Gastroenteritis

About gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis or ‘gastro’ is an illness that involves inflammation of the stomach and intestines. It usually gives you diarrhoea and sometimes makes you vomit.

Symptoms of gastro

Gastro symptoms might include:

Your child might not feel like eating or drinking or might have trouble keeping down food or drink because of vomiting. If your child doesn’t get enough fluid, there’s a risk they’ll get dehydrated.

Medical help: when to get it for children and teenagers with gastro

Take your child to the GP if your child:

has diarrhoea that doesn’t improve after 48 hours
is vomiting often and can’t seem to keep any fluids down
has blood in their poo
is under 6 months and has gastro symptoms.

Take your child to a hospital emergency department or call 000 for an ambulance straight away if your child has symptoms like:

severe stomach pain
blood in their vomit or green vomit
signs of being very unwell.

Also seek emergency medical attention if your child seems to be dehydrated. For example, your child isn’t passing urine, looks thin, has lost colour in their face, has sunken eyes, cold hands and cold feet, is drowsy or is very cranky.

You know your child best. If your child seems unwell, seek medical attention. Signs that your child has a serious illness that requires urgent medical attention include severe pain, drowsiness, pale, blue or grey skin, dehydration, troubled breathing, seizures and reduced responsiveness.

Treatment for gastro

Most cases of gastroenteritis in children aren’t serious. But children with gastro need plenty of comfort and reassurance that they’ll be OK.

Fluids
It’s important to make sure that your child has enough to drink. Give your child small amounts to drink often – for example, a few mouthfuls every 15 minutes. This will help to prevent dehydration.

It’s best to use an oral rehydration fluid like Gastrolyte, Hydralyte, Pedialyte or Repalyte. You can buy these fluids over the counter from a pharmacy. These products might come as premade liquid, powder or icy poles for freezing. Make sure that you make up the liquid carefully according to the instructions on the packet.

If you can’t get oral rehydration fluid, you can use diluted lemonade, cordial or fruit juice. Use 1 part lemonade or juice to 4 parts water. Full-strength lemonade, cordial or fruit juice might make any diarrhoea worse, so don’t give these to your child.

If you have a breastfed baby, keep breastfeeding but feed more often. You can also give your baby oral rehydration fluid between increased feeds.

If you have a bottle-fed baby, give them only oral rehydration fluid for the first 24 hours and then reintroduce full-strength formula in smaller, more frequent feeds. You can still offer extra oral rehydration fluids between feeds.

Getting your child to drink
Your child might not be keen to drink. You can try to get your child drinking more by giving them drinks via a syringe, spoon or straw. Or it might help to chill drinks first. Your child could also suck icy poles.

Food
Your child might refuse food to start with. But don’t stop food for more than 24 hours.

If your child is hungry, you can give them food at the same time as fluid. It’s generally best to start with bland foods like plain crackers, bread, rice, potato or jelly. They can start eating other foods gradually.

It might be best for your child to avoid or eat only small amounts of dairy products for 7-10 days after an episode of gastro. Dairy products might make diarrhoea go on longer.

Additional treatment and complications
If your child is very dehydrated or can’t keep any oral fluids down, they might need fluids to be given through a tube that goes up their nose and into their stomach or directly into a vein through a drip. In this case, your child will have to go into hospital.

Don’t treat your child with antidiarrhoea medicines. There’s no evidence to show that these medicines work. Your doctor or pharmacist will tell you about the best treatment options for your child.

Preventing gastro

Gastro spreads easily.

You can help prevent the spread of gastro by making sure everyone in the family washes their hands regularly, especially after using the toilet or changing nappies. It’s also important not to share drink bottles, cups or food utensils.

If your child has gastro, keep them away from other children and school or child care until they’ve had no vomiting or diarrhoea for at least 48 hours.

Causes of gastro

Gastro is usually caused by a virus and sometimes by a bacterial or parasitic infection. These germs cause inflammation of the stomach and intestine walls, which in turn causes the diarrhoea and vomiting.

Rotavirus is a common cause of viral gastroenteritis in children. It’s becoming less common, because rotavirus immunisation is part of Australia’s National Immunisation Program.