My daughter is 16 months old and has been vomiting in the middle of the night about 5-6 nights a week for the last 3 or 4 weeks. She did have the flu for a week about 2 weeks ago, but that has passed. She usually has a bottle right before or as she goes to sleep. We have tried different brands of milk and that has not changed anything. She keeps milk down during the day just fine. My husband and I are worried every night as she doesn't cry or anything when this happens, so we don't know that she's been sick until we get her up in the morning. We are worried about her choking! Any suggestions?
Thanks to everybody that responded! I got quite a few tips to try and have decided to contact the Dr. He said to bring her in to run some tests to make sure it's not anything more serious than a cold or flu. Thanks again!
I went through the same thing with my twins when they were that young. They are 7 now. I had to stop giving them milk after 6 pm. They had water only. Have you tried taking the milk away. It worked for us!
Good luck.
M.
I would try not feeding her right before bed. She would be ok drinking the bottle 2-3 hours before bed. At 18 months, she could definately start doing a tippy cup now too at meal time. Those viruses can hang on for a while, there is always that BRAT diet, Bananas rice applesauce and toast, with water only. Maybe she needs that just a little longer and nothing right before bed... hope that all works out for you and she is better soon!
Try giving more of a protien based snack before bed because giving a whole bottle of milk prior to bed may not sit well in her prabably still sensitive yummy. However, my suspicion is that she is experiencing reflux during the night. If the vominig continues during the next week, I would call her doctor. In the mean-time, try elevating the head of her bed or crib (like a 2x4 underneith the crib board.) Hope that helps a little!
My daughter is 19 months and she did something similar around 14 months. My pediatrician said that her tummy may be more sensitive at the night to milk so she suggested giving only water starting about 1 hr before bed. I also give her watered down juice so it has a little flavor. It seems to have worked because we have not had any problems since.
Hope you find a solution!
This is probably a little out there, butI heard of a girl with identical symtoms on mystery diagnosis on the discovery channel.She would awake in the middle of the night and vomit with out uttering a sound. During the day she was fine. It turned out that the little girl actually had epilepsy. She did not have seizures during the day, and the nightly seizures only symptom was vomitting. I know this condition is rare, but if the doctors can't find another explanation, you may want to see a neurologist. I pray that you find an answer soon.
I know it sounds strange, but I would suggest taking her to a chiropractor. A subluxation in the spine can cause involuntary upchuck of the stomach. Since she is lying down with the bottle at bedtime, this may be a clue to her problem. If she lies down with it during the day and doesn't throw-up, however, this is not a clue.
At 16 months, she could be done with a bedtime bottle. Giving her a light snack instead will get her through the night but may avoid the stomach upchuck since she will eat it sitting up.
It takes about 20-30 minutes for food to leave the stomach and move to the small intestine. Giving her system time to process her bedtime bottle or snack may be an easy answer as well.
Hi T.!
This same thing happened with my first child. She is now 13 years old and perfectly fine!:) She would throw up every night and never cry and we would not know until morning. Finally, someone suggested that it was possible that she could have a milk allergy. It would not matter what brand you used, any milk would give her the same reaction. We took her off of milk completely and she never threw up at night again! We gave her a bottle of water at night instead of the milk. She got calcium in other ways. Cheese, yogurt, dark leafy green veggies, and I give her a calcium supplement. I can still tell to this day when she has had "too much" milk or cheese or yogurt. She gets what appear to be black eyes underneath her eyes and the pediatrician a long time back told me that they call those "allergy shiners". She still gets them! Hope this helps some!! N. - Mom to 4
Start to reduce the amount in the last bottle and add it to other feedings during the day. Then cut out the last feeding. If she is taking it to bed with her she is likely swallowing a lot of air too. If she needs something to keep her from being hungry at night, try solids later in the day or a snack before bed.
Have you had her checked for acid reflux? Both my son &daughter had it, and it is worse @ nite, (while they lay flat). Before you see your DR., you may want to just try elevating her head by putting a wedge under her mattress, and see if that makes a difference. Maybe try to give her a feeding a little earlier @ nite a well, as so her food can digest before laying flat. Hope you find a solution! Good luck. S. E.
Even though she is not throwing up the milk, doesn't mean that is not what is making her sick. My friend's daughter, now 6 can not drink milk on hot days because she ends up getting sick. She starts playing, gets hot, and then gets sick, like she drank bad milk. So maybe your child sleeps really hard and gets hot at night and that milk ends up making her sick.
I also have an 18 month old who vomits throughout the night, but in her case she can't breathe through her nose because she is full of phlegm. However during the day she is fine. She does have a cold and a runny nose and I think at night it becomes worse. What we have found is that by giving her any kind of milk it enhances the phlegm. Therefore I would suggest that you give your child anything but milk at night. This might cut the vomitting out. It has worked for us lately.
Maybe she has reflux? My 4 month old daughter has it and if we lay her down to bed too soon after having a bottle she will vomit much of it back up. To resolve her issue, we now keep her upright for at least 30 minutes after giving her a bottle.
My friend has this problem with her two year old. He was throwing up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, but he would actually get up and wake her. He was not sick, changing his drink didn't help. It turns out that he has problems with his tonsils and adnoids. He needs to have his tonsils removed but they need to wait until hes 3 which means many sleepless nights ahead for her. I am not saying this is the case with you but check it out. It could be acid reflux or something like that too. Have you tried water instead of milk?
As a pediatric nurse, I think it is very important that you take your daughter to see her pediatrician. Vomiting in the middle of the night could be something as simple as reflux or it could be a sign of a more serious health problem. Either way, her doctor can help. Good luck.
My daughter had the same thing and it passed in about a week and a half. I think it was some sort of virus.
