My 2 year old throws-up, a lot!

We made it safe to Texas.  I'll be the first to say, overseas flights are not fun and double the not fun when you travel with a young child.  Blue Rock threw up two times on the flight.  About 5 minutes after departing and an hour later.  We only brought two changes of clothes for him so my husband and I kept a barf bag close by at all times.  He threw up again on the car ride to my parents' house once we made it to Texas.  He slept only 1 hour and then we have been having lots of sleep problems since.  Thankfully he's sleeping until 7am now, rather than getting up at 1:30am, or 3am, or 5am...ugh! 

The short version is the vomiting has caused Blue Rock to become a little anemic. I am crushed!  Absolutely crushed and feel like a failure.  We try so hard to give him a balanced diet but when he throws up almost everyday and sometimes multiple times a day, most nutrition is lost.  Please pray for him.  The background and how we're handling this is below.

The excessive vomiting starting around Thanksgiving last year.  For Thanksgiving we went to Paris and thankfully he didn't throw-up on our vacation there.  But once we got home he threw up everyday, multiple times for over two weeks.  We took him to the doctor it seemed like every few days and they did some tests.  He caught a virus and had an infection.  They did some blood work and gave him some medicine.  After a few months of this, he stopped throwing up everyday.  Although, sometimes he does throw-up everyday of the week.  So the problem is not completely solved, we are just better prepared now.  We keep a bowl on every floor in case he throws up.  There's not necessarily any one thing that triggers this.  At his 18-month well baby and 24-month well baby the doctors said he's growing fine and is verbally advanced for his age.  Since he exceeded the 24-month assessment and is gaining weight, the doctor didn't seem to think there's a concern, especially since he doesn't have a fever.  She said, sometimes kids get upset and they feel it in their stomachs, other kids just throw-up.  My kid is very smart and sensitive and throws-up. 

Since we were coming to the U.S., we decided to try and get another opinion from a doctor here.  Sadly, we couldn't find a pediatrician to see us but we're referred to a specialist.  The appointment lady told my husband twice that she wouldn't give us an appointment since we lived overseas.  Thankfully, my husband finally got us an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist.  I really like this doctor.  I'm so sad that we have such limited time and have to do several tests in such a short amount of time and are unable to get certain things tested.  We started with blood, urine, and stool tests.  His stool and urine are fine but we found out he is a little anemic.  I am so sad about this!  I want to cry!  I'm not surprised since he throws up so much but it is heartbreaking to hear that your two year old is anemic.  Especially, when I try so hard to give us all a balanced diet.  We had to turn in some more stool today so they could do a hemocult stool card (to check for blood in his stool). And they wanted to take his blood again to make sure his red blood cells are working fine.  We hated for them to take more blood because he's so little and they seem to take so much.  We were told to give him an iron supplement (ferinsol) for 30 days.  I was reading about anemia and the importance of getting enough iron.  He was breastfed for the first year of his life (never had formula which is fertified with iron) and at 9 months he got 3-day fever and was really sick.  They checked his blood then and his iron levels were fine.  At 12 months when they typically check iron levels they said since he was fine at 9 months, they didn't need to do any blood work, which we were glad about.  Blue Rock eats really well, most vegetables and every fruit but melons.  Since we primarily don't eat meat, the doctor told us to give Blue Rock two servings of red meat a week and that, along with the vegetables, should give him enough iron.  He also eats iron-fortified cereals.  Of course if your child throws up most of the good meals, then most of the nutrition is lost.

I'm glad we are back in Texas and close to specialists and able to get this checked out.  We're at my in-laws now, who live in the country.  We spent the first week at my parents.  We are enjoying family and Blue Rock loves all his extended family and friends.  Once I find out the test results I'll let you know.  Please say a prayer for us and Blue Rock.  Just this morning, I took him down the street to the park.  We were walking and he stopped to cough and throw up.  Most of the time it is very random.  He threw up yesterday after lunch in the parking lot of Red Lobster.  We're just at a loss for what is causing this and hopefully will find out soon.  Thanks for reading this long post and for your prayers.

***Tip: If your child throws up a lot, have the doctor check for anemia.  Some side effects of anemia include: brittle nails, finger and toe nails curling, pin sharp pain in feet, paleness, tiredness, and dark circles under the eyes.