The most important thing to do when you have a stomach bug is to stay hydrated, rest, and eat when you can. Most people recover within one to three days without any specific treatment. The real danger isn’t the virus itself but the fluid loss from vomiting and diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration surprisingly fast.
Focus on Fluids First
Every round of vomiting or diarrhea pulls water and electrolytes out of your body. Plain water helps, but it doesn’t replace the sodium and potassium you’re losing. Your best options are oral rehydration solutions (like Pedialyte or store-brand equivalents), broth, and diluted sports drinks. If you’re vomiting frequently, take small sips every few minutes rather than gulping a full glass, which is more likely to come back up.
For children, oral rehydration solutions are especially important. Watch how much they’re drinking and urinating compared to normal. A baby who hasn’t had a wet diaper in six hours, has a dry mouth, or cries without tears needs medical attention. Adults should watch for excessive thirst, dark yellow urine, dizziness, or producing very little urine.
Eat Real Food When You’re Ready
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s been a go-to recommendation for decades, but the CDC now considers it unnecessarily restrictive. Sticking to only those four foods can actually leave you short on the nutrition your body needs to recover, and prolonged “gut rest” on clear liquids alone can worsen malnutrition after a bout of gastroenteritis.
The current guidance is straightforward: eat your normal diet as soon as you feel up to it. You don’t need to follow a special meal plan. That said, most people naturally gravitate toward bland, easy-to-digest foods when their stomach is upset, and that’s fine. Just don’t force yourself to fast or limit your intake to toast and crackers for days. Your gut heals faster when it has real fuel.
A few things worth avoiding while symptomatic: very greasy or heavily spiced foods, caffeine, alcohol, and large amounts of fruit juice. These can all irritate your stomach or worsen diarrhea.
Over-the-Counter Medications
Adults can use loperamide (Imodium) or bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) to manage diarrhea. These can make you more comfortable, but they don’t speed up recovery. One important exception: if you have a fever or notice blood in your stool, skip these medications entirely. Those symptoms can signal a bacterial or parasitic infection rather than a standard viral stomach bug, and anti-diarrheal drugs can make those infections worse.
Neither of these medications is safe for infants or young children without a doctor’s guidance. For severe vomiting that prevents you from keeping any fluids down, a doctor can prescribe anti-nausea medication.
Do Probiotics Help?
There’s reasonable evidence that certain probiotics can shorten the duration of diarrhea. A meta-analysis covering over 1,700 children with acute gastroenteritis found that those given probiotics had diarrhea lasting about 23 hours less than those without. They were also 30% less likely to still have diarrhea after 48 hours. The strains studied included common species of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and others widely available in supplements and fermented foods.
Probiotics aren’t a cure, and the benefit is modest. But if you already have them on hand or can easily get them, they’re unlikely to hurt and may trim a day off your symptoms.
How Long You’re Contagious
Most stomach bugs are caused by norovirus, which is extremely contagious. Symptoms typically last one to three days, but here’s the part people don’t expect: you can still spread the virus for two weeks or more after you feel completely better. That means careful hand hygiene matters long after your last episode of vomiting.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, not just hand sanitizer. Alcohol-based sanitizers are less effective against norovirus. If you vomit or have diarrhea in your home, clean the affected surfaces with a bleach solution: 5 to 25 tablespoons of standard household bleach per gallon of water. Let it sit on the surface for at least five minutes before wiping it away. Regular household cleaners won’t reliably kill the virus.
Avoid preparing food for others while you’re sick and ideally for at least two days after symptoms stop. Shared towels and close contact are common routes of transmission within a household.
When a Stomach Bug Needs Medical Attention
Most stomach bugs resolve on their own, but certain signs mean you should call a doctor or head to urgent care:
- You can’t keep any liquids down for 24 hours. This is the threshold where dehydration becomes a serious concern.
- Vomiting or diarrhea lasting more than two days without improvement.
- Blood in your vomit or stool.
- Severe stomach pain that goes beyond typical cramping.
- Fever above 104°F (40°C).
- Signs of dehydration: severe dizziness, lightheadedness, very dark urine, or barely urinating at all.
The thresholds are lower for children. A child with a fever of 102°F (38.9°C) or higher, bloody diarrhea, extreme irritability, or signs of dehydration should see a doctor promptly. For infants, watch for frequent vomiting, no wet diapers in six hours, a sunken soft spot on the head, and a dry mouth or tearless crying.
Getting Through It Day by Day
The first 12 to 24 hours are usually the worst. Nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhea, and cramping tend to peak early and then gradually ease. During this window, your only real job is sipping fluids and resting. Don’t worry about eating if nothing sounds appealing.
By day two, most people can start eating small amounts of regular food. Energy often lags behind, so don’t be surprised if you feel wiped out even after the vomiting stops. Your gut lining takes a bit of time to fully recover, and loose stools can linger for a few days after other symptoms clear.
Keep your fluid intake up throughout recovery, even once you feel mostly normal. Rehydration takes longer than most people assume, especially if you lost significant fluids in the first day or two.