I’m not talking a diet derived for my little brats…I’m talking, my whole family, including the babies, had a nasty stomach bug that ripped through us lightening fast.  Unfortunately, it didn’t go as quick as it came…it took 7, yes SEVEN, days to finish its course.  At about Day 3, I was sick of being sick.  I was tired of cleaning up puke and poop.  My kids were hungry, grumpy, achy…but it was hard for them, for any of us, to keep anything in our systems long enough to feel satisfied.

After a few days of racking my brain on what to feed this angry crowd, it dawned on my I had yet to try the BRAT Diet.  This is a diet comprised of the following items:

B– Bananas R-Rice A-Applesauce T-Toast

It was a diet once believed by doctors to help slow down the digestive system to keep the patient from basically pooping their brains out.  Recently, doctors, pediatricians especially, have suggested to forgo this type of diet, and continue with what your children normally eat, including milk products, 24 hours after they first are sick.  (You can find more info on this here.)  After several days of agony, one will try anything…and so the BRAT diet we tried.

Since my husband and I were both sick, I figured I needed to mix it up a bit.  I also knew some old tricks of the trade to help with nausea and depleted probiotics, but I needed some reserves.  Off to Trader Joe’s I went, and came home with a pretty darn good modified version of a BRAT Diet.

Bananas
Bananas and Apple Smashers
Orange Strawberry Banana Juice<
Brown Rice
Pasta fortified with Omega-3s
Hot Kid Baby Mum-Mum Rice Crackers (for babies)
Applesauce
Toast

Modified Version
Candied Ginger
Coconut Milk
Coconut Water
Hot Wheat Cereal
Pedialyte (for Big Kids)
Sierra Mist
Dreyers All Natural Fruit Bars
Organic B.R.A.T Feel Better Drink

For the babies, it seemed like an easy fix…applesauce, bananas, rice crackers.  I found this Organic B.R.A.T Feel Better Drink at Whole Foods, and decided to try it out.  The babies drank and ate everything I gave them, of course they did, they weigh 20lbs each!  But nonetheless, still woke up with a stinky diaper for the next few days.  Since the Pedialyte package said not to give it to children under 2, I opted for frozen coconut water in their little food nets to help a bit with hydration.

The big kids wanted food, which I was totally against giving them because I didn’t want to pick up their puke.  But, what’s a mom to do…had to feed ’em!  I laugh every time my kids  rave over my cooking.  They think I’m the best cook in the world, which, I’m not bad, but a lot of the time I’m flying by the seat of my pants, so I’m always surprised at how much they love it.  Their favorite thing is “chickey-noodle” soup.  I didn’t have time for that, so I busted out some organic vegetable broth flavored with Kosher salt and threw in some cut up pieces of Barilla whole grain pasta, the kind with the Omega 3s. Love it!  Also served them up some brown rice, probiotic yogurt drinks, home-made Strawberry, Banana, Orange juice popsicles with a splash of coconut water, Sierra Mist, and Apple Banana Smashers.  Once they started eating this stuff, the puking ceased, though the diareha did not.  Still, I was happy they were starting to feel like they could eat something and not feel hungry.

The hubs I could be a little more adventurous with.  He’ll try anything, once.  So I fed him some candied ginger to help with the nausea.  I also remembered from when we first started dating how much he loved Cream of Wheat.  I bought the Trader Joe’s version and substituted coconut milk for water.  When I had morning sickness, this was the only thing I could keep down.  Worked like a charm for him.  Also, loaded him up on the Dreyer’s All Natural Fruit Bars.

In the end, the bug is going to stay until its course is finished.  There ain’t nothing you’re gonna do about that.  In the meantime, it was kind of fun to try and figure out what to feed these little monsters, bless their hearts, that would tame their tummies a bit.  Hope this comes in handy for you next time you’re up against this beast!

Got some great tips for Tiny Tummy Troubles??  Leave them in my comments section here, or on my FaceBook Page!