What to do if your child vomits (with or without fever)

When a child vomits, every parent panics. Unlike other symptoms, vomiting always indicates a serious pathology. Every young mother needs to know why this condition occurs in her baby, and also understand that it can be associated not only with banal food poisoning.

In some cases, vomiting requires not only first aid, but also consultation with a pediatrician, infectious disease specialist, or pediatric surgeon. It is competent and timely diagnosis that will quickly eliminate the cause of this unpleasant condition. You can learn what to do if a child is vomiting from this article, as well as from your pediatrician who treats and monitors the little patient.

The reasons why a child vomits (with or without bile), depending on age, are usually:

Congenital anomalies of the gastrointestinal tract and functional disorders of peristalsis (pyloric stenosis, pyloric spasm, etc.).
Violation of the infant feeding regime.
Excessive food consumption by the child (sweets, fried, fatty, etc.).
Foodborne toxic infections, i.e. poisoning of the child’s body with toxins of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa.
Intoxication in various infectious diseases. In some of them, vomiting is an important symptom of the disease.
Damage to the central nervous system due to injury, infection, as well as increased intracranial pressure, including due to congenital developmental anomalies (hydrocephalus, etc.).
Disruption of normal peristalsis due to inflammatory diseases of the internal organs of the abdominal cavity (appendicitis, cholecystitis, pancreatitis).
Intussusception (volvulus) of the intestine and intestinal obstruction.
In adolescents, use of alcohol or drugs.

A doctor will always help to determine the reason why a child vomits (after eating or regardless of eating). Sometimes even a competent medical specialist, in order to give an accurate answer to the question of what disease or pathological condition caused vomiting in a small patient, needs data from a number of instrumental and laboratory studies.

It is important in this case to study the symptoms accompanying vomiting, as well as to accurately determine the time and circumstances of their development. Finding out the full history of the disease and life also helps the doctor quickly find the true cause of the little patient’s poor health.

Types of vomiting and mechanisms of its development

The child vomits due to irritation of special receptors in the gastric mucosa (peripheral vomiting) or due to a direct effect on the vomiting center in the brain (central vomiting). This condition is caused by the above specific pathological causes.

When there is no temperature, but vomiting is observed in young children, especially after feeding, we are most likely talking about pyloric stenosis or pylorospasm. If a one-year-old child vomits at night, most often the reason is the same.

When a child constantly vomits in the morning without fever, the mechanism for the development of such vomiting is often associated with pathology of the internal organs. In newborns, on the contrary, such phenomena indicate brain pathology, both as a result of intrauterine infections and as a result of hydrocephalus, tumors, etc.

Vomiting, which is accompanied by a temperature above 38 degrees, requires special attention and decisive action from adults. The doctor will be able to answer the parents’ question why little patients feel sick and vomit in this case after an examination and appropriate tests, because it is not at all necessary that the little patient has been poisoned; there may be other reasons.

When a child coughs and vomits, seek immediate medical attention, as vomiting may be a sign of a severe lung or central nervous system infection.

Quite often, pediatricians are asked the question of whether a child can vomit when teething. There is no clear answer to this question, because intoxication and inflammation during this process can lead to fever and vomiting. But the appearance of vomiting in a small patient should not be attributed to this circumstance. This can only lead to worsening of the condition and the development of complications due to untimely medical care.

Diagnosis of vomiting in a child

Diagnosis of a disease or pathological condition that causes vomiting in a child is carried out based on complaints and data on the development of such symptoms. For example, if a 1-year-old child vomits when you force him to eat, such phenomena clearly indicate a pathology in the passage of food in the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract, which makes it possible to suspect pyloric stenosis (pylorospasm).

In a child older than 2 years and 3 years, the doctor and parents, after an attack of vomiting, can find out additional complaints, as well as determine what the patient ate and drank. When the stomach hurts, there are complaints of nausea, as well as digestive disorders, the child’s condition worsens, an examination by a pediatric surgeon is required.

Also, consultation with such a specialist is necessary when the child vomits water or mucus, and the stool is disturbed, pain and bloating are noted. In this case, it is necessary to exclude intussusception and its consequence – intestinal obstruction.

Often, when suddenly vomiting occurs during coughing, an infectious disease specialist and pediatrician need to rule out an infectious disease such as whooping cough or bacterial pneumonia.

Thus, diagnosing a child with vomiting and accompanying symptoms is carried out according to the following algorithm:

The abdomen is palpated to determine the nature of stool and urination.
The skin, oral cavity and pharynx are carefully examined.
Meningeal symptoms are checked - clinical signs that appear when the meninges are irritated.
Body temperature is measured.
A general analysis of blood and urine is studied.
A consultation is held with a pediatric surgeon, neurologist, and infectious disease specialist.
Laboratory and bacteriological examination of vomit, feces, urine and blood if an infectious disease or poisoning is suspected.

Establishing a correct diagnosis and timely seeking medical help is important, especially when a young patient’s vomiting is repeated, other complaints and symptoms arise, and the general condition sharply worsens.

Treatment and assistance for vomiting

Knowing what to do when a child is poisoned and has vomiting and diarrhea means providing timely assistance. But it is important to understand and distinguish when children feel bad from food poisoning, and when such a symptom is a sign of a serious illness. After all, different first aid tactics depend on this:

If there is relative certainty that a small patient has been poisoned by food or drinks, it is necessary:

Calm the child and provide him with comfortable conditions.
Give plenty of water. In order to rinse the stomach, the volume of water must be sufficient (at least 500 ml), the temperature of the liquid must be room temperature. Induce a gag reflex. Continue rinsing until the rinsing water is clear.
After gastric lavage, give specially dissolved powders for rehydration (Rehydron, etc.), as well as sorbents (activated carbon, atoxyl, etc.) to drink.
If diarrhea develops, give medications that stop frequent bowel movements. Continue to “unsweat” the child to prevent dehydration of his body, which develops very quickly. This is the danger of vomiting in childhood.

What to do if a child feels sick and vomits, but there are no objective signs of poisoning:

Create a comfortable environment for the child and try to calm him down.
Measure body temperature. If the child is older than 2 years, find out what else is bothering him (headache, discomfort in the throat, stomach pain, etc.).
Depending on the general condition of the child, decide whether to call an ambulance or contact your own pediatrician urgently.
It is not recommended to give any painkillers, antiemetics or antibiotics. The fact is that they can blur the clinical picture of a number of diseases. And this will delay the correct diagnosis, especially with surgical pathology.

After first aid for children, be sure to consult a doctor, even if the general condition of the little patient improves significantly.