4 yo Aspie son sick with strep and won't drink

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My poor little boy's throat hurts so much that he is refusing to drink. I've managed to get about half a cup of water into him since about 7pm last night. This is an ongoing thing with him. Every time he's had a sore throat, since he was a baby, we struggle so hard to get him to drink. Up until about 2, we just used a dropper, but that doesn't work anymore. We've explained at length just how important it is for his body to get fluids when even though it hurts. He says he understands but still completely melts down anytime I come near him with a cup. The obvious, doctor recommended tricks (ice pops, soup, ice cream, etc.) don't work either because of his sensory issues which seem to go on overload whenever he is sick. He doesn't like and will not eat anything frozen or hot and doesn't like/won't eat sweets including candy (so cough drops are out too). It's especially bad now because it is so hot where we live this week. I've explained to him that if he gets too dehydrated, we may have to go to the hospital for an IV. This morning his meltdown was so bad that he started to hyperventilate, making matters only worse.

We've resorted to bribery and blackmail (not proud) to force it on him, but there's just got to be a better way. It's so heartbreaking to watch the fear in my sick little boy's eyes. If anyone has any advice or experience with this, I would very much appreciate hearing it, please.

It can depend on the liquid really.

I've found chocolate can help with a sore throat if you just suck on it. Can help soothe it. Or honey can help.

Milk can also work though with those sensory issues and the melt-downing when around a cup...

What about from a bowl? I know it sounds odd but for instance...with cereal you slurp milk from it so that could help.

Soup can be useful if it's not all that hot.

Not sure about Yoghurt...could work because of its smooth, creamy texture.

Maybe food with alot of water in them like mellon or grapes? Honey and lemon is good for a sore throat. My grandfather would give me honey and milk as a little girl and this combo was very sothing. Yogurt sounds like a good idea as well just to keep the good batica in his gut while he's on the meds for the streep.Best of luck and I hope your little boy feels better soon.

There is nothing wrong with bribery and blackmail if you need to get fluids in your child and they won't do it. These kids have a lot more issues than a typical child (sensory etc) that you need to do whatever works. It's not going to reflect badly on you as a a parent, you are getting done what you need to get done.

My son won't drink when his throat hurts either, nor will he eat. I don't press him and he has gone a couple of days without drinking and he's been fine. As long as he doesn't have diarrhea (how do you spell that?) or is throwing up a lot I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it goes on for several days. I will add that my son isn't really a big drinker either. He goes all day at daycamp and drinks nothing, and they play outside in the heat. He's never been close to dehydration.

Hang in there! Do what you can...he'll be fine

My son is the SAME way when he's sick. He is a pretty reasonable child normally, but if he is sick you'd think he was dying. He TOTALLY shuts down--won't talk at all.

He had strep last year and it was the same thing--he wouldn't open his mouth for ANYTHING. Not even food. Not even to let the doctor look in.

The only thing that worked was to scare him. He is scared to death of needles and we threatened him with an IV. I hated doing it, but it finally got him sucking on a Popsicle. After a while, he finally drank some gaterade.

Sometimes bribery or threats of something they fear are the only thing that will work. Don't feel bad about doing it. Just getting something in him is worth it. They're not thinking clearly when they're in pain, so more extreme measures are sometimes the only way to get thru to them.

You can try room temp jello, or I let my nephew who is 2 play at the kitchen sink with a funnel, tupperware and measuring cup with handle. he stands on a stool and pours water everywhere, even in his mouth, maybe he would watch you playing at the sink like a sand box, if your having fun he'll join in, he may see you sip the water without you telling him to do it. Good luck.

Thanks for the replies! All good ideas for when he's a little bit better, except for the honey and jello. My son is scared of both. He associates honey with bees and is terrified of bees, and jello - who knows why. Now he's at the point where he won't open up for anything at all. HJaneHarrington, that's exactly where we're at right about now. At the doctor's yesterday we had to pull the old bait and switch just to get a culture. We are now resorting to scare tactics too because his urine has become a very dark yellow/brown. It's working a little, but not without tears . I know there would be a lot more tears with an IV though. Now if I could only keep him away from his baby sister!

Have you tried using a humidifier?

The human body works by taking air (Oxygen) and carbohydrates (Carbon + hydrogen) and mixing them together in order to function. It is the exact same thing your car does with gasoline (also a carbohydrate), except that the carbon and hydrogen are mixed together differently. Anyways, the result of this is that Oxygen + food go into the body, and what comes out is CO2 (carbon + oxygen), and water (oxygen+hydrogen). The human body naturally converts its food into water. Which is why your breath will fog up a mirror, you are literally breathing out atomized water (steam). What comes out in urine is only a fraction of the water human's produce, it is just enough to keep everything in the urine dissolved. The rest comes out via your breath.

However, if the level of atomized water in the air has reached it's maximum disolvable threshold (relative humidity is 100%), then it is difficult to force more steam in. The higher the relative humidity, the less and less water your body is able to get out via breathing. So, that being said, if you increase the relative humidity, then the human body can no longer get rid of excess water via breathing, and it stays in the body. So, I suggest getting your kid in a room with a high humidity. His body will naturally start turning his fat reserves into water without him drinking anything. If you dont have a humidifier, then just boil a pot of water in the room. Also, try to keep his skin wet. The skin is pretty good at absorbing water. So perhaps your best bet is to put him in a nice warm bath, and then put a couple pots of boiling hot water in the room to make sure the relative humidity is very high.

[b] He's only 4! Likely he does not understand what 'dehydration' or an 'iv' is or what that means! Perhaps you phrased it differently, such as ' if you don't drink, you will have to go to the hospital'. Period. That is what my doctor TOLD ME, WHEN I LITERALLY COULD NOT SWALLOW WITH A VERY VERY SEVERE STREP INFECTION. MY THROAT TURNED BLACK, MY MOTHER SAID, WITH blisters. The doctor winced in disgust, I saw his face, when he looked in my throat.. it felt like an explosion of tremendous pain just to take one swallow of water and I am scarred for life from it. He forced me to swallow one sip from a dixie cup "Or I am putting you in the hospital" he said.

I know exactly what that's like. It's terrible to watch them suffer when the fix would be SO simple, if only they'd allow it.

I know that's such a stressful thing for you to deal with. I hope it gets easier for you, and for him. Having a sick child is difficult enough, but when they react in such a way, it puts us (as mothers) in a terrible position. I've always said I'd take ten days of sick NT daughter over 1 day of sick AS son. Sad, but she is SO much easier to deal with when she's sick.

I wish I could be of more help, except to say I've been there. Good luck!

well, I hate to say it but there is option B, for backdoor, the colon has limited absorbtion qualities and you can get fluids in there to a degree, my mom gave me my meds that way when I kept throwing up, it is uncomftable but I am sure if he was given the choice of the two orfices, he will choose the mouth

My daughter was hospitalised last year, initially because she had a fever high fever, but she was also refusing liquids. The hospital wouldn't discharge her until she was drinking again.

She loves to chew so we gave her the things she loves to chew but dipped them in water first - theratube/chewy tube, face washer (clean).

Her speech therapist (who I rang in desperation) suggested little picture schedule

Picture person drinking

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Present


Wishing you lots of good luck and I hope he starts drinking soon.