Steps to Prevent nausea and vomit in toddlers and kids

The journey of puking and burping and to be covered with half digested food right is normal after you have entered into the parenting world. The puking gets gross as the food intake of the baby turns to solid. The toddler age and the pre-schoolers are the most obnoxious to mention. You are covered up with churned up food from your kid’s mouth. The half-digested food and then mess created at the most inopportune moments. The wee hours of the morning, on your bed or after a battle of dinner and just before sleep when you are just hoping the day to end. All mothers and caregivers are irritated, but we unknowingly make mistakes which catapult the toddler and the preschooler to vomit. Moreover, the toddlers and pre-schoolers are difficult to predict as they are unable to express their body emergencies in advance. I have faced with the same vomit menace and lost my mind sometimes. Irritated about the mess often scolded my daughter. It took me a lot of time to understand the vomit provocations, and I am happy to share with everyone the details of how these happens.

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1. The five largest culprits of vomit inducement are:
2. Cold, cough  and phlegm
3. Indigestion of any food
4. Food poisoning
5. Allergies to any food
6. Constipation

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When your child is suffering from cold and cough, you have witnessed, that bouts of coughing fits lead to vomits. As the toddlers go to school, he often brings along the virus as immunity is still in the developmental mode.

1. Phlegm often builds up especially after morning wake up or early hours of the dawn. A cough develops, and before it becomes too intense, you need to take prevention. One or two tablespoons of warm water sipping would help to de-congestion.
2. During the breakfast do not start with the solid or juice or anything sweet. The saliva becomes thicker with the sweetness which may cause queasiness and vomiting. You will see that the child is retching if the food is heavy and syrupy.
3. Better start with a very light soup. Begin with soup; chicken or vegetable clear soup, porridge (khichri) or even simple idli sambar. No sweet,less spicy and  wholesome, warm food will give a soothing effect. The hot soup dislodges the phlegm and soothes the itchy or inflamed throat.
4. When there is a lot of mucous built up in your kid, do not feed full belly. A cough fits leads to the whole food being thrown up. A small amount of food helps the child to keep the food down.
5.  Vomit Suppressing Medicines: My daughter has a massive tendency to a cough and vomit, and it makes her difficult to keep down her food and so she becomes hungry and tired. Her pediatrician suggested that before the three major meals to give her the anti-nausea medicine (domperidone) half an hour before meals. It helped her a lot and also decreased the loss of appetite during the cold. I give her for 3 or 4 days when the mucous is very intense. Consult your pediatrician before giving the medicine.

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Indigestion of food
When your child eats a hearty meal, and the meal is too spicy heartburn is soon to follow. The children mostly end up by throwing up immediately. It is a good way for the body to throw up all the bad food it has accumulated. The sad part of it with the toddlers is that they throw up either when you beautifully dressed for a party or family occasion. The most interesting aspect of it is that you are caught off guard every time. Whom would you blame it? Take a deep breath and blame it on the toddler years. Next time be watchful about what food your kid's intake and the frequency of the consumption.The other day my daughter insisted after dinner to have a full box of Cadbury gems or M&M. After few minutes the vomiting occurred after full preparedness for bed. The bulk of the work infuriated me. The things to take into account for indigestion in toddler and kids are as follows:

1. Take a note of the food intake of your child. If the whole day the food intake is oily greasy and fried then you can be assured that the indigestion is sure to follow.
2. Ask your kid if they are feeling queasy and uncomfortable and there is a noticeable bloating of the stomach. You can quickly pop in some anti-heartburn medicine to sooth them.There are simultaneously many natural remedies. Sipping ginger tea (boiling ginger in hot water) helps in preventing muscle contraction in nausea and even aids digestion.
3. Avoiding excessive intake of acidic food even fruits like oranges or tomatoes. It promotes indigestion.
4. After nausea and vomiting avoid giving any dairy product. It irritates the gastric juices and aggravates nausea.
5. Another most important thing is that after the throwing up is over do not force to drink any water. It only promotes more vomiting. If feeling tired just one tablespoon better by sipping it. Half a glass of water or even less after half and hour.
6. Do not feed your kid 1 hour or 2 hours after the vomit and do not insist in food intake. Just give something very tasteless like crackers or toasted bread dry. No high fibrous or high protein food.

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Food poisoning

The episode of food poisoning is the trying time for the parents and kids. In India, it is unavoidable as pollution and contamination in water and food is rampant. The vomiting intensity and the frequency of vomiting done by the kid make it very tedious. The germ creates havoc in the stomach of the child. The visit to the doctor may be necessary if you see the vomiting has not gone down even after 4 to 5 times.The prevention of food poisoning is the prevention of contamination of food consumption.

1. Around 5 ounces of water or Pedialyte every hour for kids for babies around 2 ounces.
2.  No juices or dairy product.
3. Another important thing is put a pillow below the head and raise it a bit high. At least 45 degree so that the vomiting tendency reduces.
4. Rest a lot. Put plastic sheets or oil cloth near where the toddler sleeps. Cover your pillow with layering with 2 or 3 worn out pillow covers.
5. Ginger tea and jeera (fenugreek water boiled) 1 tablespoon would help to reduce the cramps.
6. No food until the symptoms have reduced.

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Food Allergies

This field of food allergy is very uncertain and dependant on the individual child. The path remains uncharted, and it is like landmines, and you do not know when your baby will tread upon it. The first symptom of allergies in children maybe projectile vomiting. The rash may or may not accompany. The vomiting never seems to stop, and it comes out like a fountain. Even Biles may be thrown up. It is medically called Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES). I faced with it but knew nothing about it until I had a nightmarish situation and ending up in the ER with my daughter. The incident was that as my daughter being exclusively breastfed at the age of 7 months I tried to introduce the commercial rice baby food a very well known brand in India. I started her feeding at breakfast, and she happily lapped it up. Everything was fine. Around evening she became cranky and started vomiting. It was some massive projectile vomiting and did around 5 times within a span of 2 hours. A bit of breastfeeding even could not calm her down. Rushed to ER came back with ORs suggestion and no feeding at all. It was only after that her paediatrician enlightens me with Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES). The commercial cereal was stopped, and she was fine after that day. These are the following advice that my paediatrician gave me:

1. Food Allergies are more common in babies and toddlers and decreases with age. The doctors often give a 3 years benchmark.
2. For babies mainly introduce any new food very slowly and be cautious.
3. Learn to differentiate between simple vomiting and allergic vomiting.
4. Do not give any food during the vomiting sessions. Only sip water and ORS.

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Constipation
 
Sometimes, long-term constipation leads to the development of faecal impaction, which means is a blocked colon from a mass of stool. Faecal impaction can cause pain and vomiting. I experienced this during the toddler years of my kid. Though she pooped every day, I failed to understand that she was not fully emptying the bowel. So followed a series of vomiting episode and hospital and enema to clear up. I have mistaken it as some stomach bug. So you need to check the conditions of your kid and be very clear on the bowel movement. The signs of unclear bowel movement shown by her paediatrician helped me to identify and relieve the condition henceforth.

1. Bloating  and Stiffness of the stomach  around the belly button even after defecation.
2. Loss of Appetite
3. Vomiting immediately after eating.

Treatment of constipation would relieve the child and vomiting would naturally subside.