Foods to Eat After Vomiting: Help for Your or a Sick Child

Foods to Eat After Vomiting: Help for Your or a Sick Child
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Foods That Can Make Vomiting Worse

Your child has been sick for the last several hours, complaining of a stomach ache. He has also been vomiting everything you have tried to give him. He also might have diarrhea, and you think he has a stomach bug. Everything he eats makes him feel sick and comes right back up. If you have been offering anything that is spicy or greasy, you have seen him run right to the bathroom as he brings it right back up. Foods in these categories are much too heavy for his stomach right now, no matter what he tells you he wants to eat. You want to learn more about foods to eat after vomiting.

You’ve been giving him milk, fruit juice and chicken soup and he hasn’t been able to keep these down. Your next step is to take him to the doctor’s office for a diagnosis, but you can help your child get over this stomach virus and stop vomiting. You just need to stop giving him the foods and liquids that are too heavy and change him over to a much lighter diet, starting with clear fluids.

Fluids That Can Help Ease the Vomiting

Your pediatrician will be the first person to advise starting your child on clear liquids. “Clear liquids” include those you can read a newspaper through–water, flat soda and pediatric electrolyte solutions. Withhold milk and caffeinated, carbonated colas. Withhold fluids like milk, because the milkfat only makes his stomach feel worse. The same is true of fruit juices, particularly citrus juices, and sugary drinks.

Start your child on small sips of water or flat soda. If he vomits again, hold off for about 30 minutes, then try again. When he is able to hold small amounts down, increase the amount slightly. You want to help his stomach settle down, and giving him too much of a good thing will only make him vomit again, according to KidsHealth.org. Offer flat ginger ale–ginger can help settle your child’s upset stomach. If your child is very young, buy a pediatric electrolyte solution and give him small amounts. If he is older, you can give him diluted electrolyte drink–dilute it to half strength so the sugar doesn’t upset his stomach again.

More Foods to Eat After Vomiting

When he has been able to hold down clear liquids for several hours, reintroduce bland foods like plain chicken broth, plain toast and saltine crackers. Listen to your child and don’t make him eat if he doesn’t feel hungry or if he says his stomach is still upset.

Other foods you can begin to reintroduce include mild soups with some noodles. Offer your child a slice of plain bread with no butter or margarine. He can try mashed potatoes or plain rice, according to KidsHealth.org.

You can offer your child banana, which is one of the foods in the BRAT diet, when he is feeling better. Offer him a small bowl of plain applesauce as well. Apples help settle the stomach, according to AdvancedProstateCancer.net.

References

https://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/emergencies/vomit.html#

https://advancedprostatecancer.net/?p=514