My 10mo dcg apparently got food poisoning Friday and was sick all weekend. She's here now but definitely isn't 100% the poor thing. She won't eat and just looks like she's been run over by a truck. She took a bottle and is sleeping now.

Apparently, her grandma fed her rhubarb cake (from her garden) after she picked her up from me Friday afternoon and by 8 that night dcm was texting me to tell me she was vomiting like a fountain.

From what I've read, rhubarb prepared incorrectly can make you sick especially if it has went through a hard frost (which we recently had!). It can actually be poisonous. I told dcm to take her to the ER just in case but I don't think she did.

She hasn't thrown up or had a messy diaper but she is really gassy and it has that rotovirus-y stench to it so I am wondering if it really was food poisoning or not. I think I will call our doctor for his opinion but was curious what you all think. I do NOT want rotovirus running through my daycare as I might have 2 new kids soon!!!

Do you think food poisoning would last this long??

I feel so bad for her, as she just got over a sinus thing and now this.

Reply

The leaf of the rhubarb plant is posionous. Any anyone that grows it would know not to cook the leaves. You eat the stalk. There is no way to cook it improperly.

Now the child could be allegic to it but I have never seen an allergic reaction last for days.

Sounds like the child is sick and now that she is with you and still sick expect to vomit in a few days...

It is always food posioning, allergy or teething isn't it.

Reply

I should add that dcm said she didn't throw up yesterday but refused any food other than her bottle and she just wanted to sleep. She said she's had no fever or anything so I allowed her to come today but I'm keeping her isolated just in case it's a bug....

Reply

Just to clarify what I mean by preparing it improperly, here is what I read on livestrong.com:

The leaves contain the highest amount of oxalic acid and should not be eaten; the stalks contain less, but certain growing conditions can affect the plant, causing the oxalic acid content in the stalks to increase to dangerous levels.

If rhubarb undergoes a hard freeze, some of the oxalic acid might move from the leaves into the stalk, Iowa State University Food Safety News reported in April 2007. If this happens, do not feed your baby or anyone else the rhubarb stalks. If you don't know if the plant has undergone a hard freeze, don't serve the stalks to your baby.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/52...#ixzz1wqI8ALeS

We had a hard frost a couple of weeks ago and it came from her garden so this sounds plausible that it could make her sick. I'm waiting to hear back from my doctor before I decide whether to send her home or not.

I wish her mom would've taken her in so we knew for sure.

Reply

Ive had food posioning and its taken me a few days to feed 100%. Her tummy could be getting back to norm.

Reply

I'm leaning toward this since there is/was no fever (at least not one I'm aware of). Not that I wish anything bad on her but I PRAY that it was the rhubarb...

Reply

I know exactly what you mean! You dont need an illness going around!

Reply

Well I don't know about cooking it improperly but I know we use to eat it raw all the time when I was growing up. Just picked it, washed it, and ate away.
I did know the leaves were posionous. I had it growing in my back yard and had to get rid of it to do daycare.

Reply

I've been eating rhubarb raw and cooked for 30 years and I've never heard of someone getting food poisoning from it or sick for that matter.

Reply

actually food posioning is salmonella like from chicken . eggs etc or bactieria from mis handled food. So it is Extreemly unlikely it was food poisoning.

allergy maybe was it the first time she had been fed rhubarb?

I still think she was sick You do not always have a fever.

Reply

I found this from Ency. Brittanica as well: The stalk is the only edible part of the plant. And while it too contains traces of oxalic acid, the amount is small enough not to cause bodily harm. Rhubarb should not be eaten after a frost as cold tempertures trigger the release of the toxin from the leaves into the stalk. I never knew this, and have eaten rhubarb all of my life!

As for digestion ailments, they are so hard to diagnose! And so varied! If she doesn't have diarrhea and is not throwing up and no fever, imo I'd just wait it out and see. Any of them can last well over a weekend in length.

Hope she's feeling better soon!

Reply

My dd has severe food "allergies" to tons of foods. I put allergies in quotes because it is a diagnosed allergy however it presents itself in the form of excessive vomiting, which in dd case can last for days. Tmi, but she also has icky diapers, mucous like diarrhea for up to two weeks post exposure. I would bet this childs body for some reason or another could not handle the rhubarb and got rid of it the fastest way possible.

Fyi, my dd is 7 months so this reaction could happen to a dck the age you said.

Reply