It Happened Again*

We had another eventful night.

I went to bed shortly after my last post, and thanks to my friend Nyquil, I fell asleep almost immediately. I woke up around 11:30 to use the washroom, and while I was shuffling back into bed, I heard the door to the kids’ room click open. Out stumbled H, still half asleep and complaining of a sore tummy. I got him down the hall to the washroom just before he threw up. Again. He told me his tummy was a little sore before he fell asleep, but assured me he wasn’t sick. He fell asleep quickly and easily so I put it out of my mind until I sat with him on the bathroom floor.

This is the third time this month that he has randomly thrown up with no other symptoms. He seems better as soon as it’s out, and it totally fine once it’s out. The first time it happened I thought it was from swimming + birthday party + too much sugar. The second time happened two days later, so I thought maybe he did have a bit of a bug. But here we are, two weeks later with no symptoms in between, and it’s happened again. No swimming, no excessive sugar, no abnormal foods.

So as I sat with him in the glow of the bathroom nightlight, I began to suspect that maybe a food sensitivity or allergy is the culprit. We are not strangers to sensitivities in this house– M is completely off dairy and soy, and we think S has sensitivities to dairy and chocolate. She’s going through testing right now, and we have an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist next month to see what’s going on.

But the vomiting thing is new to me. Well, newish. I’ve always had a sensitive stomach and I get sick easily, and am often nauseous. Maybe I’m sensitive to something I’m eating too… who knows. But I can’t help but wonder if maybe H is sensitive to dairy too, and this is just how his body rejects it when he’s had too much. I’m going to start recording everything he eats and when he gets sick, and see if I can notice a pattern. I’m also going to try taking him off dairy too and see if it helps. With the history M’s family has with dairy, it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the culprit.

I don’t know.

I suppose it could be a virus, but it just feels so random. I’m on the fence about making a doctor’s appointment as he seems so fine as soon as whatever is bothering his tummy is out. Today he is eating and playing normally, no fever last night or today, just the random wake-up and puke.

It’s weird.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?