4 Year Old Vomiting at Night - Milk Allergy or Something Else?

Talk to your pediatriciation about acid reflux. They have medication that can help if that is what she has.

well I was told by my daughter's gastro that they could even have problems with soy. i know it isn't really the same but when I breastfeed i had to eliminate soy, milk,and peanuts. She told me she could be allergic to those. I have an acid reflux toddler that would through up alot when we gave her milk. Maybe it would help calling your pediatrician and talk to a nurse about the problems she is having they might want you to see the gastro. It maybe something completely different. Hope all will be well.

Hi C.,

Could it be that she might be over eating on the nights she is vomiting? Sometimes that causes reflux/ heart burn causing someone to vomit. Also, try monitoring what you feed her before bed (dinner/after dinner) and see if that might upset her sensitive stomach? I know I can't eat certain foods at night time.

Hope she feels better.

N.

Not to get panicky or anything, but I saw something like on "Mystery Diagnosis". The little girl had been vomiting at night with no clue that she did it by the morning. It ended up that she had a seizure disorder and the vomiting was the result of a seizure. Something to keep in mind, a sleep study is non-invasive just inconvenient.

My older son had a dairy/milk allergy, and would do the exact same thing - vomit the milk or cheese when he had it, and be FINE (and hungry) before we could get him cleaned up. I removed milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc. (milk products, but not butter or margarine) from his diet entirely, giving him OJ with calcium for his calcium. Around 5 years of age, he decided to try yogurt (full fat) and he managed to keep it down. Slowly, I brought it to low-fat yogurt, and then we worked on moving him from Rice Dream to non-fat milk. He can now use milk on his cereal, eat ice cream, yogurt, etc., but still says cheese makes his tummy "feel funny" but he doesn't vomit. I would try eliminating milk products entirely, wait a few weeks, and then try to reintroduce, and see what happens. Full fat products worked better for us to start, and then we gradually went back to low/non fat milk products.

HTH
L.

Hi There,
Like one of your other readers, I saw the "Mystery Diagnosis" episode where the child had the same symptoms. Fine going to bed, waking up after being asleep for several hours, vomiting, and fine the next day. It was a rare seizure disorder where the seizurse occured during sleep. Ofcourse it was pretty bizarre, so the doctors kept on diagnosing her with a stomach bug, or acid reflux etc. If everything else has been ruled out, I would bring this to the doctors attention.

Hi C.
Allergies vs intolerance is always an issue. Sounds like the elimination of milk is working. That is good news. No one should be vomiting nightly, chronically, without medical diagnosis. Don't eliminate reflux however, did you by any chance feed her later, closer to bedtime? Some people can't lay down for 3 hours after they eat. Just one thought.
Is it possible that she had more milk products that day than any other recent day, which put her over her tolerance level right now. It takes about 6 weeks for an allergen to get out of your system, so it is possible that as she heals she may be able to tolerate more. Perhaps you don't realize it is like filling a glass as long as you don't reach the top, the glass doesn't spill but add another tsp and it is a spill. When allergens get to the top, you are OK but another tsp and you react.
I am lactose intolerant. I took the test, don't recommend that but since I had always tolerated ie: 8 oz, I just was not sure about change in my system being just that. I now don't tolerate the amount of milk in some commercial breads.
Milk allergy is not the end of the world. In fact, with our oldest, the allergist said I was poisoning him by giving it to him. That made me realize that although milk is good for most people it was not for him.
By the all my children are allergic to milk.
God bless you and give you wisdom
K. SAHM married 38 years--- adult children -- 37, coach; 33, lawyer, married with 7 mo.; and twins 18, in college, journalism,GPA 3.9; fine arts, GPA 3.7-- by the way-- we home schooled.

Hi C.,

I don't want to scare you, but when I read your request I instantly remembered an episode of Mystery Diagnosis on the Discovery Channel that discussed a little girl who would repeatedly vomit in the middle of the night. Her parents tried everything - no dairy, eliminating other foods that may cause allergies, no food after a certain time in the evening, anti-nausea pills, etc. Nothing helped. Finally they took her to a sleep clinic and they discovered that the girl would have minor seizures at the same time in the middle of the night which would cause her to vomit. She was finally diagnosed with epilepsy and once she was on the proper medication, the vomiting completely stopped.

Like I said, I hate to scare you but I wanted to mention it because it sounded exactly like what you are experiencing with your daughter. I hope this isn't the case with your little girl, but I wanted to bring it to your attention.

My best to you!

Hi
My friend has a son with a milk allergy and the pediatrician recommended almond milk. Soy is one of the top 5 allergens in children.
Also, there is a product called Healthy Balance, which is made from good oils and fats that can be used as a substitute for butter. Margarine is filled with hydrogenated and/or partially hydrogenated fats. These trans fats are linked to cancer, diabetes, MS and other serious ailments.
Hope this helped.

Dear C.,

three thoughts:
1) if your daughter has a "sensitive stomach", I am wondering if she going to sleep with a undigested food in her tummy that could make her feel uncomfortable?
2) could she have allergies that may be generating phlem or a post nasal drip that could upset her tummy or trigger her gag reflex? (I have a son with a easily triggered gag reflex - he out grew it as he got older)
3) just for ha-has: why would anyone eat margarine?
good luck with this!

In an adult, waking up at night with stomach pain and vomiting but feeling like you should eat indicates an ulcer.
She is young but maybe it could be the problem.
Eliminating suspected foods from the diet is always safe and easy and usually the answer.
We eliminated gluten and dairy from my son's diet and there has been good improvement with the problems he was having.

HiCarol,
When i saw your post,I thought of my daughter. Around age 3,she began to spit up(not throw up). It gradually became worse.She would then complain of yucky burps (acid reflux).We took her to her ped who prescribed prevacid. I still needed answers though. So we took her to a gastro who recommended an endoscopy/flex sigmoidoscopy. She was diagbised with lactose intolerance. We then went to Chop (Childrens hospital of philly)to further help us. We still go there now,and are eliminating milk COMPLETELY (even in products. It is working now. We are going through further testing to determine if it could be an allergy,but it is prob not. I never heard of a link b/t reflux and intolerance,but my daughter is an example. Please try a gasto,and best of luck.God Bless and keep us posted.

One of my grandsons was treated for acid reflux for 2 yrs before his mom did a little research on her own and found that a lot of times a milk allergy will cause acid reflux type problems. She removed all cow milk products from his diet and he hasn't had a problem since. Once you get into the label reading habit it's pretty easy to get a balanced diet into the child without using milk.

I'd say elimate the milk and see how it goes. If that's not the problem you can always add it back in and start over again. The only positive thing with a milk allergy is that the kids seem to outgrow it by age 6. We're not to that point yet but at least isn't something to look forward to.

Hi C., if it is whole milk you may want to try 1%low fat milk. Truth be told what the vomitted milk looks like and smells likewill tell you a lot about how she is digesting it. If she is allergic like most allergies if the are not severe skipping days can help drastically also yogurt in the place of milk. she might not be producing enough of the enzyme she needs to break down milk. To ease your mind about how well children do who have consumed low fat milk do, my chidren are 26, 23, and 17 years old with perfect teeth and never had cavities. nor broken bones.

Hey C.,

My mom suffers from severe reflux and there are times when she is okay and then there is times she is vomiting all night. I would get it checked out further because my mother also suffers from lactose intolerance. She can go days with eating the same thing and one night she will be up vomiting. So I am not sure if food is always the issue. One thing I know that does help is to be elevated when she sleeps with a few pillows. I would go to a gastro doctor and get another opinion. I am sure it is nothing serious but as you know it is not normal to vomit in the middle of the night so it needs to be checked out. Good luck!!