20m Old Baby Is Insanely Cranky + Clingy + Not Leaving Her Mom, We Are At Our Wits End!

Question

My first question here, and here's the situation:

20 month old baby girl. Had a bout of the rainy stomach bug 5 days ago, she was down with a bad fever for 2 days, recovered from the fever on the 3rd day.

But from the last 3 days:

1. She has eaten like 5 tbsps of rice. That's it.

2. She's still breast fed, so she's feeding almost every other hour (obviously she's hungry?)

3. She's become insanely cranky and clingy, not leaving her mother even for a second.

4. Interact with her with anything, ANYTHING, and she starts crying inconsolably. And we have tried like everything, the only response is crying + submissive behavior.

5. She's not in pain or discomfort, when we put some of her favorite videos, she will watch them... sitting in our lap of course! She does have a little runny nose, but not like a full blown cold.

We are at our wits end now, how do we resolve this? Is this a phase? She was never like this, always quite independent at home.

How many days can she go without any food? And we have tried ALL her favorite foods, she just keeps saying no to every one of them, as if we are offering her poison, and oh yes, she also starts crying then too!

Help please, this is our second child, and though we are "experienced", this is something we are not able to decipher...

Answer 1

This does not, on the face of it, sound terribly unusual.

• She has probably not fully recovered yet. If she is still feeling ill, it makes sense for her to be cranky. Wouldn't you be?
• If she is breastfeeding regularly, she may not need more food. Even if she normally eats other food, during stomach problems hunger is often reduced, so she may not want more. Not eating for a while is generally not so problematic, the important thing is to drink enough.

However, if you have even the slighest worries about her state, take her to a doctor. In your case there is ample reason to do so, so take her to a doctor as soon as possible to have her checked out.

From what you describe, I don't think she is in a critical situation, but there is no point in taking a chance. Just have her checked out, and you will hopefully all sleep better soon.