Stomach Flu Facts Every Parent Should Know
I decided to write this article because my daughter came down with the stomach flu the other day. Two days later my son started showing signs of the stomach flu and two days after he recovered my wife started showing signs.
Here are some things that you as a parent should know about the stomach flu.
Stomach Flu is not the Flu
First the Stomach flu, medically known as Gastroenteritis is not the same thing as the Flu known medically as influenza. This means that even if you had your flu shots which help to prevent you from getting the influenza virus you are not protected from getting the Stomach Flu.
What causes the stomach flu?
The stomach flu that hits in the winter time is caused by the Norwalk virus. This is one of many viruses that causes Gastroenteritis. Gastroenteritis is a general term that refers to vomiting and diarrhea. The thing that makes the stomach flu (Norwalk virus) different from other forms of Gastroenteritis is that its mostly vomiting and without diarrhea, and that it hits primarily in the winter.
How contagious is it?
The next important fact about the Norwalk virus is that it is extremely contagious. If one family member has it then chances are very high that other family members will get it.
The virus is transmitted person to person. This means that if you have it you could easily pass it to your child either by kissing them or holding their hands and then by them touching their hands to their mouths.
According to the Merck manual, it could take anywhere between 4 hours to 72 hours until the symptoms appear.
For how long is someone contagious?
Once you have the symptoms you become contagious for up to 72 hours. The minimum amount of time that you are contagious after you stop having symptoms, i.e. vomiting, is 24 hours. That means that if you vomited at night but feel great the next day you are still contagious and you can easily pass on the virus to others.
This part is really important for parents. If your child got the virus and finished her vomiting episodes at 11pm, she is still contagious for the next 24 hours. That means that even if she feels fine you should not send her to school the next morning. She should stay at home and go to school the following day.
How do I know when my child’s symptoms have stopped?
In my experiences, there are anywhere between two to five episodes of vomiting with about an hour in between each episode. If you child has already vomited three times over the course of three hours and several hours have passed since the last episode then chances are your child’s has stopped vomiting and the worst is over.
Are there any other concerns or health issues that I should be aware of?
Dehydration is the most serious complication that results from the stomach flu because of the loss of so much fluids. Because children are at much higher risk of suffering from dehydration than adults, parents need to make sure that their child has constant fluid intake.
What should my child drink?
The best thing for your child would be a drink that contains the right balance of salt and sugar to replace the loss of essential elements needed for the body to function properly. Electrolyte beverages such as Pedialyte, Gatorade, or Powerade will provide these elements. There is actually a difference of opinion between the Merck manual and the Mayo Clinic. The Merck Manual says to avoid sport drinks whereas the Mayo Clinic actually recommends them. I have heard from a couple of doctors that sports drinks are good for children to drink.
Believe it or not, Kool-Aid is a good alternative if you don’t have any of those beverages readily available. This is because unlike water Kool-Aid contains both sugar and salt ingredients. Just make sure to dilute it a bit so that its not at its usual level of sweetness. Water, on the other hand, is not the best drink of choice because it lacks essential elements. Of course its better than giving your child nothing. If you do give your child water have him/her drink small sips at a time instead of large gulps. Consuming large amounts of water at a time can lead to more nausea.
Some drinks to avoid:
Carbonated beverages
Tea
Fruit Juice
What can my child eat?
Once your child has overcome the vomiting you can start feeding him/her foods that are easier for their stomach to tolerate. Follow this mnemonic to help you remember what they can eat:
B – bananas
R – rice
A – applesauce
T – toast
How to avoid spreading the virus
Whenever you come in contact with someone infected with the Norwalk virus you should wash you hands with anti-bacterial soap creating a nice lather for fifteen seconds. Another option would be to have Purell or similar product in the house so that you can just squirt on your hands and rub until it dries.
March 30th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Thanks for contributing this post to this week’s Carnival of Family Life, hosted at Intensive Care for the Nurturer’s Soul! The Carnival will be live on March 31, 2008, so make sure you stop by and check out all of the other wonderful posts included in this week’s edition!
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Thanks for the tip. I hadn’t realized the stomach flu and non-stomach flu were different viruses. Luckily, we’ve avoided the stomach flu most of the winter-early spring. Maybe we’re off the hook this year?
April 11th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Don’t force or continually give kids water if they have a stomach virus.
The ER nurses told us to let our daughter’s stomach REST for awhile, before giving her more fluids. Our 16-month old daughter vomited every 10 minutes from 5pm-11pm!! Most of that was yellow foamy bile, mostly in the ER waiting room.
They informed us to allow a few TEASPOONS of pedialyte or water once she hadn’t vomited for a whole hour. Scary stuff! Good things kids are resilient!
April 15th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
how in the world do you get stomach flu nobody has ansers god do you people no anyting
June 6th, 2008 at 2:27 am
thanks so much for the advice. first time mom and i’m kind of nervous about giving my kid just about anything. also i have medi-cal so my benefits are not great. this was very helpful
June 16th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Thank you for your advice. #4 anonymous apparently doesn’t know anything at all….or how to spell for that matter. Don’t say anything if you have a problem with the post.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Hi Lisa, sol thanks for the feedback. As for commenter #4 I guess I should have just deleted that comment. I’ll leave it now as it makes me laugh.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:15 am
What to do if my kid is not holding any liquids in her stomach? Just keeps vomiting everytime she has water or pedialyte or soup.
Please tell me if you know.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:51 am
You need to give her a little at a time. Even if its just a sip. You could try using a straw to make sure she doesnt drink too much at a time. Only give her what her stomach can tolerate.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:06 am
I have the stomach flu right now and i have not been vomitting for the last 2 and a half days? What does that mean?
October 17th, 2009 at 4:03 am
If my daughter can’t hold down any fluids (or food for that matter) but can hold down the Pedialyte, can she just have the Pedialyte all the time instead of having other fluids as well? If I give her 25ml every 5 minutes all day long?
She seems to be able to hold it down but not water or milk or anything else.
Though she only had one very slightly wet diaper yesterday.
December 28th, 2009 at 5:31 am
Do NOT give your kids milk! That irritates their stomachs terribly.
Don’t give them dairy products, aspirin, or anything solid if they have been vomiting.
And for post #10,
That means you won’t vomit anymore;)…Hopfully
I’m only 13 and I know this stuff:D
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Thanks for this info. My wife has the stomach flu right now and we have a three month old baby. I have been watching him downstairs for the last two days and my wife has been staying upstairs. My wife has no symptoms today and i’m praying baby and I don’t develop any. What do I do if my three month old comes down with this?
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:04 am
Just got over this. I didnt stop vomiting until I stopped drinking fluids. It’s so hard because you get so dehydrated and the dry heaves are the worst, better to have something to bring up, but you will get better quicker if you stop or slow consumption right down.
January 29th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
theres no black kids on your site why is this?
February 17th, 2010 at 12:45 am
Gee i have four kids home with me and my husband has been out of town since saturday, then the worst of all worst im up all night with my youngest son, then two days later my youngest daughter starts getting sick vomiting EVERYWHERE!!! That same day my oldest son gets home from school and runs straight to the bathroom!!! ahhhhhhhh it’s crazy in my house right now and cant really take to sick and puking kids into the store to get Pedialyte so im stuck what to do what to do???
February 21st, 2010 at 10:39 pm
I’m so terrified of this invading our house. My biggest fear is me getting the bug from the kid, because it sounds impossible to take care of a sick baby while you are nauseated and vomiting. Not to mention I am phobic about n&v.
I think you should clarify the part about how you get it: I have heard that you can basically only get stomach viruses from oral-fecal or oral-vomitus transfer with an infected person. As far as I can find, no medical professional will corroborate that you can transmit stomach bugs through saliva (kissing, sharing utensils, etc.) unless the saliva has vomit particles in it. (which it might, from a kid.) Do you have some information source about this that I could look up? That is a scary proposition to me!
Oh, and to poster #15/16: I think there are no black kids on his site because the pictures appear to be pictures of his own kids, and they apparently don’t have any black kids.
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:25 pm
josh, there are no blacks kids on this site because I dont have any black kids. I only have pics of my kids here.
Sarah, you could even transmit the virus by shaking hands with someone who is infected. All the more so through saliva.
If you want to avoid getting the virus from your child I would suggest that you wash your hands immediately after you touch them. When the virus went around our house a month ago we had purell on hand and just kept using it to keep our hands clean.
March 8th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
My son had the stomach flu a couple or weeks ago. He has been vomit free for about a week now so I thought it was safe to have a playdate at my house. Well apparently, even though my son wasn’t contagious anymore, there were still some lingering contagious germs in the house. All 4 kids that came over started puking the next day. I feel awful and wish I had known that the house wasn’t safe yet. For future refrence, how long should I keep people out of the house after the stomach bug has invaded it?