Almost 4 Yr Old Who Throws up While Sleeping

I am not a doctor, so take this advice with a grain of salt. I would assume this is acid reflux. Soda or too much juice can cause this. Good luck.

Sometimes when I eat too much, I do the same thing when I am awake. It might be irritable bowel syndrome, but she is so young. Does she have stomachs, headaches and leg cramps too? That could be a pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) deficiency. The B vitamins are found in mostly in any kind of beans, peas. B5 alone is difficult to find since it can be used in illegal drug making. Besides, all of the B vitamins work together in the system, so you want all of them. Give her more yogert or cottage cheese. It also could be a milk-sugar-intollerance. Try soy or rice milk for awhile and see what happens.

You need to take him to neurologist, sounds like seizures... I have seen this before... they never wake up, and if they are not under control it will get worse... and for sure the child can't remember the episode at night!!! Love, G.. :0)
P.S. They need to monitor his brain overnight a couple of days!!! You can also try a sleep disorder clinic!!!

Kara,
I agree with the Reflux point, it simply could be.
But also, and not to freak you out, but I just watched an episode on Discovery Health about a girl who had this problem, much more severe of coures, hers was nightly..Anyhow, they finally scanned her brain and found she was having mild seizures at night.. Put her on meds and she was fine.
Please don't freak out or get upset, I just wanted for you to know what I learned..

Hi Kara. I would definitely see a Gastroenterologist on this one. It could be seizures but doesn't seem likely. As other people suggested, your daughter should go through an abdmonial series to see what is going on inside. It really does sound like reflux to me. But in any case, I would definitely consult a doctor to make the diagnosis and receive treatment for her. Best of luck and keep us posted.

Dear Kara,
I hope that you will get your child to a good pediatrician asap. Please document these occasions as well as possible. Don't stop until you get an answer. There are several serious things that could be going on and of course some less serious. The most important issue at this moment is that your daughter could aspirate ( breath vomit into her lungs) and that could be life threatening. I am sure that a good pediatrician can solve the problem and you need to detail the situation for them with a lot more information. Get her in there today. This is one that you should take seriously and don't let them put you off. Best of luck
Sun

Check with your pediatrician right away and maybe even a pediatric gastroenterologist. This is not normal and it is probably something that can be treated easily. Just don't let it go on. She could suffocate or drowned in her own vomit.

Please consult a doctor.

Blessings,
+B+

I actually dated a guy in HS that had this problem. In his case he opted for surgery to fix a "broken" muscle at the bottom of the esophagus that normally keeps this from happening.

Hi, Have you asked a doctor? It sounds like acid reflux.
Best of luck.

Sorry, I have no experience with this, but I wish you would consult a health care provider. This seems pretty serious to me. Good luck.

Could it be the time that she eats is too close to bed time? Maybe she doesn't have time to digest the food before going to bed. If no other symptoms are present, maybe that's the problem. That was the problem with my kids. Whe usually eat dinner between 5:00 and 5:30pm. and they have a glass of milk before 8:00pm and bedtime is at 8:30pm If for any reason they would eat anything after 8:00pm they would have thrown up, for sure. That would be my only idea. Hopefully this helps. E.

Hi Kara. It sounds like she has reflux. Talk to your pediatrician about it. There are some medications that work well - prevacid to control the acid and reglan to control the puking. My daughter has been on them since she was a baby. Your pediatrician may refer her over to a GI doctor and/or have an upper GI series done - x-rays while drinking a thick liquid they provide.

My son had the same problem. I took him to the doctor and my son wasn't able to eat anything greasy/fatty 4 hours before bedtime, as it was not settling right and he was throwing it up. I'm not sure exactly how it happens but the Dr. Said it was doing something when he would lay down. We started this and it didn't happen again. You might want to check with your daughter's doctor but this is something you can try. My son grew out of it! Good Luck!

My now 2 1/2 yo ds had a similar problem but it only happened when he had chocolateor sweets. It started the night of his 1st b-day and I suspected that his (yummy) chocolate cake might be have been the cause. I watched him & confirmed that he can't have chocolate too late in the day or he will likely throw up. If I think he might have a bad night, I line the top of his bed with 1-2 layers of beach towels and check on him whenever I wake during the night. Knock on wood, we have not had an occurance in awhile, I am hoping he has grown out of it.

It could be that the top mussel that closes off the stomach is not closing off and so when she lays down the food comes back up. Is she eating late on the nights she has a problem? You should try to avoid having her eat late before she goes to bed. The other thing they do is elevate the top of her bed. It is called helohernia or something like that, sometimes they will call it acid reflex. We have had this situation in my family. It is dangerous for her as she could suffocate on the vomit. You should probably check it out with your doctor.

Does your daughter go to bed with something to drink? It may be that she is still getting a gas "bubble" in her stomach and that when she falls asleep, the bubble pushes up the liquid. One easy way to check if this is the problem: Don't give your daughter anything to drink for an hour before bed. Before bed, hold her upright and nestled against you. "Pat" her back firmly (and lovingly). This may let any remaining bubble escape while the contents of her stomach don't back up. I've never heard of gastro-esophageal reflux disease in a young child, but if this problem keeps up, I would definitely have her pediatrician provide a referral for evaluation by the best gastroenterologist your medical insurance will pay for. GERD can be extremely serious.

Dear Kara,
There are a couple of things you can do to see if it helps, such as having her eat earlier and reducing liquids before bedtime to give her tummy more time to digest. Also, you don't want her to get a sore neck, but you can try propping her up a bit or getting her a "wedge" pillow. But, it sounds like a reflux issue to me. It takes time for food to digest and it sounds like when she lays down flat to sleep, the food comes back up. Thankfully she's not vomitting violently or anything and it's not traumatizing her. But take her to the pediatrician. There is a medication that my son had to take before dinner and again at bedtime. It helps the food to move down the digestive tract instead of laying in the upper stomach and then coming right back up. It worked like magic and he had no side effects. He took Reglan. He rarely takes it anymore unless he's got an upset stomach. I don't know if that will be appropriate for your daughter, only your pediatrician would know that for sure.

Good luck, and take care!