This condition needs urgent medical treatment. It is a serious infection of brain where the meninges (sheath covering the brain) becomes inflamed due to virus or bacterial infection. Besides, projectile vomiting can be a symptom of meningitis. The disease may begin only with projectile vomiting in the beginning and diarrhea may follow in the later stage.

Infection: often viral-gastroenteritis or stomach flu as it is known to cause projectile vomiting along with other symptoms such as diarrhea and fever.

The conditions that can cause projectile vomiting include obstruction of intestinal tract, pyloric stenosis, infection and injury to head. If projectile vomiting occurs continuously, it is a sign of some serious medical ailment.

Projectile vomiting: It is a type of vigorous vomiting where the stomach content is forcefully ejected out from the mouth, the vomit may form the shape similar to an arch.

Sometimes doctors prescribe medications to stop vomiting. The side effects of these medications can be very serious.

You shouldn’t use over-the-counter medicines to stop vomiting in children. If your child doesn’t want to drink, try to get them drinking more by offering fluids via a syringe or spoon, or letting them suck icy poles.

You can still offer extra oral rehydration fluids between feeds.

If your baby is bottle fed, give them oral rehydration fluid for the first 24 hours only and then reintroduce full-strength formula in smaller, more frequent feeds. You can give your child extra oral rehydration fluid between feeds. If you have a breastfed baby, keep breastfeeding but feed more often. Full-strength lemonade, cordial or fruit juice might make the diarrhoea worse, so don’t give these to your child. Use 1 part lemonade or juice to 4 parts water. If you can’t get oral rehydration fluid, you can use diluted lemonade, cordial or fruit juice. Make sure that you make up the liquid carefully according to the instructions on the packet. These products might come as premade liquid, powder or icy poles for freezing. You can buy these fluids over the counter from a pharmacy. It’s best to use an oral rehydration fluid like Gastrolyte, Hydralyte, Pedialyte or Repalyte. Give your child small amounts to drink often – for example, a few mouthfuls every 15 minutes. Your child also needs reassurance and comfort. If your child is vomiting from illnesses like gastro or food poisoning, the most important thing is to make sure your child has enough to drink. Signs that your child has a serious illness that requires urgent medical attention include severe pain, drowsiness, pale or blue skin, dehydration, troubled breathing, seizures and reduced responsiveness. You know your child best, so trust your instincts if your child doesn’t seem well. If your child has projectile vomiting that happens often and doesn’t seem to be going away, you should see your doctor as soon as you can. This can be linked to a serious condition called pyloric stenosis. Projectile vomiting is when young babies throw up the contents of their stomachs with a lot of force.

has severe or persistent stomach pain with vomiting.

seems dehydrated – they’re doing fewer wees than usual or no wees at all, look pale and thin, have sunken eyes, cold hands and cold feet, or are drowsy or cranky.

Take your child to a hospital emergency department straight away if your child:

has poor weight gain because of vomiting.

is vomiting often and can’t seem to keep fluids down.

You should take your child to the GP if your child: If your child is under 6 months old and has vomiting, always see your GP. Does your child need to see a doctor about vomiting? Signs of dehydration include fewer wees (with fewer wet nappies in babies), sunken eyes, dry tongue and mouth, loss of weight, tiredness and lethargy. Symptoms related to vomitingĬhildren who are vomiting often also have stomach pain, diarrhoea and nausea.ĭehydration is one of the serious risks of vomiting, especially in young babies. It might help to know that children usually get over vomiting very quickly. But it can be an unpleasant and frightening experience for you and your child. This is known as gastro-oesophageal reflux. Young babies tend to vomit up small amounts of milk after feeds. Other causes of vomiting include motion sickness and more serious illnesses like appendicitis or meningitis. Sometimes even colds can cause vomiting in children. Vomiting in children has many causes, but the most common are minor illnesses like gastroenteritis or urinary tract infections.

About vomiting in babies, children and teenagers

Baby projectile vomiting