How to Deal with Your Toddler Vomiting

How to deal with a toddler vomiting is something many parents need to face. The last few days I have needed to deal with my two year old son vomiting, a toddler throwing up is never fun. The whole family came down with some type of gastric flu, but it is always particularly worrying when our toddler gets sick, because he just can't afford to be losing any weight. In the end we brought him our local children's clinic here in Thailand, but as is often the case they just reassured us that it would soon pass and gave us some anti-emetics. I searched the internet for some advice as how to deal with a toddler vomiting because I know this is a frequent problem for many parents. I realize that no internet advice could ever replace medical advice, but it is handy to know what to do when a toddler has these vomiting episodes. Just remember if your vomiting children continue to show symptoms for more than twenty four hours then you need to see a doctor.

There are certain instances where you should get immediate help if you have a toddler vomiting;

- They are finding it difficult to breathe

- Shows signs of dehydration

- Become lethargic

- Is also showing any evidence of severe abdominal pain

- The vomit contains bile

- If your child is also behaving strangely

- They seem to have a tender or swollen abdomen

Causes of toddlers vomiting

- Viral infection

- poison

- Food poisoning

- Travel sickness

- Overeating/ feeding

- High fever

- Head injury

- Meningitis

- Blocked intestine

There are also many other diseases that can cause vomiting so it is better to be cautions when your toddler vomits.

How to treat vomiting

- It is advised that you never give your child any medication that has not been prescribed by a doctor. This means to avoid the temptation to give your toddler an anti-emetic that you can buy from the chemist.

- When you toddler is vomiting you should keep them lying on their stomach as much as possible

- Make sure that your toddler doesn't become dehydrated; check that they are still having wet nappies and can produce tears; observe for signs of being over-sleepy.

There is also advice in regards to your toddler's diet after vomiting;

- If your child has vomited you should wait two to three hours before giving anything and then only about 60mls of water every half hour for about the next two hours.

- If the water stays down then you can move onto rehydration fluids every half hour; again around 60mls each time.

- If there is no more vomiting then you can move onto milk/formula (watered to half strength) after two hours

- The toddler can go back to a normal diet after twelve to twenty-four hours if there is no further vomiting.

The above advice was from (http://www.aap.org/publiced/BK0_Vomiting_Treatment.htm) and it certainly makes sense, but the one problem we had was that our son didn't understand the need for such restrictions and wanted to eat in between his vomits. This made the whole thing too much of an ordeal for him and why we brought him to the doctor to get some anti-emetic. I am sure in some instances this would work really well. In a lot of cases the best advice about how to deal with a toddler vomiting is to go see your doctor.

Sources

http://www.babycenter.com/0_vomiting_11395.bc

http://www.aap.org/publiced/BK0_Vomiting_Treatment.htm

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/help/bodykey/questions/index.aspx?nodes=6A%2b9deGMdpc%3d