Been a rough couple days... Sunday night/Monday morning Gabriel would wake up to eat but wouldn't eat much. Not like him at all! At 8something he ate a little and threw up. A LOT. I didn't know his little body could hold so much! He threw up a couple more times but not as much. I called his pediatrician's office and they said to start him on Pedialyte. So I went down the street and bought a bottle of unflavored Pedialyte. I bought the unflavored because I figured the chances of him reacting to it were less. Especially since Ethan and I both have sensitivities to chemicals in food. He wasn't too thrilled with but we were able to get a few drops in him. He seemed to be feeling better so I went to bible study. Jesse assured me if he got worse he would call. Since we live less than 10 minutes from church, I was okay with that.
When I got home, he had only drank a few sips but I got him to drink about an ounce. Then Jesse got him to drink some more. At this point I was encouraged! And then he threw up the Pedialyte... Looked like every bit he had drank so far. And he was pale. And he had gone hours without a wet diaper. I called his pedi's office and talked to the doctor on call. She told me to bring him to ER to make sure he wasn't dehydrated and to get some fluids in him.
We got to a room in the ER fairly quickly! They gave me a different electrolyte solution (Enfalyte - cherry flavor) to feed him while we waited to see the ER pedi. And he kept it down! The ER pedi checked him and said he wasn't dehydrated and to monitor him at home. When we left the ER I went to the 24-hour drugstore to buy some Enfalyte since he had kept that down. They didn't have it. And all the flavored Pedialyte had not one but two artificial sweeteners! I am NOT going to feed my baby who isn't even 3 months old artificial sweeteners. Not knowing what I do about them, and especially not with knowing I don't react well to them! The pharmacist called another drugstore that was open but they didn't carry Enfalyte either. So I came home and figured I'd just try the unflavored Pedialyte again. I finally made it to bed about 4am.
At 8 I woke up to get him to drink some and he immediately threw up again. Now I was thinking there was something in the Pedialyte that didn't agree with him. I had checked the ingredients in Enfalyte and knew they were similar to Pedialyte but not the same. So I started calling around to find somewhere that carried Enfalyte. Long story short, Enfalyte is only available to hospitals and pharmacies by special order :-( I called the hospital and I couldn't even buy it from them without going through one of their doctors. They wouldn't even accept a faxed order from our pedi... While I got dressed to bring him back to the hospital, Jesse fed him some more Pedialyte. And it stayed down! A little while later, some more. And then some more. And it all stayed down! That was about 12 hours ago and he's spit up some of it but not much :-) He's had less wet diapers than usual but is well within the safe zone according to his pedi. The nurse called this afternoon to check on him. So nice of them!
I brought this up on here for a couple reasons. First, I am really upset that the hospital would not let me buy Enfalyte without him being seen by a doctor at that time. It wasn't enough that he was at their ER and saw one of their doctors during the night. And it wasn't enough that his pedi could fax an order and/or prescription for it... So frustrating!
And the other thing... I am APPALLED that every single flavor and type of Pedialyte, both name brand and generic, have artificial sweeteners! When a child has a stomach virus, you want as few irritating chemicals as possible in their system. And artificial sweeteners are a biggie! Never mind that I don't allow my kids to have them when they're not sick! Enfalyte doesn't have artificial sweeteners. So why does Pedialyte? Check your labels - they're not just in sugar-free products... They are added to many foods and drinks that primarily use real sugar.
Rant over... For now...
Gabriel has slept most of the day. He wakes up and drinks 4-8 oz of unflavored Pedialyte and goes right back to sleep. But at least he's keeping it down! Tomorrow if he's still doing okay I can start him on formula mixed half and half with Pedialyte. Then another 12-24 hours later if he's keeping that down he can go back to formula.
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Yes... it's sad... the reasoning behind it is that children already don't like it much less without any sweetener. So in order to get a child to drink it they do that cause real sugar will make them vomit. I had it pretty rough when my kids were babies. After about 6 months old they sometimes refuse even the flavored. At that time I would try the flavored and I couldn't get them to drink it at all. They made me resort to Gatorade at the time. As they got a little bit older they finally tolerated the Bubble gum flavor. My options were to get something in their stomach they would tolerate to prevent dehydration. So I had to try the lesser of two evils. And it is sad that the artificial stuff is in it. But I would give it if it meant preventing my child from going into the hospital with an IV. For babies the IV is in the head. I was avoiding that at all costs. And I made it through trial and error. That was almost a miracle that Gabriel drank the unflavored. He's a first I've seen to tolerate it. I'm glad he's feeling better.
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