Vomiting in Children - Common Causes

This isn't the same as influenza (the flu). It's the term people use when they're talking about an illness called gastroenteritis. Most of the time, gastroenteritis is caused by a virus like rotavirus or norovirus. But you can also get it from bacteria like E. coli or salmonella. Although norovirus can sometimes cause a low-grade fever, you can also have it with no fever at all.

Symptoms start 12-48 hours after your child gets the virus. Along with throwing up, they'll probably also have diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps. Most kids get better within 1 to 3 days, but symptoms may last 7-10 days longer.

Sometimes throwing up is a sign your child is allergic to food they've eaten. Throwing up may be their only symptom, but there could also be others, like trouble breathing, hives, repetitive cough, wheezing, or trouble swallowing. Nine out of 10 allergic reactions are linked to the following foods:

• Peanuts
• Tree nuts (almonds or walnuts, for example)
• Fish
• Shellfish (shrimp, for example)
• Eggs
• Milk
• Wheat
• Soy

Anytime germs hitch a ride on food your kids eat, there's a chance they could get a food-borne illness (food poisoning). Some of the bacteria that usually hide in food are:

• Salmonella
• Listeria
• Campylobacter
• E. coli

Your child might start throwing up within a couple of hours of eating contaminated food. Sometimes it can take a day or two for symptoms to show up. Usually, your child will also have nausea, watery diarrhea, and stomach pain.

It's possible for food poisoning to cause fever, but it's common for it to cause throwing up with no fever, too. Symptoms can last anywhere from a couple of hours to several days.

If your child takes certain medications on an empty stomach, it can make them throw up. Sometimes, vomiting is a sign you've given your child too much of certain medications. The most common meds that cause this are:

• Codeine
• Erythromycin
• Some birth control pills
• Some asthma medications, like theophylline
• Iron
• Acetaminophen
• Ibuprofen

When your child's brain gets mixed signals about how they're moving, it can make them feel sick enough to vomit. For example, some kids might feel sick just watching a movie -- their eyes see motion, but their body doesn't feel motion. Carsickness is common in kids who are too small to see out the car window.

Motion sickness usually starts with a tummy ache or a queasy feeling. Some kids may also sweat, lose their appetite, and not want to eat. Eventually, throwing up starts. It's a genetic condition. Your child is more likely to have motion sickness if one of their parents did.

About 10% of school-age children deal with migraines. These headaches can happen in kids as young as 18 months old. They cause head pain, but it's also common for a migraine to make your child throw up. In addition, your child may have:

• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Sensitivity to touch, sound, and odors

It's true -- some kids throw up when they're stressed. It may be because some other health problem, such as an ear infection, is bothering them. Or your child might throw up after crying for a long time. A good way to tell if the throwing up is stress-related is if it happens only once or twice and they don't have any other symptoms like stomach pain or diarrhea.