Repeated episodes of vomiting with a cough/cold

[3littleowls]

Every couple of months my DS (5yrs) gets a cold, swiftly followed by a wet, phlegmy cough that seems to result in him having repeated vomiting over 2 or 3 days. He is often sick about 7 to 10 times during those few days. There's no diarrhea or temperature with it and it doesn't pass to our other children so we guess it's either a gag reflex thing with the cough, or maybe phlegm irritating his stomach, or both...or maybe something different we've not worked out? Has anyone else had this? Has anything helped? He's so miserable with it when it happens but is usually v bright between being sick. It seems that a bit of food is soon brought up again until it wears off after a few days and he's back to normal again for a few months.

Hm difficult to say! Is he typically prone to gagging easily or being sick at other times (like if he tries new foods he doesn't like, car sickness etc?)

I think some kids are just more prone to gagging and vomiting than others.

Prolonged coughing obviously triggers gagging, and sometimes excessive swallowing of snot (instead of nose blowing, which kids seem to avoid doing/claim not to know how 😅) can cause them to throw up.

I wouldn’t be too concerned if, like you say, they’re otherwise OK in themselves.

He does seem to have quite a sensitive gag reflex @hulahoopqueen but strangely this is fairly new since preschool age. He weaned really well on all sorts of textures, unlike my older son who gagged on pasta and all sorts (he on the other hand is fine now and not a child prone to vomiting). It's a mystery to us, and I so want to help him. He coughs hard when he does cough - maybe that's part of it?

That's reassuring to know it's pretty common, thanks for the reply @Jellycats4life . Has anyone found anything to help settle stomachs for kids with vomiting?

Dealing with all the snot should help a little. Firstly to stop him swallowing so much mucus, causing him to vomit, but also to deal with all the mucus running down the back of his throat, which will cause irritation and coughing.

At that age (and beyond) I would hold the tissue to their nose and encourage them to blow.