New here and wanted to see if anyone had advice!

I am new here and looking to see if anyone has any advice or feedback. My twin boys are 2 1/2. Both boys were sick on the 25th of January starting with 4 hours of vomiting and by the following day turning into diarrhea. Well they have continued to have diarrhea since that time at least once a day and I am talking very loose or watery stools. I had called the doctors office last week and they suggested probiotics and tried them and that didn't work. So I took them to the doctors yesterday and they said to switch them to Lactaid milk and do the BRAT diet for the next two weeks. Started that but they still are having watery diarrhea. One of my bigger concerns is my one twin is barely eating but drinking well and yesterday seem so lethargic, but seems better today. Also, that same twin for the last week has all the sudden last week been waking in the middle of the night and not going back to sleep. He will cry and when I go in and lay with him he will stop crying but not fall back to sleep just lays there with me. At times he doesn't fall back to sleep and the only time he does is if he sleeps snuggled into my husband's side. Given the sickness and lack of sleep he is miserable. Anyone else going through this or have any advice to how to help him sleep or what may be going on for him? Even going to sleep has been difficult for him and tonight I had to let him cry it out for 45 minutes and it broke my heart. How much longer of the diarrhea would you let it go on before going to the doctor again? He said only to come in if we saw blood in the stool or dehydration but I am sorry have diarrhea for almost three weeks is not normal. Thanks so much in advance for your feedback.

Jessica

 

Are they have any normal bowel movements at all, or is it all diarrhea? Are they teething? Virus's can last for a couple of weeks although that's not normal all the time, and it could just be a persistent virus that they can't seem to shake. As long as they are drinking they'll be okay, they can go quite awhile without eating before you have to worry. Teething can also cause loose stools, and would explain the night wakings and trouble sleeping. You can try motrin at night to see if that helps him settle down.

Otherwise, use that mommy gut instinct, and if you think they need to be seen, go ahead and make and appt with your dr. It never hurts to get them checked out. If nothing else it will reassure you to have them checked over! :hug:

 

loose or watery every time...they have had not even soft stools yet. No teething either. I feel so bad for the little buggers!

 

I am no dr But I would think that at 3 weeks and still having watery diarrhea it is time to do a stool culture. I would call them tomorrow and ask to pick up a couple of stool culture kits. they should let you - that way at least you will know it is not a bacteria or parasite causing it.

 

I agree, that's way too long without having a more normal bowel movement. I'd make an appt. and if they don't want to see them, then maybe take them to an urgent care. That would really irritate me that my Dr. wasn't so concerned.

 

I agree with Danielle and the PP's. I would call again, especially since every stool is still watery. One of the things you could try is Pedialyte for dehydration.
I know my kids also had runny stools when teething as well.
:hug: Keep us posted with how they are doing!

 

My DDs are prone to diarrhea...whenever a GI bug goes through the house DS will throw up and be done with it in 12-24 hours and my DDs get it out the other end (often with throwing up first too). It lasts FOREVER with them...I have done stool cultures 3 or 4 times in their short 2 years of life due to prolonged watery diarrhea and they have never showed anything. I try to limit dairy and feed them the BRAT foods and eventually it passes but it can take weeks for things to get back to normal. I would ask for a stool sample as well just to rule things out but it seems as though, through my experience, some kids just take a long time to clear certain viruses. GL, I hope they are better soon!

PS. I had an ER Dr tell me at one point when I brought the girls in fearing they were dehydrated (they were 7 months old and had been having 12+ loose stools/day for 5 or 6 days) that while it is very easy for a baby to get dehydrated from vomiting it is almost impossible to dehydrate from diarrhea alone.

 

I'd call the doctor. It's not so much because of the no change in bowel movement, but the change in mood. If he's lethargic or acting differently on top of the diarrhea, then he should be seen. It could be simply because of not eating enough or maybe even not drinking enough even though he is drinking, but you should talk to the doctor so s/he can follow the progress. It's likely a stubborn virus, but dehydration is not good.

 

They could have Rotavirus . I remember my boys had it shortly after they turned one. It was BAD. My one DS had it worse than his brother and it lasted the full 10 days.

One thing that does make it worse is dairy so their pedi had me cut out all dairy products and put them on the BRAT diet.