vomiting

Most cases of acute vomiting in children is caused by gastroenteritis, an infection of the digestive tract. Gastroenteritis usually doesn't last long but can be dangerous. Children (especially infants) who cannot take enough fluids orally and also have diarrhea along with vomiting, could easily become dehydrated. Vomiting is frightening to young children (and parents) and exhausting for kids of all ages. Supportive therapy and preventing dehydration are the mainstay of management.

In newborns and infants, some causes of chronic vomiting, are important because they may be life threatening:

• Narrowing of the passage out of the stomach (pyloric stenosis) in infants aged 4 to 6 weeks
• A blockage of the intestine caused by birth defects, such as twisting (volvulus) or narrowing (stenosis) of the intestine
• Sliding of one segment of intestine into another (intussusception) in infants and young children.

Food intolerance, allergy to cow's milk protein, and certain uncommon hereditary metabolic disorders may also cause persistent vomiting in infants.In older children, other causes include serious infections (such as urinary tract or meningitis), acute appendicitis, or disorders that increases pressure within the skull (such as a brain tumor or a serious head injury). In adolescents, other causes include cyclic vomiting syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease,peptic ulcer disease, gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying), eating disorders (bulimia nervosa), and ingestion of toxic substances.