What do you reach for when your child is sick and not eating? First instinct is… Pedialyte or Gatorade. Right!
Gotta get those electrolytes in and keep hydrated.
But what do you give your child when s(he) can not do the typical commercial electrolyte drinks? Or you don’t want them to have the commercial (full of crap) stuff.
What are you left with?
Our first time around the block with Ivan, we stumbled through as best we could. Even forcefully syringing that nasty commercial stuff into his mouth. When he actively gagged and refused to take it in, it gave us great pause. This was pre-corn awareness for us. Pre-knowing the extent of his food issues. We’ve learned so much since that awful time. Then we got lucky on a leap of faith.
We quit forcing the nasty stuff down his throat. And we waited it out. Normally, I would never advise this. To anyone! But we were desperate and the doctors at the time weren’t helping.
After around 32 hours of having absolutely nothing to eat/drink, Ivan started nursing again. His body was trying to tell us something was wrong. He was not just sick. The crap we were told to give him was making him sicker. At the time we had no idea why. Now in hindsight and with many hours of researching & networking, we know it was because the commercial stuff is very corny!
Second time around the block now with Holly and this chapter in our story is so different. When she started not eating with her current cold, we made a mental note of when she slowed down and then stopped eating. She kept drinking her goat’s milk and water. Kept making wet diapers.
After more than a day of not eating, I knew we needed to get more going in her body. Ideally, I would not introduce something new to her system while sick. We were past ideals and options, so I went online and read. I compared many different recipes and the reasons for having certain ingredients. A google search for recipes/info pulls up loads of links you can check out. I’m also infinitely grateful to some amazing people on the corn group that I visit online.
While having to introduce new things during illness, I did try to limit how much new stuff would be going into Holly’s body. So far so good. She had several helpings of the jello (which I normally would’ve rationed), loved it and more importantly is eating… jello at least and milk. She perked up this afternoon for a bit and her fever broke. Now we just have to wait and see if there is any delayed reaction. Feeling really victorious! And so wish we’d had the knowledge to do this for Ivan.
We usually reserve jello as a special treat (when I have energy to make non-necessity food). Ivan was so happy to see jello that he could barely wait for it to set. And he says it’s his all-time favorite! For me, that’s the icing on the cake!
Ingredients
4 envelopes of Knox unflavored gelatine
1 cup cold water
2 2/3 cups water heated to boiling
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Directions
Bring 2 2/3 cups water, salt, baking soda & maple syrup to a slow boil, stirring occasionally. In a large bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1 cup cold water and let stand about 1 minute.
Add hot mixture to bowl and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour into a baking dish.
Stick in fridge until gelatin sets. Time will vary depending on size of dish. For faster time, use a bigger dish. I used a large baking dish & it set in a little over 2 hours.
Cube up and enjoy!
Notes: Based on my reading, the importance of ingredients is; sugar provides an energy boost, unrefined sea salt provides trace minerals, gelatin has gut healing properties and baking soda is optional (usually seen with home remedies for illness). Adding citrus like lemon or orange also adds more potassium and flavor if tolerated.
Co-post: Scratch
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