VOMITING
During nursing the infant swallows quite a little air and not infrequently this is the cause of vomiting immediately following feeding. It is not uncommon for an infant to vomit without effort after overfilling the stomach. This is a natural thing among healthy children and needs no attention from a corrective standpoint. In such cases the milk is but little changed.
In gastric indigestion and gastritis vomiting is always present, but in these cases it does not take place until some time after feeding, perhaps several hours. In gastritis the vomiting is more constant. In the more severe cases there will be not only the partially digested food but also bile and mucus and sometimes traces of blood.
Obstructive vomiting is sometimes found among infants and may be due to intestinal obstruction or to an obstruction of the pyloris. The obstruction may be congenital or it may develop after birth. Obstruction of the pyloris may be the result of hypertrophic stenosis. In this condition the child vomits immediately following feeding and with great force. This is thoroughly described in the article on Hypertrophic Stenosis of the Pylorus. If the obstruction is in the intestinal tract it may be the result of a congenital malformation or due to intussusception. The vomiting is forceful and the vomitus may contain fecal matter.
Vomiting is often associated with peritonitis and appendicitis. In these conditions there is distention of the abdomen with abdominal pains which may be localized. There may also be a slight temperature. Vomiting is purely adaptative on the part of Innate Intelligence. The food cannot be digested and carried through the digestive tract so Innate realizes that the best thing to do is to free the body from it in the quickest manner.
Vomiting often precedes such incoördinations as pneumonia, scarlet fever and malaria and may precede any of the febrile dis-eases. Vomiting may be produced by the accumulation and absorption of toxines in the body.
Infants suffering with nervous disorders such as acute meningitis, tumors of the brain and other central conditions will often have cerebral vomiting. In this event the vomiting is spontaneous and does not necessarily occur at feeding time. Other cerebral symptoms present will aid in determining the analysis.
Vomiting may be produced by the presence of worms that come up into the throat from the stomach and intestinal tract. Hunger may occasionally bring on an attack of vomiting. This is more common in older children than in infants.