often they can get better very quickly and suddenly perk up and want to eat three packets of crisps.
“But it can quickly go the other way too. If an infant or toddler has a stomach bug and aren’t keeping anything down, they can lose fluids very quickly.
“They can get dehydrated very fast and if they also have a fever, it can be a risk. It does not matter what the cause is, what matters is the effect on the child’s fluid balance.
“The younger the child, the more things can become serious and the more quickly thing change. Children aged two years and under are more at risk.”
So how can parents detect dehydration before it gets serious?
“If you have a small baby, you may notice the soft spot is sunken,” says Dr Cooper.
“If they’re older, you can’t check the soft spot but there are other signs, such as crying and not producing tears, freezing hands and feet, dry skin or lips.
“Another way to check is to pull the skin up on the back of the hand and if it doesn’t immediately ping back, that is an indication of dehydration. Also check their pee.
It should be straw colour. If they’re dehydrated, it may be darker. They may also be lethargic and breathing more rapidly than usual.
“Always take vomiting and diarrhoea in young children seriously. Watch your child, trust your instincts and remember that it’s better to be safe than sorry. Doctors prefer false alarms than to be alerted when it’s too late.”
-Internet
