What to Put in a Bottle When Baby Has a Fever?

Try Kool-Aid. You can water it down or make it with Splenda if you don't want all the sugar. It usually worked better than pedialyte for my kids.

The apple juice probably upset his stomach if he isn't feeling well because of the acids in it. I would keep going on the pedialyte try different flavors. Also, you can use jell-o water as well. Grab some popsicles from the store and let him suck on those too. Sounds like he may have a little bit of the flu going on. Water is also a good thing to drink and if he doesn't like it plain add just a little bit of sugar or lemon juice to it to add flavor.
D.
I am 31. I have been married going on 12 yrs. this Nov.. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7 and 4.

S.
Try jello water that's pretty good for the little ones, also see if he'll eat jello and apple sauce these
are good for when they don't feel good, it will help get
some fluid in him. And even though you don't think it's
the teeth it still could be, it's like you said all kids
are different.
K.

I would try a little milk anyway - I've never backed down with a fever...but my son used to drink soy and/or rice milk...??? Maybe try diluting it with the unflavored pedialyte to get in the hydration... Also, our Ped recommends jello when a kiddo is sick or nautious...because of the water content...Hope your little one is feeling better soon!

I think my son just had that a few weeks ago! First off, he seems to prefer the store brand pedialyte to actual Pedialyte - he drank that up pretty good. I also was giving him some room temperature Sprite. I don't usually give him pop (actually never except when he is sick) but he did drink it, it kept him hydrated, and got some calories in him, which is what the doctor said needed to happen. If I gave him juice, it was pretty much all water with just a little juice for flavor - he drank that down good, too, and even though he wouldn't eat for a few days, he seemed to have come through it just fine. Hope that helps!

If it's been going on since Wed, I would take him to the pediatrician. When my son had a low grade fever, pediatrician said to let it run its course for a bit and not give him Tylenol for a few hours to see how high the temp would go. That's an indicator of whether his body is fighting an infection or whether it's related to something else like teething. I was blessed with my son eating even when he had a fever. He still ate normal or maybe just a little less but nothing to worry about. You could try mixing cereal in his bottle. Cereal does not have to be mixed with milk. You can mix it with water or juice. I would probably use rice cereal b/c it's a little lighter on the stomach than oatmeal. (At least in my opinion).

Did you dilute the apple juice at least 1 part juice to 7 parts water? If not the strength of the juice will make him vomit or give him the runs.
When my 21 month was running a fever, I gave him childrens liquid ibuprofen and very diluted orange juice.
I am from England and we give the children squash there. It is a juice concentrate that you add a lot of water to, but you still get a lot of flavor. You can get it from Meijer in the World Foods aisle in the British section. It is called Barley Water or Mi Wadi and the orange flavor is the best. It is good for them to as they get vits and mins from it. Great for keeping them hydrated and having something to taste good.

We seldom stop giving milk with just a fever and it usually doesn't cause any problems. We also water our juice all the time and have used gatoraide when dehydration was a concern. My son also likes the pedialyte ice pops because it is a novel and special treat and he doesn't seem to mind the flavor when it comes in that form. Good luck!

I feel a little redundant with this post. :) But, my daughter (16mth) is also teething & runs a low grade fever. To be honest, I never thought of giving her anything else in her bottle. She takes a sippy of diluted juice during the day, and bottles of milk for naps & bedtime.
You didn't mention any meds that you might be giving. I like to use the smallest dose that I can that still works. I use Tylenol infant & it seems to work great to help with that fever & any pain if teething is that cause. I certainly hope the little guy is feeling better soon.

On a side note, I'm sorry that you felt the need to "justify" the bottle. I agree completely that ever kid is different. As you see, my daughter still takes a bottle & will until SHE'S ready to give it up.

I'm a grandmother, but I raised six healthy beautiful sons. The worst case of this that I had, the doctor told me to put weak sweet tea in his bottle. Also, for settling his stomach, coca cola syrup, which at that time you could buy at the local pharmacy. You put it on finely crushed ice and only a teaspoon at a time.
I know nobody would recommend these things either, but they did work.
My oldest two sons I caved in to bottle criticism, after that, I did what worked best for the child.
Best wishes
S. Shelton

My son also didn't like pedialyte...the doctor's said to use gatorade or powerade - something with electrolytes & give popsicles (helps cool him & keep him hydrated).

Good luck!
J.

I was told by my pediatrician to put luke warm water with a little sugar. The sugar helps aid the body in absorbing the water into his body. It HAS to be luke warm because cold fluids cause the stomach to cramp thus vomiting. My now 5 year old at the age of 2 1/2 had gastroenteritis. He was actually hospitalized on an IV with this. It was the longest 3 days at the hospital and 2 1/2 weeks after. I learned a lot about what not to do when vomiting occurs.

Hope this helps. At least he will get fluids in his system. GOOD LUCK!!!!

try to put a weak tea in his bottle, it worked very well for my daughter and it will settle his stomache.

I am very sorry about the problems with your son, try using
jello water it taste better than the pedalyde or water down sprite that will also smooth his tummy.Good luck, i
am a babysitter of 30 years.

cdelomas2yahoo.com

Hello! I am a 31 year old mom of two lovely daughters 9 and 8. The oldest one never much cared for milk. So in place of it i gave her orange juice. It was high in calcium. Maybe you can delute the orange juice a little. That way the acid in it is not so strong. Hope your little ones starts to feel better

I water the juice down. Or just give him so plain water. I have found now if the child does not like plain water use some crystal light. I have found with my almost 17 month old daughter that when she is feverish she will drink this better than the juice or pedialyte. A mom will just about try anything to keep the kids hydrated. Crystal light has many different flavors also. I add a little extra water to her cup so it is not the full strength. Some of the flavors can be kinda puckery. What about Gatoraide?

These are just a few of the things I have done with my 3 girls. Hope they help. The stomach flu is going around also. My girls say that there have been a lot of people that have missed school due to this. So keep an eye on the older boys. :o)

Good luck. It is never an easy thing when a child is sick and you feel you don't konw what else to do. Just being the one to cuddle them is also a good medicine.

Hi S.,

I am not sure why you think just because your son has a fever you cannot give him milk. My son has had some serious fevers and I have never stopped giving him milk. Especially if he is not eating the regular amount of food he needs his fat intake from the milk. Please call your peditrician you can also tell you that at fifteen months you should not be taking away his milk regardless of his temp. Good luck.

Re the fever: Unless he starts running a high fever, just let the fever run its course. It sucks, yes, but fever is actually the body's way of ridding itself of something. When we stifle the fever, the body cannot fight the infection.

Also, get yourself some Powerade and weaken it with water. It's the exact same stuff that's in Pedialyte, but a lot less expensive.

And, as for the milk curdling, that is an old wives tale. Don't believe it. If he wants milk, give it to him. Milk - except for the Vitamin D milk - has a fairly high water content anyway.

Hi S.: Have you ever tasted pedialyte? It doesn't tast very good. How about just water or lemonaid or gatoraid. Sometimes the tartness of lemonaid tasts good when you're sick. I know some moms would not give their kids the sugar but when they're sick you're on survival mode and a little sugar isn't going to ruin them for life. lol. As far as the bottle goes - don't worry about it you'll know when the time is right - not anyone else. Hope this helps.

C. R

I use clear gatorade. It's the only time I let my kids have gatorade because it does have a lot of sugar in it, so it's awful for the teeth, especially in a bottle. But , the clean up is easy if they vomit and it does help to replace the electrolytes they are losing from vomiting. Also, don't worry about the bottle thing. My son just turned two and I finally found a bottle "replacement" It's a sippy cup called NUBY It's got a relly soft nipple on top which requires similar sucking to a bottle nipple. I tried it about 15 mos. old and he wasn't pleased with it. Then I tried again last week and told him that his bottles are going to the baby. (His play baby doll.) So he gives his baby doll an empty bottle every night and he has his "big boy " cup. Good luck! P.S. I also live in a male dominated household 14, 11 and 2 and a 12 yr old step daughter.

My Doctor recommended jello water. Make the jello according to directions and put it in his cup or bottle do not refridge . D.

this milk curdling discussion is hilarious... first of all, fresh milk (not spoiled or rotten milk) in the stomach will not turn into spoiled or rotten milk in a short time. It will turn into partially digested milk with denatured proteins (curdled) quite quickly. When that milk is vomited up it appears to be curdled because it IS! It is not due to the fever, but the digestive process of mixing with stomach acid and digestive enzymes from the duodenum. The confusion arises because none of us get to see vomited milk when our kids are not sick because they do not vomit when they are not sick! I'm talking vomiting... emptying the stomach and proximal duodenum of acid, food, liquid, and bile... not spitting up that non-sick babies do. The fact is that it is fine to give kids milk when they have a fever... it is just that sometimes milk is hard for them to keep down when they are sick, and vomiting and thus seems to "make" the vomiting worse. That's my 2 cents.... stop all the curdled milk paranoia!!

Hi S.!

My son was recently very sick. He had a 104-105 temp for 5 days. I would not reccomend milk. I did not realize my son had a fever the first morning he was sick, and gave him milk first thing. Well, he threw up 2 1/2 hours later, and he was all chunky milk. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever encountered!

My son had tonsilitus and an upper respitory infection caused by a virus. I found that Motrin worked WAY better than Tylenol, but I was mixing the two to keep meds in his system at all times. Because of his throat, I had a VERY hard time getting him to drink. We ended up having to go to the ER for an IV. However, once he had the IV and felt much better, I got him to drink from a "special big boy cup" (a mug with his name on it) with a straw. I did a 50/50 mix of unflavored generic pedialyte and his favorite juice.

My son first threw this mixture up because he drank it way too fast. So I started off with just a couple tsp's every 5 minutes. And slowly increased as it stayed down. Good luck!

Jello water. I would try that. At least he would be getting in some fluids and it would have a flavor. Don't think it could hurt to try. If he hates it you'll be out like $1 for the jello. Good luck Shannon

I always give my 21 month old son a 50:50 mix of Gatorade and water. I usually try to get the Gatorade Rain, it seems to be a little more bland, and he loves it! He gulps it right down. Hope this helps!

The only other things I can think of are gatorade & jello water. This is made by adding a little powdered jello to warm water. My mom always said it would sooth an upset tummy. It worked for mine. Be careful what color jello you use in case he does vomit. Are you sure he doesn't have an ear infection? Sometimes they can run a low fever for a few days before it spikes.

I don't have any recommendations on what to give him to drink. But I did want to mention that Motrin is much much more effective at getting rid of a fever than Tylenol. My 2 year old had a fever last week and it went on for several days, depsite the tylenol. The doctor said to use Motrin for a fever and it only took one or two doses to finally bring it down and kept it down.
Good luck to you, having sick kiddos is never fun!

I usually use Kool-aid. It has a great taste, you can use the packets to adjust the sugar and its actually hydrating. My pediatrician recommended it with one of my children and now that is the go to for my little one. My older ones still drink it for fevers but they can tolerate gatorade. Gatorade has G2 out, which has less sodium and a better flavor. With that I would give him a small amount straight and then water down a bottle or 2. Jello is also good and if he has a sore throat it will help. They also make popsicles from pedialyte. My youngest daughter liked those and my son has tried them also.

About a month ago my daughter had a problem with an unexplained fever for about 4 days. It disappeared about as quick as it came and I still don't know what it was. We gave her kool-aid, G2 and I did my best to make her sleep.

Good Luck,

M.

My son didn't like pedialyte either so I mixed it with some juice and he was more willing to drink it. I have read that it's a wive's tale that milk curdles in the stomach and will not induce vomiting (or snot as some people will tell you so it's fine during colds as well).

I don't have any other advice, but try the juice + pediatlye thing and see if it makes a difference. I used strong-flavored juices like grape juice.

Hello--I would try putting milk in, and see what happens. We just got through our child's virus and fever and he didn't eat very much. But he drank a ton of milk while he was sick and never threw up from that. It was the only sustinance he got, as his appetite was barely existent. Also, you may want to take him to your pediatrician. The previous time that my child had a fever for a few days (higher than 101), he ended up having strep throat. Good luck--hope your child feels better soon.

Sorry to say, but Pedialyte is just cost to much for me to buy... we use Power Aid or Gateraid, which ever is on sale. It helps to keep them hydraded and don't have the acids that juice does. Also, when they are running a fever, we like to give them popsicles... yes the kids make a big mess with them, but it helps the fever go don't and gives them fluids, but it hits the tummy slower so the don't vomit it up as easily. Guess that sounds kinda odd, but it has worked for us.

I ususaly end up with at least the 2 and 4 year olds sick at the sametime and this has been our way since the 4 year old was around a year. But we always gave them smaller amounts at a time too... if you do give the bottle (which we just broke the bottle from both of the "older" kids about 11 months again - right before our 9 mo old was born), try to only give him a few oz at a time.

Motrin last a little longer - my Doc said to overlap Motrin and Tylenol when they are running a fever for a while... sometimes it helps too.

Good luck and I hope he gets to feeling better soon!!!!!

Hi S.. We were in the same predictament. But my daughter is much older. She's 2. Our doctor told us to do chicken broth, gaterade, water, popsicles, pedialyte, clear liquids, and try to stay away from HIGH FRUCTOSE and SUGARS. My daughter just got over the respiratory flu and that wasn't even fun. What ever you do, don't give him Infants Ibuprofen. It'll drop his temperature down BIG TIME. Also, we have tried a peppermint candy or candy cane dropped in the bottle when she was younger. It helped.

You're the best judge of whether your child is really ill, so call if you're worried, no matter what his temperature is.

A temperature reading isn't the only indication of whether a fever is serious. Your toddler's behavior is a factor, too — a high fever that doesn't stop him from playing and eating normally may not be cause for alarm. Keep in mind that your child will be hotter if he's been running around than if he's waking up from a nap.

Something else to remember: Everyone's temperature rises in the late afternoon and early evening and falls between midnight and early morning. The natural cycle of our internal thermostat explains why doctors get most of their phone calls about fever in the late afternoon and early evening.

That said, a fever of 103 degrees F (39.4 degrees C) or higher is generally considered cause to check with a doctor. (If your child looks or acts ill, you'll want to call sooner.)

The doctor will probably ask you about other symptoms when you call. The most important thing is how your toddler looks and acts — if he has lost his appetite, has little energy, is noticeably pale or flushed, or is extremely irritable, or if you notice other changes in his behavior and appearance.

Be sure to mention other symptoms, too, such as a cough, signs of ear pain, vomiting, or diarrhea — these can help the doctor make a diagnosis. She will then tell you how to care for your toddler and whether you need to come into the office.

Be on the lookout for any of the following symptoms, which could indicate a more serious problem when coupled with a fever:

• Your toddler has small, purple-red spots on his skin that don't turn white or paler when you press on them, or he has large purple blotches. Both of these can signal a very serious bacterial infection.

• Your child is having difficulty breathing (working harder to breathe or breathing fas

We always give my dd milk or formula if she just has a fever. If she's got the flu, I use Pedialyte or Gatorade. She likes the Gatorade a lot better than the Pedialyte, and it's cheaper too! :) We water the Gatorade down, probably about 60/40. Just stay away from the red kind. If he does throw up, red is the worst to get out. I learned that the hard way! Or you could just try water. Does he take a sippy? We give my dd ice water when she has a fever. It seems to help for whatever reason. She'll just chug it down! I, personally, would try the milk and see what happens. They also make a toddler formula that may work too. Hope your little guy feels better soon!

My baby (9mo at the time) had a bad fever and vomiting. I also did not want to give milk for that reason. Rice milk went down very well. He also didn't seem to care that it was rice milk even though he is very picky. Goes with the BRATS diet thing. I spoke to both the nurse and doctor. Even though the carton says not for babies, they agreed that that was a good move for the situation. Sometimes you can find it in the baking isle, sometimes the cereal isle, sometimes the organic section. It comes in a box.

When your child has a fever, there is no reason to to give him milk, if anything it is very important for you to keep giving t him, a fever will not make the milk sour in his stomach, there is no way for it to curdle in his stomach and make him puke. Gastronomically that is impossible.

I have a grandson who is now 15 months old and had the same problem. It turned out it was his teeth. I didnt put anything different in his cup. I did however give him popcicles made of fruit juice. To help with the inflamation from teeth. It should help some. And if he is vomitting it will help keep him hydrated. That is a big thing right there, keep plenty of fluids in him. It will allow the gums to be softer hence cutting teeth will be easier.
It seemed like my grandson went in waves with his fevers. WHich was about the time he was having his teeth almost pop thru the gums. ONce thru the gums fevers just disappeared. Molars are the worst for most babies.
Hope this helps ya some.