Lucy Piper: Hello there, I am Lucy Piper. All kinds of things can make your child vomit. It could be heat, different diet, or illness but how would you treat it. Paul Sheehan from St. John Ambulance is here to talk us through vomiting and diarrhea with myself and mum Palvi. Now Palvi, I know your little he suffered quiet badly with diarrhea, what happened then?

Palvi Karia: He did, about fifteen, sixteen months he was. One morning he woke up with a foul smelling watery nappy. I thought it was the one of; actually it went on for two weeks, but for no apparent reason.

Lucy Piper: Is this normal Paul?

Paul Sheehan: Well, this is not uncommon for babies and children to actually have diarrheas, as you already had said. There could be changes in diets something they have eaten but they actually going on for two weeks is in itself kind of uncommon in that sense. And the important thing really is just if your own children get with then seek help, which you obviously did.

Lucy Piper: This is something Palvi she just this type of thing, just let nature take its course and it will pass?

Paul Sheehan: Most of the times they just, the safest thing to do is actually let it run its course but what you do need to take very good care of is ensuring that the child doesn’t become dehydrated. So making sure that they are taking regular sips of fluids to keep replacing the fluids just they are taking, sometimes the doctor might suggest a treatment to them.

Palvi Karia: In my case, it was just to keep him rehydrated because they can actually find the bacterial cause of everything like that but for me I didn’t know what point I should take it more seriously and go to the doctor, I left it a few days and then didn’t know.

Paul Sheehan: In most cases if you as I say if you just rehydrate and just let him take the sips of water and let him rest that would usually do it. The thing with this really is just to use a little bit of common sense. If it goes on for too long when you are becoming concerned then certainly seek medical help but one of the big dangers with losing lots of fluid is the condition known as shock and shock in itself can be quite dangerous. So, if you are at all concerned then I should get seek medical help.

Palvi Karia: What would I, what would happen if he is in shock?

Paul Sheehan: If it was shock, he would see changes in the color particularly if it is dehydration; you will see dryness around the eyes and on the skin. They would become listless, they would become tired, sleepy, difficult to stay awake, perhaps even confused that type of thing.

Lucy Piper: What would have brought on something like shock in the tiny baby, a little child?

Paul Sheehan: Loss of fluids, anything to do with loss of fluids will result in shock. In very simple terms medical shock is a lack of oxygen going around the body and the reduction in fluids will have the same effect.

Lucy Piper: So Paul is there a difference in the seriousness of vomiting and diarrhea or should baby treat the same?

Paul Sheehan: Really, you are going to treat both the same. But in the case of vomiting of course you got the danger of choking on the vomit and but in both cases you are loosing fluids very, very quickly. So, dehydration is a very serious subject.

Lucy Piper: I always told that the vomiting was more serious than diarrhea because it’s passed through the system and not been rejected straight away. I always thought it wasn’t quite as serious, is that not the case?

Paul Sheehan: No, no. The danger in both cases is the loss of fluids which in itself can lead to shock and as I said shock itself can actually be very, very serious and shock in very simple terms is a lack of oxygen going around the body which could be either through losing blood or just losing fluids.

Lucy Piper: How long should you leave your child is vomiting, diarrhea, how long should you leave it before you go to doctors or call an ambulance.

Paul Sheehan: Well, again it depends on the seriousness or the conditions how frequently they are vomiting and but what you will be looking for is for the signs of shock. So, you can think if through dehydration you are going to see the skin will take on absolute like a bluely greyish color through lack of oxygen. The skin will be looking dry, they themselves could be coming disorientated, confused and if you see any signs of just that, then now is the time to be get him to hospital.

Lucy Piper: Thank you very much Paul. Say to summarize, try to avoid your child choking on their vomits, try to find out why there is a problem, keep them sipping water and lastly if you are worried use your common sense and get help.