Babies: 9 - 12 Months

Fever & won't drink any liquids.. HELP!

Our 9 1/2 month old DS has had a persistent fever since Thursday night.  At it's highest it was at 100.7.  On Friday we took him to the Dr.  He seemed to have no other symptoms.  He was responding well to Tylenol and the Dr said his ears, nose, throat all seemed clear. She sent us home to continue with Tylenol/Motrin to manage the fever.

He was very whiny/needy and was eating MUCH less... close to refusing all bottles but he would take a bit of pedialyte and he would still eat stage 2 foods (although he did vomit after eating on Sat night).  Today his fever hit 103.8.. so we took him to the ER.  They said it seems to have moved into his ear and they sent us home with a continued Tylenol/Motrin regimen and prescribed us antibiotics.  We are now about 8 hours later and he is refusing ALL liquids and medicine. The battle to get a syringe into his mouth and to try to make sure he doesn't spit out the medicine is insane. He also will not take any bottles, water or pedialyte. He did take 2 jars of food, but vomited shortly afterwards. I'm honestly not sure what to do and his last 2 diapers (over the course of probably 4-5 hours) were only very slightly wet. I'm now worried about dehydration.

How do I get him to consume some liquids.. or take the medicine without going all tight lipped or spitting it out?

Any suggestions or if you've experienced something similar would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

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Re: Fever & won't drink any liquids.. HELP!

  • Have you tried cold foods? Like take baby food and make it cold or even slushy? Have you tried a cold wash cloth wet with water to suck on?

    Drinking from a real glass often will work too... Especially if they think it's yours... :

    Any wet diaper in a five hour period I think means you are ok.

    Antibiotics typically work with in 24 hours so hopefully you are on the up swing
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  • mnb311mnb311 member
    My LO had a bad virus a couple months ago and he was so dehydrated we ended up having to take him to the hospital bc the only way to get fluids in him at that point was an IV :(   Hoping that wont be the case for y'all.  Offer popsicles, there are pedialyte pops you can get or make your own.  you could also make "formula pops".  Only thing you can do is keep offering liquids.   Since he is throwing up after eating he is probably dehydrated. If he absolutely refuses and hasn't peed in 8 hours, definitely take him to the ER
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  • I would see if the motrin is bringing the temp down.  And I'd put LO in a bath of tepid water or give him a sponge bath to bring the temp down faster. Having a fever makes one feel like crap, so bringing down that temp might help.

    Hope some of the advice you receive here helps!

  • Try the Pedialyte freeze pops. They always save the day for us.
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  • We had this exact problem when DS had a fever. We offered a lot of high water-content fruits and he ate some of those (watermelon, kiwi, peach). We also used a syringe, pinned him down and fed him pedialyte that way - you have to be careful, if he is struggling too much he might choke.

     We also gave him a regular cup - he liked holding it because that's what we are drinking out of. Then he'd tried to drink from that. 98 percent of the water gets spilled as he dumps the water all over himself, but at least he got a few sips that way. Every hour or so, we would sit him down, give him the cup and let him dump water on himself while DH and I drank out of our cups to "show" him we are all doing it.

    Good luck!!! I know it's super stressful. 

  • DS had a stomach bug a few months back and acted the same way you're describing.  Have you tasted pedialyte?  It is NASTY.  Even the flavored kinds.  My friend is a nurse at Children's Hospital and she said they actually add some powdered kool-aid to it to get the kids to take it.  Anyway we ended up buying Gerber Replenish and he took to that MUCH better.  We did the whole "build up" process where you start giving him like 1ml every 10 minutes...then 2ml every 10 minutes...and you slowly work up the amount.  If he threw up, we'd wait awhile and start over again.

    Good luck and don't hesitate to contact your dr again!

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  • noneononeo member
    My son had a similar bug 3 weeks ago. I was also worried about dehydration, a nurse friend of mine said to try to get one dropper of pedialyte down every 15 min. Too much can make baby throw up but if you do it little by little it can help. Also cut the front of the diaper open to check for wetness if you are unsure. Sometimes they are really absorbant. You want a wet diaper every 6 hours, you want to see tears when they cry, and make sure their mouth is moist and that is helpful for indicating hydration. Try a cool bath to bring down the fever and cool rag on forehead. But keep up the pedialyte, it hydrates better than water.Everything will be ok, I know it is stressful, but this will pass. Keep up the good work!
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