| Category | Vomiting |
Vomiting in children
What is vomiting?
Vomiting is when your child throwing up stomach content through the mouth. It is a very common problem in infants and children. Though vomiting most of the time indicates benign conditions in children but it can be a symptom of the serious underlying disease.
What are the common causes of vomiting in infants and children?
Gastritis – infection of the stomach
Food poisoning
Food allergy
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
Motion sickness
Migraine
Cyclical vomiting syndrome – it causes episodes of bouts of vomiting recurrently
Serious causes – pyloric stenosis, esophageal stenosis, intestinal obstruction, neurological problems (CNS problems), etc.
Drugs – commonly used in children are Ibuprofen, antibiotics, etc.
What are the symptoms of vomiting?
Throwing out of ingested food (stomach contents) that may be bile containing (green or yellow color) or non-bile containing
Nausea – it comes before a bout of vomiting and it is very common
Dehydration – if vomiting is severe and lasted for long periods.
Pain abdomen, loose motion, and swelling of the abdomen may be associated with vomiting.
How to diagnose the cause of a child with vomiting?
Your doctor will ask you for a detailed history and examine your child clinically for the underlying cause of vomiting. Most of the time examination will detect a benign cause that needs only simple medicines. But sometimes your child may be having serious cause for the vomiting which needs to be evaluated in details by one or more of the followings:
Blood tests
Upper GI endoscopy – to look at the esophagus, stomach, and upper part of the small intestine from inside to detect abnormalities.
Ultrasound (USG)
CT scan of the abdomen
Treatment:
All children with vomiting need evaluation to detect underlying cause at earliest by the doctor.
Depending on the cause of treatment will vary from patient to patient. Most of the children are treated with medicines as per diseases but sometimes need long term medicines and rarely surgery like in intestine obstruction.
