Should i feed baby after projectile vomit
How to Know Whether You Should
Your baby just threw up all the milk they’ve chugged down so far, and you’re wondering if it’s OK to continue feeding. How soon should you feed your baby after vomiting?
It’s a good question — just about every parent has likely pondered this. Spit-up is almost a rite of passage for babies (and parents). Baby vomiting is also common and can happen for many reasons. Most of the causes aren’t serious.
The short answer — because you may have a very fussy baby on your hands and want to get back to them ASAP — is yes, you can usually feed your baby after they vomit all over your favorite sweater, sofa throw, and rug.
Here’s just about everything you need to know about feeding your baby after vomiting.
Baby vomit and spit-up are two different things — and they can have different causes. Spitting up is common in babies under the age of 1 year. It typically happens after feeding. Spit-up is usually an easy flow of milk and saliva that dribbles from your baby’s mouth. It often happens with a burp.
Spit-up is normal in healthy babies. It can happen for several reasons. About half of all babies 3 months and under have a type of acid reflux called infant reflux.
Spit-up from infant reflux is especially bound to happen if your baby has a full stomach. Being careful not to overfeed a bottle-fed infant can help. Spitting up typically stops by the time your baby is a year old.
On the other hand, vomiting is typically a more forceful throwing-up of milk (or food, if your baby is old enough to eat solids). It happens when the brain signals the muscles around the stomach to squeeze.
Vomiting (like gagging) is a reflex action that can be triggered by a number of things. These include:
- irritation from a viral or bacterial infection, like the stomach bug
- fever
- pain, such as from a fever, earache, or vaccination
- blockage in the stomach or intestines
- chemicals in the blood, like medicine
- allergens, including pollen; very uncommon in babies under 1 year
- motion sickness, such as during a car ride
- dizziness, which might happen after being twirled around too much
- being upset or stressed
- strong smells
- milk intolerance
Vomiting is also common in healthy babies, but it might mean that your baby has caught a bug or is feeling a bit under the weather.
Too much vomiting can cause dehydration and even weight loss in very serious cases. Milk feeding can help prevent both of these. Offer your baby a feeding after they’ve stopped throwing up. If your baby is hungry and takes to the bottle or breast after vomiting, go right ahead and feed them.
Liquid feeding after vomiting can sometimes even help settle your baby’s nausea. Start with small amounts of milk and wait to see if they vomit again. Your baby might vomit the milk right back up, but it’s better to try than not.
If your little one is at least 6 months old and doesn’t want to feed after throwing up several times, offer them water in a bottle or a spoon. This can help prevent dehydration. Wait a short while and try feeding your baby again.
In some cases, it’s better not to feed a baby right after vomiting. If your baby is throwing up because of an earache or fever, they may benefit from medication first.
Most pediatricians recommend pain medications like infant Tylenol for babies in their first year. Ask your doctor about the best medication and dosage for your baby.
If giving pain medication based on your doctor’s advice, wait about 30 to 60 minutes after doing so to feed your little one. Feeding them too soon might cause another bout of vomiting before the meds can work.
Motion sickness isn’t common in babies under the age of 2 years, but some babies may be more sensitive to it. If your baby vomits from motion sickness, it’s better not to offer a feeding afterward.
You’re in luck if your baby likes to nod off in the car. Wait until you’re out of the car to feed your baby milk.
Baby vomiting can be worrying, but it usually goes away by itself — even if your baby has the stomach bug. Most babies with gastroenteritis don’t need medical treatment. This means that most of the time, you’ll have to bravely wait out your baby’s vomiting.
But sometimes, throwing up is a sign that something’s not right. You know your baby best. Trust your gut and call their doctor if you feel your little one is unwell.
In addition, take your baby to a doctor immediately if they’ve been vomiting for 12 hours or longer. Babies and children can dehydrate quickly from too much vomiting.
Also call your baby’s pediatrician if your baby can’t hold anything down and has signs and symptoms of being unwell. These include:
- constant crying
- pain or discomfort
- refusal to feed or drink water
- diaper that hasn’t been wet for 6 hours or longer
- diarrhea
- dry lips and mouth
- crying without tears
- extra sleepiness
- floppiness
- vomiting blood or fluid with black flecks (“coffee grounds”)
- lack of smile or response
- vomiting green fluid
- bloated tummy
- blood in bowel movements
You won’t usually have any control over when or how much your baby vomits. When it happens on occasion, repeat this mantra to help you cope: “Healthy babies sometimes vomit.”
However, if your baby often vomits (or spits up) after feeding, you may be able to take some preventative steps. Try these tips:
- avoid overfeeding
- give your baby smaller, more frequent feeds
- burp your baby often between feeds and after feeds
- prop up your baby so they’re upright for at least 30 minutes after feeding (but don’t prop your baby up for sleep or use anything to position them in their crib or elevate their mattress)
If your baby has a tummy bug and is old enough to eat solid foods, avoid feeding solids for about 24 hours. A liquid diet can help the stomach settle after a bout of vomiting.
Vomiting and spit-up are common in healthy babies. In most cases, you can milk feed shortly after your baby vomits. This helps to prevent your baby from getting dehydrated.
In some cases it’s best to wait a little while before trying to feed your baby again. If you’re giving your child medication like pain and fever relievers, wait a bit so the meds don’t come back up.
If your baby is vomiting a lot or seems otherwise unwell, call your pediatrician immediately. If you’re unsure if your baby’s vomiting or spit-up is cause for concern, it’s always best to check with your doctor.
Vomiting (0-12 Months)
Is this your child's symptom?
- Vomiting (throwing up) stomach contents
- Other names for vomiting are puking, barfing and heaving
Causes of Vomiting
- Viral Gastritis. Stomach infection from a stomach virus is the most common cause. Also called stomach flu. A common cause is the Rotavirus. The illness starts with vomiting. Watery loose stools may follow within 12-24 hours.
- Food Allergy. Vomiting can be the only symptom of a food reaction. The vomiting comes on quickly after eating the food. Uncommon in infants, but main foods are eggs and peanut butter.
- Coughing. Hard coughing can also cause your child to throw up. This is more common in children with reflux.
- Serious Causes. Vomiting alone should stop within about 24 hours. If it lasts over 24 hours, you must think about more serious causes. An example is a kidney infection. A serious cause in young babies is pyloric stenosis. See below for more on this.
Pyloric Stenosis (Serious Cause)
- The most common cause of true vomiting in young babies.
- Onset of vomiting is age 2 weeks to 2 months
- Vomiting is forceful. It becomes projectile and shoots out.
- Right after vomiting, the baby is hungry and wants to feed. ("hungry vomiter")
- Cause: The pylorus is the channel between the stomach and the gut. In these babies, it becomes narrow and tight.
- Risk: Weight loss or dehydration
- Treatment: Cured by surgery.
Vomiting Scale
- Mild: 1 - 2 times/day
- Moderate: 3 - 7 times/day
- Severe: Vomits everything, nearly everything or 8 or more times/day
- Severity relates even more to how long the vomiting goes on for. At the start of the illness, it's common for a child to vomit everything. This can last for 3 or 4 hours. Children then often become stable and change to mild vomiting.
- The main risk of vomiting is dehydration. Dehydration means the body has lost too much fluid.
- The younger the child, the greater the risk for dehydration.
Dehydration: How to Tell
- The main risk of vomiting is dehydration. Dehydration means the body has lost too much water.
- Vomiting with watery diarrhea is the most common cause of dehydration.
- Dehydration is a reason to see a doctor right away.
- Your child may have dehydration if not drinking much fluid and:
- The urine is dark yellow and has not passed any in over 8 hours.
- Inside of the mouth and tongue are very dry.
- No tears if your child cries.
- Slow blood refill test: Longer than 2 seconds. First, press on the thumbnail and make it pale. Then let go. Count the seconds it takes for the nail to turn pink again. Ask your doctor to teach you how to do this test.
When to Call for Vomiting (0-12 Months)
Call 911 Now
- Can't wake up
- Not moving
- You think your child has a life-threatening emergency
Call Doctor or Seek Care Now
- Dehydration suspected. No urine in over 8 hours, dark urine, very dry mouth and no tears.
- Stomach pain when not vomiting. Exception: stomach pain or crying just before vomiting is quite common.
- Age less than 12 weeks old with vomiting 2 or more times. Exception: normal spitting up.
- Vomited 3 or more times and also has diarrhea
- Severe vomiting (vomits everything) more than 8 hours while getting Pedialyte (or breastmilk)
- Head injury within the last 24 hours
- Weak immune system. Examples are sickle cell disease, HIV, cancer, organ transplant, taking oral steroids.
- Vomiting a prescription medicine
- Fever over 104° F (40° C)
- Fever in baby less than 12 weeks old. Caution: Do NOT give your baby any fever medicine before being seen.
- Your child looks or acts very sick
- You think your child needs to be seen, and the problem is urgent
Contact Doctor Within 24 Hours
- All other infants (age less than 1 year) with vomiting. See Care Advice while waiting to discuss with doctor.
Seattle Children's Urgent Care Locations
If your child’s illness or injury is life-threatening, call 911.
- Bellevue
- Everett
- Federal Way
- Seattle
Care Advice for Vomiting
- What You Should Know About Vomiting:
- Most vomiting is caused by a viral infection of the stomach.
- Vomiting is the body's way of protecting the lower gut.
- The good news is that stomach illnesses last only a short time.
- The main risk of vomiting is dehydration. Dehydration means the body has lost too much fluid.
- Here is some care advice that should help.
- Formula Fed Babies - May Give Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) for 8 Hours:
- If vomits once, give half the regular amount of formula every 1 to 2 hours.
- If vomits formula more than once, offer ORS for 8 hours. If you don't have ORS, use formula until you can get some.
- ORS is a special fluid that can help your child stay hydrated. You can use Pedialyte or the store brand of ORS. It can be bought in food stores or drug stores.
- Spoon or syringe feed small amounts. Give 1-2 teaspoons (5-10 mL) every 5 minutes.
- After 4 hours without throwing up, double the amount.
- Return to Formula. After 8 hours without throwing up, go back to regular formula.
- Breastfed Babies - Reduce the Amount Per Feeding:
- If vomits once, nurse half the regular time every 1 to 2 hours.
- If vomits more than once, nurse for 5 minutes every 30 to 60 minutes. After 4 hours without throwing up, return to regular nursing.
- If continues to vomit, switch to pumped breastmilk. (ORS is rarely needed in breastfed babies. It can be used if vomiting becomes worse).
- Spoon or syringe feed small amounts of pumped milk. Give 1-2 teaspoons (5-10 mL) every 5 minutes.
- After 4 hours without throwing up, return to regular feeding at the breast. Start with small feedings of 5 minutes every 30 minutes. As your baby keeps down the smaller amounts, slowly give more.
- Pumped Breastmilk Bottle-Fed Infants - Reduce the Amount per Feeding:
- If vomits once and bottle-feeding breastmilk, give half the regular amount every 1-2 hours.
- If vomits more than once within last 2 hours, give 1 ounce (30 mL) every 30 to 60 minutes.
- If continues to vomit, give 1-2 teaspoons (5-10 mL) every 5 minutes. Only if not tolerating breastmilk, switch to ORS (e.g., Pedialyte) for every 5 minutes for a few hours.
- After 4 hours without vomiting, return to regular feedings. Start with 1 ounce (30 mL) every 30 minutes and slowly increase as tolerated.
- Stop All Solid Foods:
- Avoid all solid foods and baby foods in kids who are vomiting.
- After 8 hours without throwing up, gradually add them back.
- If on solid foods, start with starchy foods that are easy to digest. Examples are cereals, crackers and bread.
- Do Not Give Medicines:
- Stop using any drug that is over-the-counter for 8 hours. Reason: Some of these can make vomiting worse.
- Fever. Mild fevers don't need to be treated with any drugs. For higher fevers, you can use an acetaminophen suppository (such as FeverAll). This is a form of the drug you put in the rectum (bottom). Ask a pharmacist for help finding this product. Do not use ibuprofen. It can upset the stomach.
- Call your doctor if: Your child vomits a drug ordered by your doctor.
- Try to Sleep:
- Help your child go to sleep for a few hours.
- Reason: Sleep often empties the stomach and removes the need to vomit.
- Your child doesn't have to drink anything if his stomach feels upset and he doesn't have any diarrhea.
- Return to Child Care:
- Your child can return to child care after the vomiting and fever are gone.
- What to Expect:
- For the first 3 or 4 hours, your child may vomit everything. Then the stomach settles down.
- Vomiting from a viral illness often stops in 12 to 24 hours.
- Mild vomiting and nausea may last up to 3 days.
- Call Your Doctor If:
- Vomits clear fluids for more than 8 hours
- Vomiting lasts more than 24 hours
- Blood or bile (green color) in the vomit
- Stomach ache present when not vomiting
- Dehydration suspected (no urine in over 8 hours, dark urine, very dry mouth, and no tears)
- You think your child needs to be seen
- Your child becomes worse
And remember, contact your doctor if your child develops any of the 'Call Your Doctor' symptoms.
Disclaimer: this health information is for educational purposes only. You, the reader, assume full responsibility for how you choose to use it.
Last Reviewed: 02/06/2023
Last Revised: 12/30/2022
Copyright 2000-2023 Schmitt Pediatric Guidelines LLC.
How to stop vomiting in a child: doctors about the dangers of home treatment
Causes of vomiting in children
As Elena Grek, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the SM-Clinic in St. Petersburg, told Gazeta.Ru, children vomit for several reasons:
“Most often this is a manifestation of intestinal infections: enterovirus, adenovirus or bacterial infections. Second place is occupied by food poisoning. And in older children, vomiting can be a symptom of an exacerbation of a disease of the gastrointestinal tract, for example, gastritis. If the child vomits bile, but at the same time he feels fine, it may be a reflux of bile into the stomach.
Usually such episodes recur with a certain frequency: once a week or a month. Another cause of vomiting in children is sunstroke. When overheated, a child usually vomits only once, and there are no other signs of gastrointestinal upset. In this case, it will be enough to let the baby rest in a dark, cool room.
The doctor also noted that vomiting can begin if blood pressure rises sharply, but this is extremely rare in young children.
Most parents are unable to understand what causes vomiting in children. Moreover, sometimes it can be accompanied by loose stools and abdominal pain. It is necessary to seek medical help from a pediatrician or pediatric gastroenterologist, and in some cases, you will need to call an ambulance.
Do not forget that babies have regurgitation, and they have nothing to do with vomiting. About half of newborns under the age of three months spit up at least once a day.
How to quickly stop vomiting at home
Seeing that the child is vomiting, parents ask themselves the question “How to quickly stop vomiting at home?” Many adults hope that there is a universal drug that will immediately solve the problem.
However, Ksenia Batrak, a pediatrician at the SM-Clinic in St. Petersburg, warns that it is practically impossible to stop vomiting quickly, and most often it is not necessary and even dangerous:
“It is no coincidence that doctors do not advise giving children antiemetics. Vomiting is a protective symptom that helps the body rid itself of infection. By stopping it with the help of pills, we harm children ourselves. We also interfere with the correct diagnosis, blurring the clinical picture of the disease. So it’s not worth trying to stop vomiting at home.”
Andrey Kurenkov, pediatrician, expert of the Mama TV channel, also warns against home “treatment” of parents:
“In no case should you stop vomiting on your own, without seeing a doctor. The fact is that vomiting occurs in many diseases, some of which are mild and self-limiting, and some are deadly (intestinal obstruction, diabetic ketoacidosis, acute adrenal insufficiency, non-food poisoning, increased intracranial pressure). If vomiting is caused by these reasons, and you will try to stop it, you risk losing time.
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What can be given to a child for vomiting lemon. But the main task is to provide the child's body with a sufficient amount of fluid to prevent dehydration.
“If you vomit once, you can give dried fruit compote. But if the child continues to vomit, you need to switch to fractional drinking: take at least a few sips every 10-15 minutes. It is better to drink plain water, but boiled, ”recommends Dr. Batrak.
Does the child have dry mouth, foamy saliva or no saliva, reduced urge to urinate, small urine volume, decreased activity? These are signs of dehydration. Loose stools further accelerate fluid loss.
Vomiting and diarrhea are dangerous for a small child due to a decrease in electrolytes in the body. Together with the liquid, the child also loses biologically significant elements that support important processes in cells. Pediatrician Ksenia Batrak told how they can be replenished: “To compensate for the loss of glucose or acids, you can add a little sugar or lemon juice to ordinary water. You can also buy ready-made solutions with a verified composition of electrolytes, salt and sugar. For example, Regidron Bio. Usually, children do not really like their taste, but such solutions help to replenish the balance of nutrients. If the cause of vomiting in children is food poisoning, sorbent preparations can be taken.
Pediatrician Andrey Kurenkov explains why a drug for adults cannot be used to restore the water-salt balance (rehydration):
salt concentration, and they themselves can provoke vomiting. For children, funds with low osmolarity are needed. For adults - Regidron, for children - Regidron-Bio.
How to stop vomiting when there is nothing to vomit
There are cases when the gag reflex persists even when there is nothing left to vomit. In such a situation, parents try to find a way to stop the child from vomiting.
However, pediatric gastroenterologist Elena Grek warns that the only option is to seek medical help: “All parents can do is move the child to a cool and quiet room, dim the lights, put something cold on the head, pat on the head or tummy. In other words, try to calm down while waiting for the doctor.”
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Doctor or ambulance
How do I know if my child needs an ambulance or is it enough to wait for a doctor?
Andrey Kurenkov advises to focus on his own life experience:
“You have to decide on your own only one question: the child needs emergency or planned medical care. If, in the process of waiting for the doctor, despite your efforts to drink water, the child's condition worsens and his urination becomes less frequent, you need to call an ambulance.
The doctor emphasizes that no medication should be given until the doctor arrives, all the efforts of parents should be devoted to feeding the child with low-osmolar oral rehydration agents, which were discussed above. This will help prevent dehydration.
What to do after a child has vomited
Doctors specify that the universal remedy for vomiting in children is drinking.
Elena Grek tells what you can drink and even feed a child after vomiting: “If the body perceives liquid well, then warm weak tea can be added to the water. The drink should not be made too hot. Tea can be sweetened and a little lemon can be added to restore the acid balance. Any food after vomiting should also be liquid and homogeneous in composition. Porridge or chicken broth will do. Fatty and fried foods should be avoided.
But if the vomiting does not stop, the head and stomach begin to hurt, loose stools appear, the temperature rises, and the child himself is lethargic and unable to even drink, the doctor warns: you should immediately seek medical help.
Can I give my child fizzy drinks when I'm dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea?
“In no case should a child drink soda in case of vomiting and diarrhea (loose stools). The maximum can be given alkaline mineral water. But only in one case - when vomiting is caused by an exacerbation of gastritis or pancreatitis (an inflammatory process in the pancreas). Alkaline will help to extinguish the acidity in the stomach. At the same time, even such a mineral water should be without gas,” Elena Grek answers.
Treatment of food poisoning in a child
Food poisoning is an acute infectious-toxic pathology. It occurs when eating poor-quality products that contain pathogens, toxic substances and poisons. The main manifestations are diarrhea, vomiting, fever, signs of dehydration and severe intoxication. The task of treatment is to quickly stop the symptoms of poisoning, replenish fluid deficiency, and prevent the development of complications.
Class
Food poisoning is referred to as toxic infection or intoxication. Pathology develops after the use of low-quality food, water, plant, chemical or medicinal toxic substances.
There are two types of food poisoning in children:
- Infectious. The causative agents are microbes and their toxic waste products.
- Non-infectious. Caused by toxic substances of plant, animal origin, toxic impurities.
The asymptomatic or latent stage of food poisoning begins from the moment the toxins enter the body until the first symptoms appear. The duration depends on the individual characteristics and age of the child, the amount and rate of absorption of poisons. This stage is most favorable for therapy, since toxic substances have not yet penetrated into the blood.
Toxicogenic stage begins with the appearance of the first symptoms of poisoning, lasts until the complete removal of bacteria and poisons from the body. This period is characterized by the manifestation of all symptoms of poisoning. In order for the treatment to be effective, it is necessary to identify toxins and accelerate the process of elimination.
At the last stage of convalescence, the disturbed functions of the organs of the digestive, excretory, and immune systems are restored.
Causes
Food poisoning is one of the most common problems in pediatrics. In children, intoxication is more severe than in adults. This is due to the characteristics of the child's body: low acidity of gastric juice, incompletely formed intestinal microflora, rapid absorption of poisons and the spread of toxins throughout the body.
The main causative agents of food poisoning in children are staphylococci, proteus, klebsiella, enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli, clostridia. Pathogens enter the body only with food, in which they multiply, release toxins.
Causes of violation of food quality:
- non-compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards;
- violation of the rules of storage, preparation and sale of food products;
- contamination of food by people with intestinal infections, purulent pathologies - tonsillitis, furunculosis, panaritium, mastitis, streptoderma;
- contamination of soil and plants with animal feces.
Spoiled products may have an unpleasant taste, smell, uncharacteristic texture, but often organoleptic indicators remain within the normal range.
Non-infectious poisoning - a consequence of the accidental use of poisonous berries or plants, mushrooms. Intoxication can occur after eating agricultural products that are contaminated with poisonous fungicides, insecticides.
Which products are classified as potentially hazardous?
In children, food poisoning often occurs after drinking unboiled water, missing milk or dairy products.
Dangerous products include:
- eggs;
- cream confectionery;
- fish and seafood;
- sausages;
- canned meat and vegetables;
- mushrooms.
Food poisoning is most often diagnosed in summer and autumn. During this period, the conditions for the reproduction of microbial pathogens are the most favorable.
Symptoms of food poisoning in a child
Despite the variety of toxic infections, clinical manifestations are largely similar. The latent stage lasts an average of 2-6 hours, sometimes no more than 30 minutes or more than a day. Signs of poisoning are manifested by symptoms of gastroenteritis, intoxication, dehydration.
Poisoning always begins acutely - nausea, repeated vomiting with particles of undigested food. The child complains of abdominal pain, watery stools, mucous membranes, green impurities, blood streaks. Bowel emptying occurs up to 5-10 times a day.
Simultaneously with dyspeptic disorders, the temperature rises to 38–39 degrees. Signs of intoxication quickly increase: refusal to eat, headache and muscle pain. Symptoms of dehydration appear: the skin is pale and dry, facial features are sharpened, the number of urination decreases, the mucous membranes dry out. In infants, the fontanel sinks. With food poisoning, convulsions often occur, acidosis develops.
In most cases, signs of poisoning gradually disappear after 2-3 days, but weakness and abdominal pain may persist for several weeks.
Severe forms of food poisoning are predominantly observed in young children with weakened immunity. The risk of developing complications against the background of intoxication increases with prematurity, malnutrition and dysbacteriosis in history.
If a child is poisoned by poisonous plants, berries, lesions of the central nervous system are observed:
- retardation of reactions;
- euphoria;
- hallucinations;
- impaired speech, vision;
- convulsions.
If the cardiovascular system is damaged by toxins, the heart rate quickens or slows down, blood pressure decreases.
Mushroom poisoning is very dangerous for children. After eating a pale toadstool, indomitable vomiting, cholera-like diarrhea with impurities of blood in the feces begins. Other symptoms are intestinal colic, respiratory disorders, convulsions. Toxins adversely affect the liver, which leads to the development of toxic hepatitis. AT 90% of cases are fatal due to acute liver failure.
Signs of fly agaric poisoning are increased salivation, shortness of breath, severe vomiting, convulsions, bronchospasm, hallucinations, nystagmus or strabismus. But the mortality rate is less than 1%.
Botulism develops when poor-quality canned food is consumed. The toxin affects the nervous system, which manifests itself in the form of paralysis and paresis. Poisoning in children can cause the development of acute respiratory failure, heart rhythm disturbances. The first symptoms appear after 4-6 hours. Worries about pain in the epigastric region, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. Sometimes there are problems with vision. When the respiratory system is affected, shortness of breath begins, the skin in the region of the nasolabial triangle turns blue, and arrhythmia develops.
First aid for child poisoning
Act immediately. First aid rules:
- In case of poisoning with mushrooms, berries, medicines, induce vomiting.
- Gastric lavage with clean water to remove toxins from the intestines. Babies should not do the washing themselves, as the child can inhale the vomit. Instead, you can do a cleansing enema. The volume of water for gastric lavage - 16 ml / kg for children 3-6 years old, over 7 years old - 14 ml / kg.
- Taking enterosorbents - these drugs collect toxins in the intestinal lumen, remove them with feces.
- More to drink. You need to drink in small portions, but often. You can give your child water with a weak saline solution, weak tea, mineral water without gas.
- Call a doctor.
Timely first aid will help to avoid the development of complications of poisoning.
In case of poisoning, children should not:
- give painkillers, drugs, drugs for vomiting and diarrhea;
- apply hot or cold compresses to the abdomen;
- use soda to induce vomiting, potassium permanganate to wash the stomach;
- give milk and dairy products.
Diagnosis of food poisoning in a child
A pediatrician or infectious disease specialist can diagnose food poisoning in a child. The examination begins with the collection of anamnesis, examination of the patient.
Specific diagnostic tests are prescribed to isolate the pathogen. Biomaterial - feces and vomit, gastric lavage, the remains of contaminated food. With a generalized form of infection, a blood culture is prescribed. Auxiliary methods - RIF, PCR, ELISA. Additionally, you may need to consult a neurologist, gastroenterologist, surgeon.
Be sure to carry out differential diagnosis to exclude acute gastritis, cholecystitis, pancreatitis, giardiasis, acute intestinal infection, inflammation of the appendix, meningitis. A blood test is prescribed to rule out a viral, bacterial infection, a stool test to detect infections caused by pathological bacteria.
How to treat
Treatment of poisoning in a child begins with the elimination of signs of dehydration. Apply oral, parenteral rehydration therapy.
Auxiliaries:
- enzymes;
- sorbents;
- prebiotics to restore the balance of intestinal microflora;
- antimicrobials are necessary for severe toxic infections.
In case of toadstool poisoning, emergency hemosorption is performed to cleanse the blood of toxins.
Child poisoning diet
It is best not to feed the child for 12-24 hours after poisoning. When vomiting stops, a sparing diet is indicated. Breastfed babies under one year of age need to skip a few feedings.
How to feed a child after poisoning:
- liquid porridge - rice, buckwheat, cooked in a mixture of equal amounts of water and milk;
- slimy soups;
- crackers;
- kefir;
- compotes;
- after a few days - vegetable puree, children's cottage cheese or kefir, yogurt without additives;
- gradually introduce meat and fish soufflé into the menu.
List of prohibited foods - pastries, whole milk, black bread, fresh white bread. You can not give your child pasta, chocolate, ice cream, chips, sweet carbonated drinks, wheat and barley porridge. From vegetables, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage are contraindicated.
The duration of the diet is 14 days.
Possible consequences of food poisoning in a child
Complications occur in case of severe poisoning, lack of correct and timely therapy.
Possible effects:
- dysbacteriosis;
- renal and hepatic insufficiency;
- disturbances in the functioning of the nervous and immune systems;
- chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
Prognosis and prevention
Poisoning in a child of mild and moderate severity ends in complete recovery.
Methods of prevention:
- properly store food, observe the temperature regime and other storage conditions;
- follow the rules of heat treatment, children should absolutely not be given raw fish, poorly fried meat;
- drink only boiled, purified water, do not swallow water when swimming in reservoirs;
- wash hands, vegetables and fruits thoroughly;
- store medicines, chemicals out of the reach of children;
- to tell children about poisonous mushrooms, berries, plants, the dangers of their use.
People who work in the kitchen in children's institutions should have regular medical check-ups. In the presence of pustular skin pathologies, respiratory diseases, signs of an intestinal infection, the worker is not allowed into the catering unit.
Food poisoning treatment in Moscow
Food poisoning in a child is a dangerous condition, you should not self-medicate, you should immediately consult a doctor. Call our clinic, describe the symptoms, the patient's condition, the possible cause of the poisoning. The administrator of the "Miracle Doctor" center will write you to the doctor in the near future.
Q&A
Why is acute poisoning dangerous for a child?
Fever, vomiting more often 3-5 times, diarrhea in a child - a reason for an immediate call for an ambulance.
Poisoning in a child at any age leads to a breakdown of the immune system. Dehydration is very dangerous for babies. In children under 4 years of age with profuse vomiting and loose stools, the critical phase of dehydration can occur within a few hours.
How to drink a baby if he vomits very often?
Even if the vomiting is severe and persistent, the child must be given water. The consequences of dehydration are extremely dangerous for the child's body. You need to water the child in small portions - 1 tsp each.