How to Treat a Child Who Can't Keep Food Down

Video Transcript

"You're concerned because your child isn't able to keep food down, and you're wondering what to do. My name is Beverly Bitterman, ARNP health and wellness consultant, and I'm here to give you a few tips and strategies. The first thing you want to do is have some sense of why they might not be able to keep food down. Do they also have a fever, does it seem like it's a little infection or stomach flue that's going around, verses, might they have consumed something. You want to rule out any accidental poisonings as soon as possible, because that would certainly influence your next course of action. So let's say that there's something in the neighborhood and you got a child that's caught the but, and they're vomiting, and/or they have diarrhea. The important thing with children, especially young children, is, you don't want them to get dehydrated. So what you're going to do, while they're actively vomiting, is hold off on very much food or liquid. You can try to introduce sips of, like an electrolyte solution like Gatorade or even plain water, if they will tolerate sips of coke, things like that, stir it so the fizz comes out, and have it not be ice cold, more room temperature, those are some things you can do. If they tolerate that, begin to up how much you give them, but let the vomiting be your guide. If the child is vomiting for more than six hours, and unable to keep anything down, call your pediatrician to get their advise, to make sure you don't windup in a dehydration situation. The other thing of course can be diarrhea, there again, it's a little easier to give them fluids, and important to do that, make sure that you think about things that will help restore their electrolyte balance, maybe like a pedialyte kind of a formula, and you can give them what they like. You can give them popsicles, you can give them broth, things of that nature. What you want to do is just make sure that they don't become listless, that they seem to be improving. If your child is not improving, and its been 24 hours, again, I would call your doctor and see what they recommend. My name is Beverly Bitterman, ARNP health and wellness consultant, and good luck with re-hydrating your child."