My son is 8 months old and has RSV and the flu....YUCK!! He has been throwing up and has diarrhea. I can't get him to take many fluids at all. I DO NOT want to have to take him to the ER to get an IV. I have tried ice chips, pedialyte, water, warm water, formula, juice water, and water with a spoon. He wo'nt take anything. I've even resorted to squirting it in his mouth with a medicine dropper but he spits most of it back out.

I feel like I should be able to win a battle of wills with an 8 month old, but I can't!!!!! Any other suggestions for getting fluids into him??:confused:

Have you tried a popsicle? I know mine won't touch anything cold, but it might be worth a shot. Also, try a washcloth with water on it, he may suck on it for awhile.

Amy

I know you probably don't want to hear this but if he is getting dehydrated, it may be even harder to get him to drink. Dyhydration can make them feel like they have an upset stomach so - viola - no intake.

If it has been a while, I woudl take him to the ER. He needs fluids to help fight his infections.

Sorry.

-Jen

just how long has this been going on?so from what you have stated here,it appears he has not taken in ANYTHING at all for some time?or is it just trying like juice or water or something?what about formula?he would be getting at least "some" water with that.

my son had the roto virus right before his first BD many years ago,and he became dehydrated pretty quickly despite the fact i was shoving in the pedialyte at one end,it was constantly coming out the other.i had had him into his ped every single day for about four days and would lose like one whole pound like every single day.he was taking in fluids but he still became dehydrated enough that he could no longer even produce tears anymore and was becomming rather lethargic as well.his ped finally had him admitted for hydration on day four,and he needed it very badly,and this was even WITH still taking in some fluids. i would think quite honestly that if this has been going on for more than even just a couple of days,he may already be pretty dehydrated and in need of supplimental IV fluids,really.

you can check for tenting of his skin.this usually works best in adults because they don't have that fatty tissue underneath the skin on the hands like babys do,but try just taking your forefinger and thumb and gently sqeeze together a fold of skin on the top of your sons hand,if it takes more than about one second for that skin to bounce back to the normal,he is most definitely in need of an IV asap.also looking at the mucosa,the inside of his mouth?for actual wetness and loss of tearing when he would normally have tears when crying at certain times?also if your child just "looks" sick or is very weak,lethargic or has a tired sounding cry,these are pretty critical signs of severe dehydration and in need of an ER.in these instances,an IV would actually be placed into the childs head and not the normal foot posistion as the head veins will get it out quicker.they just place a little dixie cup taped over the top so they dont pull it out.

the really amazing thing with my son when this happened was that i really hadn't noticed just how REALLY bad his was til he had that IV in him for only about one hour.he immediately perked up and was chattering and like all perky in just a little over an hour.thats when i really really saw how different he was and just how horrible he had been before.it was like night and day with him,totally.depending on his overall actual intake of any fluids at all,if he is still either vomiting or having diarhea or both,he is most likely already dehydrated and needs to be set up with IV fluids.have you been in contact with his ped during this time at all?even with seeing our sons every single day and forcing that pedialyte(and my sons ped was extremely good)he still became severely dehydrated anyways.(it just kept flowing out of him like right after i would put it in)better safe than sorry.if their fluids get too low or he stops peeing all together,this could be an extremely dangerous kidney problem.I just cannot stress enough how important it is to stay totally on top of this at the early stages and not letting it get to an ominous point.if he is showing ANY of these signs,it would be best to get him into the ER sometime today if you have not already done so,there could also be something underlying that is actually aggrevating the symptoms since normally,when a child is really dehydrated,they will just automatically WANT to drink.that in itself doesn't sound really right to me.i wish you a whole lot of luck here and hope he will be back to normal very soon.just don't take chances when it comes to your baby.get him in.please let us know how things are going.marcia