As a parent, it can sometimes be difficult to determine when nausea in your children should be checked by a doctor. Most children will become nauseous at some time or another. In fact, children under the age of five are likely to have a cold or a virus around seven times each year. Often these illnesses will also be accompanied by nausea. In addition, children are often prone to other causes of nausea, such as motion sickness. So, how does a parent determine when nausea in children should be checked by a doctor?
To start with, it is important to consider your child’s age. The requirements for infants and younger children, for example, are different than they are for older children. If you have a very young baby, under the age of three months, you should contact a doctor if she is vomiting (beyond the normal spitting-up that babies are famous for). If nausea in your baby also has a fever of 100.4 or higher, and has a cough or diarrhea, you should contact your doctor immediately.
For older children, the requirements are different. If your child is six years old or younger and his nausea lasts more than a few hours he should be checked by a doctor. If he also has signs of dehydration, such as diarrhea, you should contact a doctor. If he has a fever over 101 degrees, he should be check by a doctor.
If your child is older than six years old, there are also times you should have her checked by a doctor for his nausea. If she has vomiting and diarrhea for more than 1 day, you should have her checked by a doctor. Also, if her fever is over 102 degrees, you should have her checked by a doctor. As with infants and younger children, if there are signs of dehydration you should have her checked by a doctor.
If any of the following occur, you should take your nauseous child of any age to a doctor in the emergency room: blood in the vomit, a severe headache, lethargy, confusion or decreased attentiveness, severe pain in the abdomen, or rapid breathing or pulse. These symptoms can indicate a more serious problem, and require immediate attention.