Eating & Drinking Tips

If our son won’t eat, we take him out to someone else’s house. He frequently eats better somewhere else besides home. If he won’t eat or drink, we try to syringe feed him apple juice, when this gets to be too much, we hospitalize him for an IV. We are aggressive about getting him admitted before he starts dropping his blood sugar.

Betsy

Undiagnosed FOD mom

We don’t give pedialyte. We give white grape juice because it has more carbs. Something around 36 per 8 oz. If we keep up to one ounce in per hour than we can avoid the hospital.

Lori

MCAD mom

I keep a bag containing the B.R.A.T diet in our home at all times. A box of rice baby cereal, a box of Carolina rice, apple sauce and banana baby food. The first sign of diarrhea or vomiting, I start feeding him the B.R.A.T. including white bread toast and bananas. I’ll mix his Portagen Formula with Pedialyte instead of water. I’ll feed him tiny quantities throughout the day in order to give his tummy rests. If at any time his output exceeds his input, then I take him to the hospital for an IV glucose drip until he can hold down food again (usually 12 to 24 hours on IV gives his stomach enough of a rest and gets his electrolytes back to normal so he can start eating again). I also don’t like to wait too long before making the trip to the hospital because it is harder to get a line into him if he is slightly dehydrated. Be sure to find out how many calories your child needs to consume when ill to keep him safe.

Gina

VLCAD mom

When my child does not want to eat, I try to get her to eat a sugary cereal. Her cereal of choice is Froot Loops. Cereals are easy snacks to send to school.

Melanie

MCAD mom

Due to the fact that full strength juices can cause loose BMs, we always water down the juices. We do not use apple juice at all. For older babies: the baby brands of pear and white grape juices; For toddlers: 10% fruit drinks or watered down juices other than apple; For older children: “kool-aid” type drinks and small amounts (juice box size) of the 10% fruit drinks (like Hi-C).

Melanie

MCAD mom