my son is 16 months old, and at about a year old the doctor said to give him lactose free whole milk because he was doing this same cough and vomit at night when i introduced milk to him then. Hes been good for the past 3-4 months on the milk but recently has developed this cough only at night. it wakes him from his sleep, like if he is choking on the milk or it went down the wrong way,i go to check on him and he is sitting up gagging at this point about to vomit and i pick him up and sure enough if he makes it to my arms he vomits alot of thick white curdled milk like. Ive checked the milk, and they are not bad. Ive even bought all new bottles just in case. But hes still doing it. its been about a week straight that this is happening. his stomich is tight and he squeals in pain in between vomits. He usually vomits about 3 times. Good piles too. Its hard to see my baby like this. He has no diarrhea, no constipation, during the day he seems ok, eats pretty normal. No fever or any other symptoms until right before he vomits and its a cough.
Any suggestions..? his doctor gave us liquid claritin to assist him in coughs, Not working because it seems like this medication makes his stomach hurt.
Hi Nicole,
The question is, is the cough as a result of something irritating his throat and then triggering the vomiting or is the vomiting the result of the cough.
Your pediatrician appears to think the latter if he's prescribing Claritin. I'm not so sure. I think your son may have acid reflux. The acid is irritating the throat and causing the vomiting and cough. Look up GERD. He can/may outgrow it.
This is beyond what your typical pediatrician would expect of a newborn. I'd suggest you get a referral for a GI specialist. If it is GERD, or acid reflux, it can cause serious damage to the esophagus.
This just ties in with the lactose intolerance too closely to be a coincidence.
You might also try not feeding him much at night, so as to reduce pressure on the muscles at the end of the esophagus that close off.
Hope it helps.
My daughter has the same problem - or similar. She has coughed until she vomits since birth. Each time she gets a cold or something that makes her cough, like phlegm, she vomits - without fail. My doctor told me it's her gag reflex. Most people can cough to get the phlegm up so they can spit it out - but my daughter has a problem with that, as soon as she coughs and the phlegm gets in her throat, instead of 'hucking' it up into her mouth to spit it out, it sets off her gag reflex which makes her vomit it up instead. There's nothing you can do about it apparently just wait until your son gets older to explain how to cough up whatever it is that's making him cough. My daughter is 7 years old and she still doesn't get the concept.
I hope your son isn't lactose intolerant or anything what medic-dan suggested - or anything worse, but it does sound like your son has the same 'problem' my daughter has :)