So worried. DD3 throwing up every few weeks, always a Fri or Sat

[Samiamnot]

Dd is 3, 4 next month. She first vomited on 4th March, in her sleep. No other symptoms and was just once. She was fine after.

Same again two weeks later.

Same again one week later but vomited three times through the night.

Same again 2 weeks later (yesterday). Slightly different as we had been driving to our holiday in the morning. She vomited after eating dinner (sausage and chips but only at the saisage) which was a good few hours after we'd gotten out of the car. Fine after.

She's vomitted again today. Once in the car on a winding road. Wasnt herself for for rest of the day. And again after being out of the car for 2 hours, right before eating dinner (a much healthier, less greasy dinner of cucumber, tomatoes, dips, cous cous and fresh fruit). She was back to normal straight after but not been herself and has just taken herself to bed and fallen straight to sleep, which is totally unheard of. She had a v late nap in the car on the way home so was up about an hour later than her normal bedtime.

ANY ideas what going on? Will onbs make a docs appointment on Tuesday but I'm scratching my head, completely clueless. My DM said maybe a long covid symptom. The only thing Dr. Google suggests is cyclical vomiting syndrome but it doesn't sound like that as its only 1-2 vomits at a time, not hours.

Is she at nursery having dinner provided? I'd be looking to see if it was a delayed allergy reaction from lunch if she does (Friday's is usually fish at schools, not sure if nurseries follow this sort of menu!)

I was going to say delayed allergic reaction to something as Edith mentioned

Following as my own DD has had similar. She has also had COVID but had one episode of this beforehand. Only now I'm thinking maybe that was genuine tummy bug as now it is always coinciding with exhaustion.

What is her mon-fri routine like?
Very busy so she is exhausted by the end of the week?

My DD had something something similar. She was diagnosed with cyclical vomiting syndrome
www.nhs.uk/conditions/cyclical-vomiting-syndrome/
We did a food diary and get triggers were tiredness and eating acidic food too close to bedtime. So tomatoey food, fruit,
It’s worth considering.

@EdithGrantham

Is she at nursery having dinner provided? I'd be looking to see if it was a delayed allergy reaction from lunch if she does (Friday's is usually fish at schools, not sure if nurseries follow this sort of menu!)

Yes I did wonder about fish allergy but it's not a fishy thing as she eats plenty of fish and not always on day she's been sick. Although I've started a food diary so will be able to see if there's something else causing it.

@lightand

What is her mon-fri routine like? Very busy so she is exhausted by the end of the week?

Fairly busy. I'm off with her on a Monday and she has a swimming lesson. Tues, weds, Thurs she goes to nursery. Fri she's with a childminder for no reason other than she loves her childminder so much. Sat is usually fairly chilled. Sunday is a sporty club in the morning and a roast in the early evening. She sleeps well, sleeps through most nights. Enjoys a lie in some days. Wakes refreshed etc.

My niece has cyclical vomiting syndrome and partly because of her autism, it's related to her mood. So when excited in particular or anxious or out of routine, it happens. Happens far more often at weekends when there are trips planned or she's awake later. Was inevitable on days out, birthdays etc for a while. She's sick a couple of times at most and then exhausted afterwards. We have to keep to routine, maximise sleep and avoid high excitement or anxiety.

@underneaththeash

My DD had something something similar. She was diagnosed with cyclical vomiting syndrome www.nhs.uk/conditions/cyclical-vomiting-syndrome/ We did a food diary and get triggers were tiredness and eating acidic food too close to bedtime. So tomatoey food, fruit, It’s worth considering.

OK thanks. I've read about this as it's the only hit I'm getting when I Google her symptoms. It doesn't sound like what others have described but I guess I'll see what the Dr says.

@NeurologicallySpeaking

Following as my own DD has had similar. She has also had COVID but had one episode of this beforehand. Only now I'm thinking maybe that was genuine tummy bug as now it is always coinciding with exhaustion.

Interesting. Hope your DD is OK. Its so strange isn't it.

I've just read about abdominal migraines so will be asking the Dr about these too

My DS had this, always on a Friday too. I asked his nursery not to give him their hot food on a Friday and they gave him sandwiches instead - kept happening. I moved him to a different nursery in the end, and it never happened again. Not a very helpful anecdote, but it is interesting to see that others have had this same issue.

Ds was regularly sick as a toddler. Usually weekends, then every time we went away for a weekend on the 2nd day. It was cows milk. He weaned from breast milk late and never really drank formula. I gave the DC goats milk at home just to be on the safe side as I was sensitive to cows milk as a child, but he had cows milk at nursery in cereal and it built up over the week. And when we went away for the weekend he was having cows milk to drink at night. I can’t believe it took so long for me to realise.

So I’d take a close look at what she’s eaten and drunk over a longer period of time.

Also, other illness can trigger other sensitivities for a while.

Hope she’s better soon.

My first thought was nursery. My DS gets a bad stomach after every nursery session. He has an intolerance to the A1 protein in milk and I initially assumed they were accidentally giving him some but I’ve realised recently that the food is quite heavily dairy - carbonara pasta, yogurt - and he doesn’t have much dairy at home. I think it’s just a shock to his system, maybe a bit too rich. Could you find out what your DD is having at nursery and see if there’s anything that jumps out. Doesn’t need to be an allergen, could just be something that’s too rich.

If you struggle to pin point something I would suggest a kinesiologist intolerance test. They check for so many different things. My other DS was sick all the time but didn’t actually have many allergies or intolerances, they checked his gut health and he was really low on friendly bacteria that meant he was having issues digesting. Probiotics really helped.

Abdominal migraine? Would fit with the car (strong correlation between travel sickness and migraine) and not being herself after

If she only goes to the childminder on a Friday and it usually happens on Fridays, my first thought is it's something she's eating at the childminders?

It's probably worth mentioning it to the childminder and asking her to keep a food diary to rule out something DD has there but not at home.

Food diary!

Was going to mention abdominal migraine but others have beaten me to it. My daughter’s friend is only just growing out of this at 15 but I’ve lost count of the number of sleepovers where she’s had to be collected in the middle of the night after vomiting. She now brings a bucket when she stays over!!

Try a food diary for sure. My daughter used to throw up a few hours after eating bananas. Fortunately that was an easy one to avoid once we realised what it was.

I don't want you to feel worried and I hope this doesn't upset anyone, but for you and anyone reading this who has a child with persistent / unexplained vomiting, please do have a look at this website: www.headsmart.org.uk/symptoms/signs-and-symptoms/children/persistent-recurrent-vomiting-children
Not all children present with daily vomiting and not all children have the headache straight away or are able to describe that they have a headache.
To reiterate though, I don't want to scare you and of course most children's nausea/vomiting is due to a minor illness. But if sharing this guidance helps one child get an earlier diagnosis, it is worth sharing.

DS1 had several weeks of intermittent vomiting a few years ago, usually in the night a few hours after he had gone to sleep.

I was concerned about the possibility of it being head/brain related and mentioned that to the GP when I took him in. She didn't dismiss my concerns and did a full neurological check. It turned out to be an ear infection in DS's case and he wasn't sick again after the first dose of antibiotics.

A persistent infection can cause this sort of recurrent vomiting so worth getting that ruled out. Any signs of a UTI? They can sometimes fly under the radar but be persistent. I hope the GP is able to help tomorrow.

Obviously there could be all sorts of reasons for this, but one to consider is constipation. My dd has suffered from chronic constipation and soiling for many years now, and vomiting was what eventually led us to the original diagnosis. She's been on medication for a long time, but recently started vomiting again once or twice a week, and it turned out she was badly blocked up again. It's a really common problem, but not one people talk about. Wishing your dd all the best.

I've only just read this. The link hasn't come through so I'm not sure what your reference is to. Any chance you could repost it or just tell me?

cyclical vomiting syndrome is a severe condition which is neurological in origin and related to migraine and abdominal migraine. The vomiting is ferocious and not just a couple of vomits. I suspect its related to excitement, motion sickness, food intolerance or something that will sort itself out with time and investigation. DD had similar to this when she was a young child, DS has CVS and ends up in hospital on iv fluids and heavy duty sedatives.

@itsmeagainlol like most conditions it can be severe or mild.
DD had that diagnosis and has now grown out of it - although she now has migraines. With her she'd awake at 11pm, having gone to bed at 7ish, vomit profusely a couple of times and then go back to sleep. She'd then feel out of sorts for half a day or so.
Consultant said it was pretty classic.