How to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in infants: characteristic signs

Often young parents are very similar to recruits who first got into the "training" and take the course of a young fighter. Especially if in the family of any of them there were not much younger siblings. Everything that is connected with the child, not only seems surprising and strange to them, but sometimes scares frankly.

Often a situation in which a child “gives back” the milk just eaten, throws the young mother into a real shock. All known deadly diseases immediately come to mind, and the hand itself reaches for the phone with the intention of causing an ambulance.

Not every mother knows exactly how to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in an infant. If this applies to you, then you just need to read our article. So you can not only save a certain number of nerve cells, but also protect your child from taking often expensive, but absolutely unnecessary drugs.

What does a normal regurgitate look like?

Before talking about how you can distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in an infant, let's figure out what this process actually is. It is diagnosed in three quarters of all newborn babies and is absolutely not considered a pathology. Spitting up is a physiological variation of the vomiting process. It is characterized by a small volume of excretion of milk mass or complementary foods. At one time, the baby's body can return no more than 30 ml of what is eaten.

Spitting absolutely does not bring a newborn an unpleasant sensation. He has no cramping or anxiety. Food simply flows freely from the mouth in a small stream. At the same time, the baby remains cheerful and active.

To know how to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in an infant (photo below), you just need to observe the occurrence of this phenomenon. As a rule, the child actively spits up immediately after eating or for a maximum of an hour after feeding. Especially often this happens in cases where immediately after feeding the baby they begin to slow down, make laugh or engage in active games. Imperfection of the infant’s nervous system and a rather weak muscle valve that blocks direct access to the stomach are the main cause of this phenomenon in children up to a year old.

Causes

To know exactly how to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in an infant up to a year, let's talk about the background of the occurrence of such a phenomenon.

The main causes of regurgitation are quite commonplace and most of them can be safely avoided. It could be:

• excessive feeding, due to which overstretching of the walls of the stomach occurs;
• swallowing excess air;
• inept application of the baby to the chest;
• forced physical activity immediately after feeding (retardation);
• shortening the bridle of the child;
• physiologically short upper lip of the baby;
• swaddling too tight;
• flatulence in the intestines of the baby (flatulence);
• a sharp change in posture, moving the baby in an upright position.

Signs

Well, we sorted out the reasons a bit. Now let's talk about the signs. So, how to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in infants. Signs of this phenomenon may be as follows:

• the situation repeats irregularly, no more than 2-3 times a day;
• the child remains active and in a good mood all the time;
• the child does not lose weight, but is constantly gaining weight in accordance with age standards;
• no cramping;
• food output is of a one-time nature (it burped and that's it);
• milk or other food flows freely from the baby's mouth;
• the maximum volume does not exceed 20-30 ml (usually much less);
• the baby is sleeping normally;
• no diarrhea, bloating, or other signs of the disease.

How to avoid trouble

Since you already practically know how to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in an infant, then it is in your power to do everything possible to generally minimize such a phenomenon.

1. It is better to feed the baby often, but in small portions. This will not allow him to overeat, and the baby’s stomach - greatly stretch.
2. Determine the correct position for feeding and try to adhere to it. So the baby will not swallow excess portions of air.
3. Make sure that the baby’s nose is always clean and breathing is free. Otherwise, the child will be forced to suck in additional portions of air by mouth.
4. Before eating, put the baby on her tummy for a while. This will help get rid of probable colic.
5. After feeding, do not lift the baby too sharply, move it to an upright position gradually.
6. If your child is an artificial person, only replacing the mixture will help to correct the situation. It is also worth changing the feeding regimen: more often, but less.

Is it possible to treat regurgitation in newborns

Even if you know exactly how to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in an infant, it is still better to consult a pediatrician. The fact is that if the regurgitation is repeated too often, then something needs to be done with this.

Since during the regurgitation, the child loses fluid (albeit not too much), it must be added to it. It is best to give clean boiled water. Soothing teas with chamomile, compote or fruit drink are also good for this purpose. If dehydration is too severe, pharmacy drugs may be needed. Regidron, Glucosolan, or Citroglucosolan will do. They need to be bred according to the instructions, and used - only as directed by the doctor.

If your baby is artificial, then it is better to transfer it to the treatment mixture. Suitable, for example, "Frisorm." Its composition includes such a substance as gum. It retains food in the body of the child and does not allow it to return. "Nutrilon antireflux" also works well, you can try it.

Most often, regurgitation does not require treatment and over time passes independently. But in especially difficult situations, medication may be required. Remember: only a doctor can prescribe drugs!

Causes of vomiting in infants

Vomiting is a rather complex reflex process. It is directly dependent on the overexcitation of the vomiting center or vagus nerve. Most often, vomiting is accompanied by sharp and frequent spasms. In contrast to regurgitation, the volume of outgoing substances will be too large. The fact is that with vomiting from the mouth, and often from the baby’s nose, the contents of not only the stomach, but the upper intestines begin to protrude. This is the main indicator of how to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation. In infants, the causes of this phenomenon can be very diverse. Most often, vomiting is associated with intoxication of the body as a whole or any pathology of the internal organs.

Here are a few possible reasons for vomiting:

• pneumonia;
• concussion;
• poisoning;
• respiratory tract infection;
• appendicitis;
• otitis media;
• urinary tract infection;
• meningitis;
• sepsis;
• change in intracranial pressure;
• pyloric stenosis;
• trauma to the abdomen;
• intestinal obstruction;
• diabetic ketoacidosis;
• gastroenteritis;
• strangulated hernia;
• metabolic disease;
• hydrocephalus;
• other ailments.

There can be many reasons, this is not a complete list. It is important to remember one thing - a healthy child cannot have vomiting . Therefore, at the slightest suspicion, the child simply needs to urgently show the pediatrician.

Characteristic signs

So how to distinguish vomiting from regurgitation in infants? The characteristic signs of this phenomenon in children up to a year are so vivid that it is almost impossible to mix up:

• the child does not gain weight;
• meals can be accompanied by shortness of breath, the child screams and gets nervous;
• cramps appear;
• the fontanel protrudes and swells a little;
• an acidic smell appears from the baby's mouth;
• the mass coming out also has a sour smell, it may contain bloody clots or yellowish spots (bile);
• there is a clear violation of the stool.

The practical difficulty of distinguishing vomiting from regurgitation in infants lies in the individuality of the child's body. Since children react very differently to such phenomena, you should not hesitate and try to justify the eruption of food with a good appetite. It is urgent to show the baby to the doctor and choose the tactics of further behavior with him.

What to do if the child has vomiting?

There are several signs that you need to urgently call an ambulance. Procrastination in this case can end sadly. So, run to the phone if:

• vomiting repeated more than 3-4 times in a row;
• the baby has a fever;
• clots of bile or blood are found in the expelled food;
• vomiting is accompanied by severe abdominal pain, with no bowel movement.

Before the arrival of the doctors, you need to do everything to ease the condition of the baby:

• In no case do not leave the child alone for even a minute.
• Put it on a barrel or hold it in your hands in a vertical or semi-vertical position. So you can avoid getting vomit in the airways.
• After the cessation of the attack, rinse the baby's mouth with cool boiled water.
• In no case, give the child any food or medicine until the cause of the vomiting is established. You can "smear" the picture of the disease and treatment will be very difficult.
• If there is no doctor for a long time, drink plenty of clean boiled water. In the first hour, you need to give one teaspoon every 7-10 minutes.
• Do not panic. The emotional state of the mother is immediately transmitted to the child and he will also become nervous and afraid. This will only worsen his condition and can provoke a new emetic attack.