Rotavirus just ran through my family. My 4-year-old daughter picked it up first while we were on our last day of vacation. She had to ride the three-hour flight back home with it, and it was the worst thing in the world. The entire night before we left, she either vomited or dry heaved at least every 15 minutes. It was uncontrollable. Then at the airport, she picked up the diarrhea along with the vomiting. It lasted two days with her. By the second day, she was taking liquids. Then I picked it up the next day. I ended up in the hospital because I felt the dehydration was going to make me pass out. All I can say is: Don't hesitate to check yourself in at the hospital. After four hours with IV fluids and anti-nausea meds, I was 90% better than when I walked into the place. My son is now fighting it. This stuff is no joke!

My 18-month-old son is still recovering from rotavirus. It started with vomiting during the night. He vomited more than 15 times in the course of only five hours. Then the diarrhea began. I took him to the emergency room as per our pediatrician, and they hooked him up to an IV for dehydration. After three hours, they sent us home. Once home, he was unable to keep anything down and the diarrhea only got worse. The next morning, he woke with a high fever, and we were back to the ER. He was extremely lethargic and wanted to sleep all the time. I held him in the ER for more than seven hours before they finally admitted him to the hospital. He was hooked up to an IV again. They tested his stool, and he was diagnosed with rotavirus by the next day. He was finally able to keep liquids down, and then we slowly started him on the BRAT diet. By the fourth day in the hospital, he finally had a firm stool and was permitted to go home. This was a very traumatic experience for me as a mother to watch my small child experience. We never had quite an experience like this with our older son who is 5. It has been two weeks since this all started, and he is still on a restricted diet. He has not tolerated milk. As I have researched more about this virus, I find it important to share with others to keep milk and apple juice out of their diet. I had no idea about the “no apple juice rule,” and I have been giving it to him since we have been home. This has been very frustrating trying to figure out what to feed him and let him drink without giving him a relapse of the diarrhea. I made homemade chicken soup and that has been good.