Popsicles can help re-hydrate and taste great!

Hacks are all the rage! There is even a current television show dedicated to “life hacks”. While the following may not be as cool as cutting cake with dental floss or cooking a pizza on your dash board (these were actually on that show) what I have learned from my training and experience in Pediatric Emergency Medicine (and my own 5 children) is that there are some hacks that can make things much easier for you, the kid, and the parents. The hacks presented here range from treatment for common (and often benign) conditions to serious situations.

Okay don’t laugh…these really are the “fuel” of the Pediatric ED patient. We already know that oral rehydration is the way to go the vast majority of the time [8][9]. My hack here is that in many instances, a Popsicle goes over better (in the ED) than “drink this entire bottle of Pedialyte”. I like it because it slows them down from chugging right after the anti-emetic kicks in. Their stomach is in a bit of a fragile state, so pounding 6 ounces of anything is often tolerated poorly. But with a Popsicle, it’s colorful, sweet, cold, and you can’t chug it. It essentially forces the child to start out with “sip volumes” as we enter back on the road to oral rehydration.

1. Fonseca BK et al Enteral vs intravenous rehydration therapy for children with gastroenteritis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004;158(5):483. PMID 15123483

2. Spandorfer PR et al Oral versus intravenous rehydration of moderately dehydrated children: a randomized, controlled trial. Pediatrics. 2005;115(2):295. PMID: 15687435

#hydration #rehydration