Sickly little zodling
May. 25th, 2008 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sethrakHis first real bout of diarrhea would have to happen on a holiday weekend.
What to Expect the Toddler Years, and varied internet sources, say it's not 'officially' diarrhea unless there's more than three loose stools a day, for more than 2-3 days. Well, he hasn't done more than three or so a day (Four last night) since I started counting, but it's been close to a week, and extremely nasty and liquid at that, so I'm declaring it official.
::shudder:: I haven't seen anything like this since the boy stopped breastfeeding. It is. Nas. Ty. I reviewed his diet for the last week, and the only change was Motts' Plus For Children Fruit Punch, diluted half and half with water so it'd last longer, instead of apple juice with water. (I thought he'd like a change from apple juice, and the Motts' Plus had extra vitamins.) My research said that sometimes grape juice, one of the ingredients, can have a laxative effect. So, Thursday and Friday, he got no juice at all. Just extra helpings of soy milk, and a few attempts at giving him water. (The boy still adamantly refuses to drink more than a sip or two of water before throwing the sippy away and refusing to have anything more to do with it.)
Sadly, this had no noticeable effect. He's still producing revoltingly odiferous and mostly liquid stools. Two as of this writing, and I think I smell a third. (He's running around the living room too fast to get a good whiff right now.) So he's back on apple juice mixed half and half with water, between meals. We need to keep him hydrated, and soy milk's too expensive to be his only source of fluid. This morning's output was runny enough that I think we're going to try pedialyte today, too.
He doesn't seem dehydrated so far. His lower lip has gotten a bit split and faintly bloody once or twice, but it goes away with extra fluid intake. He's not feverish, or listless. He's been a bit whinier and clingier than usual, but he still plays - and he's added to his repertoire of things he can climb.
Last night, while I was in the bathroom,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
davner heard the salt shaker on the dining room table fall over. He checked on Mark, and discovered Our Zodling sitting proudly atop the table. Apparently he figured out how to use the chairs as a stepping stool. ^_^; We're now keeping the dining room chairs shoved as far under the table as possible. This has not deterred Zodling from squirming onto the chair seats and sprawling across them on his belly, crammed just underneath the tabletop, but at least I don't have to worry about him diving head first from the dining table. it's bad enough when he tries it from the couch or coffee table. >_<;;
Barring a miraculous resumption of normal stools, Tuesday morning I'm making him an appt. for the pediatrician. I doubt they'll prescribe anything - my research says basically all you can do is keep pushing fluids and wait it out, unless dehydration becomes severe - but I'm not risking it turning out to be something viral or worse. (And the 2-3 day mark does tend to be when they recommend calling a dr. - which just so happened to be when the long weekend started. >_<)
I was going to go to church this morning, but between Mark's tummy troubles, and Dav coming down with a sufficiently nasty cold that he actually took Robitussin last night, I'm not leaving my boys alone that long. Poor guys.
Any suggestions to keep him hydrated in addition to Pedialyte are welcome. Particularly suggestions on persuading a stubborn little boy to drink plain water.
What to Expect the Toddler Years, and varied internet sources, say it's not 'officially' diarrhea unless there's more than three loose stools a day, for more than 2-3 days. Well, he hasn't done more than three or so a day (Four last night) since I started counting, but it's been close to a week, and extremely nasty and liquid at that, so I'm declaring it official.
::shudder:: I haven't seen anything like this since the boy stopped breastfeeding. It is. Nas. Ty. I reviewed his diet for the last week, and the only change was Motts' Plus For Children Fruit Punch, diluted half and half with water so it'd last longer, instead of apple juice with water. (I thought he'd like a change from apple juice, and the Motts' Plus had extra vitamins.) My research said that sometimes grape juice, one of the ingredients, can have a laxative effect. So, Thursday and Friday, he got no juice at all. Just extra helpings of soy milk, and a few attempts at giving him water. (The boy still adamantly refuses to drink more than a sip or two of water before throwing the sippy away and refusing to have anything more to do with it.)
Sadly, this had no noticeable effect. He's still producing revoltingly odiferous and mostly liquid stools. Two as of this writing, and I think I smell a third. (He's running around the living room too fast to get a good whiff right now.) So he's back on apple juice mixed half and half with water, between meals. We need to keep him hydrated, and soy milk's too expensive to be his only source of fluid. This morning's output was runny enough that I think we're going to try pedialyte today, too.
He doesn't seem dehydrated so far. His lower lip has gotten a bit split and faintly bloody once or twice, but it goes away with extra fluid intake. He's not feverish, or listless. He's been a bit whinier and clingier than usual, but he still plays - and he's added to his repertoire of things he can climb.
Last night, while I was in the bathroom,
davner heard the salt shaker on the dining room table fall over. He checked on Mark, and discovered Our Zodling sitting proudly atop the table. Apparently he figured out how to use the chairs as a stepping stool. ^_^; We're now keeping the dining room chairs shoved as far under the table as possible. This has not deterred Zodling from squirming onto the chair seats and sprawling across them on his belly, crammed just underneath the tabletop, but at least I don't have to worry about him diving head first from the dining table. it's bad enough when he tries it from the couch or coffee table. >_<;;Barring a miraculous resumption of normal stools, Tuesday morning I'm making him an appt. for the pediatrician. I doubt they'll prescribe anything - my research says basically all you can do is keep pushing fluids and wait it out, unless dehydration becomes severe - but I'm not risking it turning out to be something viral or worse. (And the 2-3 day mark does tend to be when they recommend calling a dr. - which just so happened to be when the long weekend started. >_<)
I was going to go to church this morning, but between Mark's tummy troubles, and Dav coming down with a sufficiently nasty cold that he actually took Robitussin last night, I'm not leaving my boys alone that long. Poor guys.
Any suggestions to keep him hydrated in addition to Pedialyte are welcome. Particularly suggestions on persuading a stubborn little boy to drink plain water.
