My little Lila is sick. She had the symptoms of a stomach bug the past few days, but it was intermittent. Friday night she vomited while we were out for a date night, but then was fine all day Saturday and Sunday. She seemed in a great mood and not sick at all.

Then this morning, while she was having her milk, she vomited all over the place. Since then she’s vomited four more times and hasn’t been able to keep milk down at all. She also had two very messy diapers.

I called her doctor and he suggested Pedialite or some other drink that has electrolytes to help with the dehydration. The only thing we had at home was some coconut water, but I remembered I had read that it was an excellent rehydration drink, so I gave her some in a bottle. So far she’s successfully kept that down.

Thank goodness too because the doctor said I’d have to take her to the ER for an IV and possibly an overnight stay if she couldn’t keep anything down. I can just imagine how traumatizing it would be for her to be poked and prodded in a high-stress environment like a hospital ER.

She got sleepy right after drinking about three ounces of the coconut water, so I put her in her crib and she went to sleep without so much as a whimper. She’s sleeping now as I write this.

This is really the first time Lila has been sick. She’s had a few minor colds or runny noses, but this is full on. It’s a truly awful thing to watch your precious baby vomit uncontrollably. The look in her eyes says “why is this happening to me and why aren’t you stopping it, mommy?!”

The best I can do is sit her upright, rub her back and try to soothe her. As a parent, your duty is to protect your child, so when they’re sick you feel totally helpless.

Part of my motivation for keeping this blog up is so Lila has a record of her childhood from my perspective. And who knows, maybe one day she’ll have her own sick baby at home and feel comforted reading about how her mom went through the same thing.

Any advice or encouragement you have to share for comforting a baby with the flu would be appreciated.