It can be scary for a parent when an infant is vomiting, especially when this takes the form of projectile vomiting. Understanding what can cause an infant to vomit, and what different types of infant vomiting mean, can help to ease a parent’s fears and frustrations when their little one seems to be ill.

There are, essentially, three types of vomiting in infants: reflux, possetting, and projectile vomiting. Reflux occurs when the valve located at the top of the stomach opens and allows whatever is in the stomach to come up in a slow way. Most of the time, infants will outgrow reflux by the time that they become toddlers. The second type of vomiting for infants, possetting, occurs in almost every baby at some point. This is the basic “spit-up” that a baby will have after your baby feeds. Possetting is almost always a small amount of vomiting.

The major type of infant vomiting that concerns parents, however, is infant projectile vomiting. This occurs when vomit comes up and out in a way that is especially forceful. Sometimes, when this occurs, the amount of milk that comes up seems like a lot. However, it is typically just the mil from the last feeding. When your infant has projectile vomiting, there are some things to watch out for. It could be that your baby has a simple virus. However, if your infant experiences projectile vomiting shortly after each time he or she feeds, or is not gaining weight due to projectile vomiting, he or she may have Pyloric Stenosis. Pyloric Stenosis can easily be corrected with surgery, but can be severely dangerous if it is not diagnosed and treated properly.

If your baby is experiencing projectile vomiting on a regular basis, or if you see blood or bile in the vomit, you should contact your health care provider. In addition to conditions such as pyloric Stenosis, infant projectile vomiting can be a sign that there is something else wrong with your baby.

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