Dehydration while nursing

My darling wife has become sick today. She is concerned for our nursing
5 month old and I'm posting on her behalf. (She is a regular here; a
lurker, however.)

We are not sure whether it is salmonella from eggs with runny yolks she
ate 12 hours before onset of symptoms, or if it is the flu from which a
play friend recovered 7 days before last Wednesday. She was exposed to
that child on Wednesday, today is Saturday.

In any event, she has been unable to drink since this morning. Even a
few ounces of water has induced vomiting within 5 minutes.

The youngster eats breastmilk exclusively. She is concerned about milk
supply reduction due to dehydration.

Under what circumstances would a visit for the purpose of IV fluids be
warranted?

Thank You.

This is certainly a concern. Your wife should drink as much as she is able
to, but water is probably not a good thing. Something clear and fizzy is
generally tolerated better (7-up or ginger ale) and small sips every few
minutes. When my daughter who is bf'd got gastro recently, her doctor gave
her a shot to stop the vomiting (it's called Phenergan) - perhaps that's an
option for your wife? I would say that's a better choice rather than IV
fluid supplementation. Allow baby to nurse as often as possible also.
HTH - I'm sure others will have more...
"Ryan" wrote in message
...
My darling wife has become sick today. She is concerned for our nursing
5 month old and I'm posting on her behalf. (She is a regular here; a
lurker, however.)

We are not sure whether it is salmonella from eggs with runny yolks she
ate 12 hours before onset of symptoms, or if it is the flu from which a
play friend recovered 7 days before last Wednesday. She was exposed to
that child on Wednesday, today is Saturday.

In any event, she has been unable to drink since this morning. Even a
few ounces of water has induced vomiting within 5 minutes.

The youngster eats breastmilk exclusively. She is concerned about milk
supply reduction due to dehydration.

Under what circumstances would a visit for the purpose of IV fluids be
warranted?

Thank You.

delurking
This same thing happened to me last weekend-I finally got over it on
Thursday so I can sympathise. I can only say have her drink Gatorade and
ginger ale as often as she can. It will be scary how much your wife throws
up BTW but tell her not to worry about her milk supply because it will only
make it worse. YOu may have to supplement with formula if your baby seems
hungry-I ran through my frozen BM and had to use formula.
good luck and dont hesitate to call a DR





"Ryan" wrote in message
...
My darling wife has become sick today. She is concerned for our nursing
5 month old and I'm posting on her behalf. (She is a regular here; a
lurker, however.)

We are not sure whether it is salmonella from eggs with runny yolks she
ate 12 hours before onset of symptoms, or if it is the flu from which a
play friend recovered 7 days before last Wednesday. She was exposed to
that child on Wednesday, today is Saturday.

In any event, she has been unable to drink since this morning. Even a
few ounces of water has induced vomiting within 5 minutes.

The youngster eats breastmilk exclusively. She is concerned about milk
supply reduction due to dehydration.

Under what circumstances would a visit for the purpose of IV fluids be
warranted?

Thank You.

Hi -

Have your wife drink a SINGLE SIP of water at a time, and then wait
several minutes, then take another sip. Over the course of an hour she
may be able to keep down several ounces.

Better than water would be gatorade or even Pedialyte, which are
designed to help keep electrolytes in balance.

If your wife starts to show signs of dehydration, call her physician
immediately. If your baby shows signs of dehydration (too few wet
diapers, etc.) offer formula. Situations like this is why formula
exists.

I hope your wife feels better soon,
--Beth Kevles

http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would
like me to reply.

"Ryan" wrote in message
...
We are not sure whether it is salmonella from eggs with runny yolks
she
ate 12 hours before onset of symptoms, or if it is the flu from which
a
play friend recovered 7 days before last Wednesday. She was exposed
to
that child on Wednesday, today is Saturday.

FWIW I would guess it was the eggs since the child was already better
for a whole week before she saw him. Not that it matters much at this
point, except she may want to cook eggs more thoroughly in the future.

In any event, she has been unable to drink since this morning. Even a
few ounces of water has induced vomiting within 5 minutes.

The youngster eats breastmilk exclusively. She is concerned about
milk
supply reduction due to dehydration.

Under what circumstances would a visit for the purpose of IV fluids be
warranted?

I had food poisoning about 6 weeks ago, with a then-four month old who's
also exclusively bf'd. For a day and a half he did want to nurse very
often, which was tough because at one point I was too weak to sit up and
he wouldn't nurse lying down. I offerred a bottle of EBM but it was the
first time he'd ever encountered a bottle and he wouldn't have it. A
cup didn't work either but it's worth trying if you need to. The
intense vomiting stage should hopefully be over for her by now but as
others have said what your wife needs is Gatorade or some such drink
rather than water. I don't know the criteria for when she should get an
IV. Dehydration will still be a concern if/when she begins having
diarrhea and she should drink as much Gatorade as she can tolerate
during that phase. I was drinking two 64-oz bottles a day. I hope she
is over it quickly. I think it was 5 days, total, for me and I lost 6
pounds in that time, it was so severe. But my baby was fine; my milk
supply was affected only briefly and came right back as soon as I was
able to drink.
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 2 yr., 11 mo. and Jaden, 5 months
Quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Ryan writes:

My darling wife has become sick today. She is concerned for our nursing
5 month old and I'm posting on her behalf. (She is a regular here; a
lurker, however.)

a) Sorry!

b) If you have any bad or weird symptoms, obviously, you should go to a
doctor.

c) My experience is that, when I got a mild stomach flu about a year ago
and again a couple of weeks ago, the bug had no noticeable effect on my
supply. If anything, my supply (which is always mediocre) might have been
a little better than usual. My daughter nursed a lot more than usual, and
she vomited once and had one weird, rotten egg-y diaper, but, other than
that, she was fine.

So, in general, I'd say your wife should do whatever her stomach tells her
to do, stay close to the bathroom and nurse as much as possible. With a
little luck, the antibodies in the breastmilk might protect your baby from
any serious problems.

"Cheryl S." writes:

"Ryan" wrote in message
...
We are not sure whether it is salmonella from eggs with runny yolks
she
ate 12 hours before onset of symptoms, or if it is the flu from which
a
play friend recovered 7 days before last Wednesday. She was exposed
to
that child on Wednesday, today is Saturday.

FWIW I would guess it was the eggs since the child was already better
for a whole week before she saw him. Not that it matters much at this
point, except she may want to cook eggs more thoroughly in the future.

I accidentally sent this as an email, too, sorry. But, anyway, there's a
stomach bug epidemic in the United States right now. So, if the original
poster is in the United States, chances are pretty good that his wife has
the stomach bug.

When we took my daughter in for a well-baby visit last week, she said that
she'd seen about 12 stomach bug cases in her office that day alone.

Ryan writes:

My darling wife has become sick today. She is concerned for our nursing
5 month old and I'm posting on her behalf. (She is a regular here; a
lurker, however.)

This message was from my husband on my behalf, and I want to thank
everyone for responding, and for the great thoughts and advice. I'm
feeling quite a bit better tonight, still a little weak and haven't
really eaten in 4 days but I'm doing much better. Ryan went out and
bought me several liters of 7up and ginger ale and has been great
taking care of me and the baby.

I'm happy to say that my son nursed right through it. He did seem to
nurse more than usual so perhaps my supply did dip a bit but it has
apparently rebounded and he's back to a usual amount of nursing. Now
I'm watching him carefully for signs of illness. He had a slight
fever last night and was fussy, but finally fell asleep and slept
really well. Today he seems fine as far as activity and nursing go.
But how do you tell if an exclusively breastfed infant has diarrhea?
His poops are always runny. He goes once or twice a day usually, but
went 5 times today. Does that indicate anything? Other than a cold
he's never been ill and so I don't know what to look for really.
Thanks again!

-Lora

Lora ) wrote:

But how do you tell if an exclusively breastfed infant has diarrhea?
His poops are always runny.

Diarrhea is pretty unmistakeable. It's not just runny, it's very watery with
"bits" in it and it smells horrid.

Most likely he's protected by the antibodies you've been making. The fever
might mean he had a very light case of whatever bug it is.

--Helen

In article , Lora R
wrote:

But how do you tell if an exclusively breastfed infant has diarrhea?
His poops are always runny.

Believe me, you will know! There's runny, and then there's watery stuff that
absolutely STINKS and needs to be hosed off your baby because it's escaped
from the nappy in all directions.

Tip: put child in laundry tub before attempting to remove any clothes.
Soiled clothes can then go in the bucket and you can rinse the child off
easily.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Jeez; if only those Ancient Greek storytellers had known about the astonishing
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