What I Learned From My 4-Year-Old Son's Acute Gastroenteritis

What I Learned From My 4-Year-Old Son's Acute Gastroenteritis

My son returned from the hospital two days ago due to Acute Gastroenteritis. It all happened so fast. It started at 4:00 in the morning of January 23 when he woke us up and vomited his entire meal from the previous night. He was complaining and kept on pointing at his tummy. We thought he had difficulty digesting the "Sinigang na Salmon" he ate for dinner.

After vomiting everything he had in his stomach, he started to poop everywhere. He could no longer control it. After trying to rehydrate him with Pedialyte for a few hours, I immediately asked my husband to take him to the hospital.

Unfortunately, I couldn't go with them because we had a 4-month-old baby who couldn't be near the viruses and bacteria lurking inside the hospital. I immediately called my mom to go to the hospital as well, in case my husband would need an extra hand.

He was immediately admitted to Jecsons Medical Center. He was still vomiting and crying because of his stomach pain. He received an IV and a few medications to ease the pain somehow.

Imagine the frustration of a mom who couldn't go to his suffering child. I was holding on to the fact that he's with his dad and his grandma.

After two and a half days of waiting for the findings, the resident pediatrician finally told my husband that it was indeed Acute Gastroenteritis. According to them, it could be from the service water he drank at Matam-ih Authentic Kapampangan Cuisine where we had our dinner before it happened. I'm not blaming the restaurant at all. It's just that maybe there was something in the water my 4-year-old kid's stomach couldn't handle.

He got discharged on the 4th day. His appetite is still poor today, but his behavior is already back to normal. He's still taking his take-home meds, but I can say that he's already ninety percent healed.

Here are some things I learned from this traumatic incident:

1. Always bring a bottle or two of distilled water for your kid/s. Never trust restaurants' service water even though they say it's mineral, purified, or distilled. I used to have a bag full of distilled water for my son whenever we went out. But since he's already 4, we thought it's okay to introduce him to other food and water slowly. It wasn't a good idea.

2. If you have kids, always ensure that you have at least 2 or 3 bottles of Pedialyte (or any other oral rehydration solutions) at home.

3. Give your kids Vitamin C and Multivitamins daily. My son couldn't drink his vitamins for two days prior to his hospitalization. Not sure if this is connected, but who knows? These supplements strengthen and improve one's immunity system and overall health. Maybe if his daily vitamins had protected him, the Rotavirus wouldn't be able to do much damage.

4. If severe vomiting prevents your child from absorbing his oral rehydration, immediately take him to the hospital. Don't ever hesitate. Many children had already died due to Acute Gastroenteritis and severe dehydration.

5. Make sure that your kid's Rotavirus Vaccine is updated.

6. Parenting is never easy.