At 07:55 AM 3/14/99 -0500, you wrote:
>My advice has always been to offer short, frequent BFeeds, even if they do
>come back up.  Some gets absorbed and they don't tend to get dehydrated. I
>never offer pedialyte if breast milk is available.    In our  practice we
>use phenergan pretty liberally, so the nap that follows sort of equates
>with your NPO period.  We rarely have a baby or child admitted for
>dehydration.  The current virus in Atlantic City is fairly virulent.
>Sincerely, Pat in SNJ


My advice on feeding is the same as yours.  I was wondering last week after
the 3rd call on this topic, about phenegran.  Is it by prescription only?
In how young a child is it used? At what point do we want the vomitting to
stop?

I have felt that the vomiting was the body's way of ridding itself of
something that needs to leave, and that the breastmilk would be soothing to
the GI lining. The comforting that the baby/child gets at the breast when
she feels so bad is an important part of the healing too.

When my children were little they nursed and vomitted until the time that
the milk began to stay down. I would expect the vomitting in the early
hours of the virus, just clean it up, and nurse again when the child needed
the comfort.

I usually used the "emptier" breast for the comforting, but I wonder if
fore milk would be more soothing than hind milk.  What do you think?

One baby whose mother called me became dehydrated and that was after the
doctor said to stop breastfeeding and give pedialite, which of course came
up too.  So from my experience, small feeds of breastmilk and comforting at
the breast is the standard treatment for this illness.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
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