Frequent Illness (Vomiting/nausea/colds) in 5 Year Old

Is she allergic to milk? I had a lot of the same issues as a child and it was milk and any dairy. My son stayed sick from kinder- 5th grade, all those germs in school he couldn't handle. He got strep every 6 weeks, it was terrible. Hope you find what is causing all these problems, no mom likes for their children to feel bad.

My daughter missed 35 days of school in 3rd grade. She had 4 stomach viruses in a 10 week period of time, the one virus lasting for 12 days. (Thought I was going insane). She also had a sinus infection every month from October through February and strep throat once. My daughter had allergy, immunity and stool testing. Long story short she is a healthy little girl she just had a miserable year. 4th grade was much better though.
I think your daughter is fine...just a string of illnesses that she will recover from.
Edit - I forgot my daughter also had whooping cough. It really is a 100 day cough in case you were wondering. She is vaccinated for all the good that did her😊

I don't think you need to journal absolutely everything at this point, but you need to carefully note everything she ate when one of these stomach incidents occurs.

When you keep a food journal, when you're looking for a possible link between food and nausea, you really need to be specific. I would change your food diary/journal in this way: when your daughter says her stomach hurts, or says she's going to throw up (or actually does), you need to note precisely what she ate prior to that. And it has to include all the ingredients.

For example, you just can't write "cereal", or "chicken nuggets". What kind of cereal was it, and did the cereal have milk or sugar or fruit added to it? Were the chicken nuggets homemade, and were they prepared with buttermilk and flour, or if they were store-bought, what brand was it? You're looking for a link, like every time she has dairy, she feels nauseous, for example.

You can also try your own food elimination trials. You can choose one food, like gluten, or dairy, or corn (three frequent causes), and read all about the ingredient and it's various forms and names, and try a 3 week eating plan that completely eliminates that food. Only do one at a time.

For a much simpler idea, try eliminating all sources of sorbitol. Sorbitol is a natural sugar-alcohol found in many foods: apples, pears, cherries, red and purple grapes (not green grapes), and it's in many sugar-free gums and drinks, and in many many things labeled "diet". It's related to mannitol, erythritol and most anything else that ends in "itol". Sorbitol can cause diarrhea, stomach pains and other similar issues. My daughter is extremely sensitive to sorbitol and cannot have it in any form. You'd be surprised how many juices and kids' snacks have apple and pear juice as their first ingredient, even if the juice is called "kiwi strawberry juice", for example. Try giving your daughter only 100% white grape juice to drink for a couple of weeks, and no other fruit juices or drinks. Make sure she doesn't eat anything that is labeled "sugar-free". Carefully read every label. And only let her have veggies (sorbitol doesn't occur in those, except for some types of seaweed, so no sushi!), and green grapes, strawberries, orange segments, etc - no apples, applesauce, cherries, pears, fruit cups, fruit roll-ups, for at least 3 weeks. Also check her vitamins and supplements for sorbitol. It's quite simple to try, and you'll know pretty quickly if sorbitol and it's related sugar-alcohols could be the culprit. My daughter is intolerant to it, not allergic, so she can tolerate shampoos that have sorbitol in them (sorbitol is what gives some shampoos that shimmery shine), but we make sure that she doesn't get any toothpastes or mouthwashes that have sorbitol in them.

It's just an idea, but eliminating sorbitol completely eliminated my daughter's near-constant digestive problems when she was a toddler, and the GI doctor said if kids with stomach troubles just didn't have any apple or purple grape products, she'd have far fewer patients.

Otherwise, when your daughter feels a little nauseous, I'd have her sip a little ginger ale (make sure it's not sugar free or diet!) and that might be enough. Make sure you stay calm and rub her back gently, and don't give her the message that you're worried. Try to help her relax, breathe easily in through her nose and out through her mouth, and practice relaxation methods with her. Have her mimic you as you do the relaxing breathing with her.

Hi there!

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. My daughter has always had stomach issues and frequent respiratory issues. It was almost always blamed on the fact she was born early and that she had a strong gag reflex. When she was 6, we finally had her allergy tested and learned she had food allergies. You could always try an elimination diet, but in our case, we are so glad we had her tested so we could know for sure what she was allergic to. Just throwing this out there as a possibility. I hope you find the answers you are seeking!

How frightening for you! Keep in mind that allergy testing may not show anything and you may have to do an elimination diet. At some point you may want a GI consult.

I would suggest getting her to see Dr. Zaino in The Woodlands. He is an amazing man/Dr. His approach is so different from most others and his story is an inspiration. He has helped me so much and believes God made our bodies perfect and if we just get out of it's way - it WILL heal itself - we just need to feed it properly (God's food instead of Man's) and he's having a talk about kids' health and well being at the Church Project on a Monday night at 6:30 this month - probably the 15th (it's usually on the 3rd Monday night). ALL are welcome - and if you go, I can't be there, but just tell them you are my guest (P. Baldwin) no cost and there is child care - although you do have to sign up for it (child care) before hand. The chairs get uncomfortable - take a stadium cushion along and paper/pen cause he'll give you lots of GREAT information. Call his office - he's on Research Forest at New Trails.

I started going to him in Feb. of 2012 - I used to have 4 or 5 headaches a week and I've only had that many since starting and most of them were tension headaches!!! I would have a couple colds a year and haven't been sick a DAY (other than a bout of food poisoning for 24 hours) since then. It's WORTH every penny!!!!!

If you want anymore details - please message me.

Glad you received a baseline of good health from your ped. Sounds like she's just going through a bout of colds. My kid, 2.5 y.o. comes down with something about 3very 4-6 weeks. We live in the city, he's low to the ground, he touches everything and has his hands in his mouth, and to add insult to injury in terms of sanitation, he likes to kiss his shoes, and the wheels of his stroller, when he's putting them away.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

probiotics, immune boosters and vitamins are your best bet in my book. Keep going with those and see how she does.

It seems like you give her zofran a lot. I'd let it ride out no Meds just let it go.

Maybe it's her bladder. A friend of mine had a daughter with the same symptoms. This is the only thing I could think of differently from everybody else's answers.

Get her off all these meds and things you are giving her. Probably making her sick to her stomach. She said a few times you take her to pee. She is five years old. Should be doing this by herself. You might need to focus on other things. If she says her tummy hurts or she is nauseous, tell her to eat a cracker. It Sounds like she might like the attention. Kids get colds on the average of every three weeks or so when they start school. Just let her be five. That means go outside and get dirty.

I think you actually needs to back off the meds and let her system get into balance on its own. You mention giving her so many meds - miralax, zofran, probiotics, vitamins, immune boosters - it's completely possible that the side effect of all of this is making her nauseous and is making her throw up! I think you should go off of ALL of it for a while.

Especially the Miralax. From 6/17 through 6/29 she had diarrhea almost daily, sometimes worse than others. And yet you were giving her Miralax during this time to prevent consipation? It sounds like you are GIVING her the stomach cramps and diarrhea with all the Miralax. Please stop!

As for the colds, when my kids started daycare, they probably averaged 2 cold per month for the entire first year and a half (less in the summer, more in the winter). This is totally normal and I agree with your ped that she is building her immune system. In the long run, this is good.

I honestly can't imagine keeping records like this. Are you sure you're not just too focused on her? Kids eat stuff that doesn't agree with them and they puke it up.

Kids get a runny nose and have drainage when stuff blooms. That's how they develop resistance to it.

She is going to child care so she is going to have each and every thing that all the other kids are going to have.

Since you didn't let her get the normal exposure to germs and stuff she is going to have triple illnesses to catch up.

It's really good she's doing this now because if you kept keeping her away from others she would be doing this her first year at school.

She has to do this or she will do it as soon as she is out there with other people, even if you keep her at home until she's an adult. She has to build her immune system before it's too late to do it well.