Vomiting verses True Projectile Vomiting


Projectile Vomiting is characterized by vomiting with such an extreme force that it shoots several feet. It usually is so forceful it empties the stomach entirely making the vomiting a single occurrence until the stomach is filled again. It’s typically not preceded by dry heaves or retching. Sometimes you can see a wave or rolling across the abdomen before an episode of projectile vomiting.

The most common causes of projectile vomiting are Pyloric Stenosis, intestinal obstruction, poisoning, and intracranial pressure. Most infants and children with GERD do not experience true projectile vomiting.

True projectile vomiting is alarming and your child needs to be seen immediately.

Dr. Jeff Hull:
Projectile vomiting, translated "She spit up down my nightgown.” Unless your baby has had pyloric stenosis or you have seen the movie The Exorcist recently, you have not seen projectile vomiting. True projectile vomiting shoots straight out several feet and splashes off the wall behind your head. I kid you not. A phenomenon hard to believe until you’ve seen it once.



Information researched and provided by member peridot babes

Thank You!

That was great for you to post! I think alot of parents don't realize what true projectile vomitting is..

Thanks for that tid bit of info

That was great for you to post! I think alot of parents don't realize what true projectile vomitting is..

Thanks for that tid bit of info

You can thank peridot babes for it.:iconbigg: She is the one who did all the work and I just stuck it here.

I agree that most do not understand the difference and tend to use the projectile description as a descriptor when not appropriate. Once you see it, you never forget it. That was the reason behind this sticky.

Thank you again, peridot babes for doing this.

Thanks for the research and the post. I know that the meaning of true projectile vomiting has been an issue for a couple of us around here. Hopefully this sticky will help people to better understand. Thanks again!

I am still confused about if my baby does or doesn't have projectile vomiting. She has had the huge belly wave before(very scary, vomits everything out of her belly(goes all over the floor usually, or onto me), I liken it to the Exorcist exactly. When this happens, I end up having to re-feed her for many hours on end, just to keep her fed properly, because everything has come out. She can be breastfeeding and suddenly everything will exploid out onto me.(It cannot go across the room because I am in the way of it) Is it or is it not projectile vomit??

How old is your daughter?

She is 3 and a half months. She had issues of gaining weight for awhile, but now they say she is alright. She has mostly stopped throwing up, luckily. She began throwing up at 3 weeks. She weighs 13 lbs.

If it's true projectile vomiting, it would continue to fly across the room if you weren't in the way. If it IS projectile, she should be seen by a doctor about it.

I would definitely call your doctor about it. :(

We did see the doctor, 2 times. She said it is normal for babies that have this problem.(You know, the nod and understanding,etc)...As long as the child is thriving, there is nothing done for it. For me it is hard to tell how far it would go if I was not in the way. :) Once it came out and only flew on the ground a ways(not across the room), but it scared my kitty so bad that he flew up into the air!

I don't know how accepted this opinion is but I was actually told by one of the peds in the practice I go to that it's normal for all babies to have a projectile vomit episode every now and then, as long as it's not a common or everyday occurrence.

My son has had the true projectile episodes exactly three times since birth to now, and it's true that it's a very distinct event that you will recognize and not forget. It's mind boggling that something with such force could come out of such a small little baby.

Curran was my puker and although I had seen my eldest son produce vomit that seemed to travel far we were in for a real treat with our middle son. He would puke buckets quite a bit, but there were many times (especially when his GI issues were running amok) that he could sit at the table and without warning puke with such a force that it would shoot up into the air and clear the table before landing on the floor well on the other side. This freaked me out big time as it is NOT normal. Normal vomiting is not like that at all.

What a great thread! Yep, there is definitely a difference, and some pediatricians are hesitant to believe a parent who claims that their child experiences true projectile vomiting, since the term is so often used incorrectly. (after one pedi witnessed one such event in his office and remarked, "wow, she caught some distance on that one!", then he believed me! :))

Ask for a sonogram! 2 weeks is when Jadce first started puking then puke turned in to puddles then projectile vometing. I was burping him on the edge or our queen size bed when he heaved then splat on the wall red puke (red because of pedialyte). I was so horified I almost called the ambulance to rush us to the hospital. Even thinking about it makes my stumoch turn and I am not one to grose out by puke. The force behind it was tremendous for a 3 week old baby.