Rotavirus

From Mommyplace.com WiKI Page

Rotavirus is a gastroenteritis disease that effects most children before they turn five year old. It causes sever diarrhea and vomiting. It can also cause severe dehydration. According to rotavirusinfo.com, rotavirus is responsible for 70,000 children under 5 being hospitalized each year. Rotavirus lasts about 10 days.

Rotavirus.com [1] is a fantastic resource for this virus.

Signs of rotavirus are diarrhea and vomiting. The diarrhea has a distinct and terrible odor.

If you think your child has rotavirus you should call your pediatrician immediately. You should also try to keep your child as hydrated as possible.

My son was hospitalized with severe dehydration as a result of rotavirus at 7 months of age. Here are some tips to recognizing dehydration and also how to prevent it with an Infant.

Recognizing dehydration

1) Crying but not producing tears

2) Eyes appear sunken into the head

3) Lips and tongue are dry

4) Baby refuses to drink anything

How to prevent dehydration When my son had rotavirus he literally gave up eating and drinking because he was so ill. Here are tips our Pediatrician and ER doctors provided to us:

1) Try to get baby to drink Pedialyte in a bottle

2) If baby will not drink Pedialyte on it’s own, purchase the plain/clear Pedialtye (not the flavored kind), and melt a popsicle into it. See if baby will drink this mixture in a bottle.

3) If baby will not drink anything from a bottle, get a 5 mL or 10 mL dropper from your nearest grocery store or pharmacy…they should provide these free of charge. Create the mixture in #2 above and use a dropper to administer the mixture. Go very slowly. Start with 1mL at a time and do it every 5-10 mins. Only increase the amount of mL if Baby does not vomit or have diarrhea.

4) If baby does not keep this mixture down or refuses the dropper, call your pediatrician. Your baby might need to be admitted to the hospital for IV fluids.