2 year old vomiting for 4 weeks

[jobsagudden]

Hi,

I posted this earlier today in children's health but didn't get much traffic so hoping someone with some experience / insight might read in here.

Wondering if anyone has any ideas on what this might be / had anything similar.

DD2 (2years) had a bad chesty cough and tummy bug about 4 weeks ago. Since then she has been vomiting / had diarrhoea every 2 days. Just one bout of vomiting in the evening after she's gone to bed about 9pm or first thing in the morning. This is also always accompanied by yellow diarrhoea. She is sick / has the runs just the once but has been happening every other day. For 3/4 weeks. I've been to the doctors 4 times now and they have eventually today asked for a stool sample and blood tests. They have messed up the forms and now have to wait until tomorrow until the doctor that saw her is back in so I can book in with paediatrics.

I am really nervous now that it could be something sinister and getting very anxious.

She is completely fine in herself, doesn't seem tired, is running around and chatting other than when she has a spell of vomiting when she is obviously having stomach pain but it lasts only minutes.

Has anyone had anything similar? Have any ideas what it could be?

My thoughts are a food intolerance brought on by the original stomach bug but starting to get very worried, especially with the timings of when it is happening, not straight after eating etc.

TIA

I think it's worth pushing your GP for allergy testing just to rule it out.

My son had loose stools and was spontaneously vomiting, not straight after food. He also lost a lot of weight. However, I raised this to health visitor and GP and they basically made me feel like a paranoid mum. We decided to go for private allergy testing, to also test coeliac and he tested positive for coeliac disease, therefore a gluten free diet for life.
My sons vomiting stopped immediately after changing diet and is now thriving.

Always go with your maternal instinct id say x

Have they tested for a urine infection? I hope your little one feels better soon. It must be very hard for you all.

Coeliac disease was my first thought too. Make sure you keep diet the same whilst testing takes place or you can get a false negative. Hope your little one feels better soon.

Look up NICE guidelines for Coeliac testing - your dd should have one based on her symptoms but it’s not well understood by GPs so woefully undiagnosed it takes years to diagnose.

Thanks so much for this all. GP has requested testing for coeliacs as part of the blood test. Tbh if it's coeliacs I'm relieved as all sorts of horrible diagnosis have been going round my
head.

Thanks so much for your advice.

GLTM no, they haven't tested for UTI, I phoned up the GP's today to query something and she said the GP had wrote dairy intolerance - cut dairy out of diet which she didn't mention to me either.

Temporary lactose intolerance is common after a tummy bug, so a trial of cutting out dairy would make sense.

@jobsagudden my baby had diarrhoea for about 3 months after a bad cold when he was a couple of months old- paediatrician diagnosed post-viral lactose intolerance- basically if they get a virus and it goes to their stomach it can damage the tips of the villi in their stomach lining which is where the lactase is produced. They can end up being lactose intolerant until the villi heal (takes about 8-12 weeks). Could it be something like that? I know you said it happens around bed time, does he have milk before bed maybe? I hope you get answers soon and it's nothing too serious xx

My DS had something very similar to this and it turned out to be coeliac disease. All symptoms disappeared within a few days on the new diet, was a huge relief.

I came on to suggest UTI. My nephew had something v similar at the same sort of age. Easy to test for too. Hope your DD is better soon.

DC has an intolerance to oats brought on by a stomach bug at 6mo. Approx 2 hours after eating they will vomit several times. The following day is yellow water-like diarrhoea.

So onset at night isn't unusual if they are exposed to the food at the evening meal.

Hope you get to the bottom of it soon, and she feels better very quickly x

I could have written this myself last week. DS had been throwing up so much that he brought up blood-filled sick twice, not just speckles of blood, but full red sick.

The first GP I saw told me it would do him good to lose some weight and as he has reflux, he isn't concerned.

DS had two a&e admissions over the course of a week; one for dehydration from vomiting and the second because he has a tracheal tug and recession at the ribs when breathing.

Second GP I saw said she thinks he's been fighting off an infection for a few weeks which has eventually culminated in a chest infection where he's struggling to breathe. She prescribed antibiotics and an inhaler on Friday and he hasn't vomited since. His diarrhoea has gone the opposite way and he's a bit constipated but he's much better. He's breathing so much better, too.

Like you, my mind was plagued with worry. I started to imagine he had a serious illness and I got so worried.

Keep pushing. Lots of love to your DD xx

@TokenGinger oh that sounds so horrible for you, I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm so glad your LO is better now. Thanks so much for the advice. X

Thanks so much everyone, you have really put my mind at ease, when the doctor said she was very concerned about the vomiting I was really concerned it could be something more sinister than a food intolerance / or even Coeliacs.

I think the initial bout of vomiting was definitely a stomach bug as both me and my DM had symptoms a few days after she had it. So it would make sense if this is what has brought on an intolerance.

I'm going to keep a food diary and not cut anything out at the moment because of the coeliacs testing.

She's had a bout of bad diarrhoea in the night. Will hang fire for the results of the tests.

Thank you so much for everyone's advice / support it is very much appreciated.

Thank you @jobsagudden.

It's such a worry when they're so sick. DS lost 0.9kg in two weeks which then got me really panicked, but thankfully a course of antibiotics has worked wonders xx

Just to update, we haven't given her any dairy since last Wednesday and the symptoms have completely vanished. Fingers crossed it was as PP's suggested a dairy intolerance brought on by the original stomach bug.

Waiting to hear back from some of the results which hopefully will confirm.

Thanks so much for the advice everyone, it really helped.

Hi OP how is your DD doing now?
Think this may be happening to my DS 4, he’s not been well for over week.
Did she continue to get better and could you reintroduce dairy?