What to Feed Your Sick Toddler

When your baby gets the stomach flu similar bug, mealtime

becomes even more challenging. What do you give to your little one who either can’t keep food down or has lost interest in eating because of the pain in their tummy?

Staying Hydrated is More Important Than Staying Fed
The first thing to remember: It’s much more important to drink plenty of fluids when your child (or you) becomes ill. Between fevers, diarrhea and vomiting, the body needs all of the water it can get in order to fight off the infection. If your child is able to drink but refuses to eat food, you may be best letting their system continue to work.

Stock Up on Pedialyte
Pedialyte – and other “noname” brands that offer the exact same product at half the price – is an excellent aid for a parent with a sick child. Especially in cases where the child seems to be throwing up everything that is going down, this medicine will help your child slowly absorb additional electrolytes which will help their immune system fight off the virus.

Tip: Gatorade – among other sports drinks – has a similar effect for adults (but contains too much sugar for younger children). In our household we call this our secret weapon and stock up every time one of us starts to get sick.

The BRAT Diet
BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Apple sauce, Toast) is an acronym you can use to remember the foods that will help to settle your child’s stomach while giving them the best chance to regain nutrients in order to get better faster. These foods are good sources of minerals and vitamins but are neutral enough that they offer the best chances at staying down in an upset tummy.

The CRAM Diet – More Protein
A similar diet involves Cereal and Milk in order to boost the amount of protein your child receives. Depending on the tastes of your child, offer these foods if your child will have them (ours won’t eat bananas, for example).

When to Seek Medical Help
Call your doctor if your child is disoriented, lethargic, difficult to wake, or has a fever higher than 102 fahrenheit. In most cases your child will be better served resting at home – resting in bed is more comfortable than waiting in a strange place for a doctor; going to the hospital will expose your children to more disease (as it turns out, some of those other people in the waiting room could be sick).

Coffee Shop Can’t Spare a Cup of Hot Water

The day started as usual with my son and I heading out the door to run some errands.

Diaper bag: check.
Bottles: check.
Car bottle warmer: check.

About 20 minutes before bottle time I plugged in the car warmer and dropped in the bottle only to discover that my crappy $35 warmer has gone on strike and is not going to heat up my bottle. Thankfully it’s about that time when mommy needs a coffee, so to the drive through we go for our large café mocha and bagel with cream cheese.

“Please drive up to the window and I will give you your total there.”

I pay for my things and ask the man at the window if I could have a cup with hot water because my bottle warmer isn’t working. He says he has to get his manager and asks me to wait. The manager comes to the window and after rudely telling me that this isn’t a baby store tells me it will be $1.75 for a cup of water. I tell him I am willing to pay 25 cents but not a penny more for a cup of hot water.

Again he affirms there was a tap in the washroom for me to use otherwise I would have to pay $1.75. I tell him thanks but no thanks. I drive around the building park my car, take my son and the bottle out, and wait at the tap for 10 minutes for the milk to heat up.

You would think that the coffee industry could afford a cup of hot water, especially if they were reimbursed a quarter for being out a cup, but I guess they don’t get rich by being nice to a mother that needed a little help.

Where to Find Product Recalls

We hear about new recalls every day – products of all kinds are found to be unsafe or flawed in some way are called back for repairs by their manufacturers.  Anyone who has ever bought a new car has certainly encountered this – the dealer phones you one morning to bring your vehicle in to fix a flaw that was discovered in [insert part here!].

Not all recalls are life-threatening, nor do they affect all items that were produced by the manufacturer.  Our car was called in once because the seal around the windshield on our model was found to wear too quickly.  Although we never had any problems with it, we were still able to have it replaced free of charge.

When the product recall is for family safety equipment, it is important to pay attention.  But how can a busy parent keep track of everything that may put their family in danger?  Fortunately there are many government-backed online sources that can help.

There are a few that we like:

CSA International – CSA tests products for conformance to and above national and international standards, and issues certification to qualified products.  When it comes to any safety equipment – bicycle helmets, electrical outlets, car seats – I will only buy products with the CSA label.  CSA also includes a useful RSS feed to keep abreast of new recalls.

Health Canada – The Canadian government is (generally) fanatical about safety, particularly for products relating to children and infants.  Canada has some of the strictest standards in the world when it comes to products for children and newborns.