# Down the windpipe instead of the gullet; then you voimt?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-windpipe-instead-of-the-gullet-then-you-voimt/242703>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 29, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-windpipe-instead-of-the-gullet-then-you-voimt/242703 "2004-04-29T17:36:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-windpipe-instead-of-the-gullet-then-you-voimt/242703/1 "2004-04-29T17:36:02Z")

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First off, thanks for answering my question via **search** about at what point my kid’s fever is likely to kill off brain cells (way past the point we took him to the ER, so I have to apologize to the spouse for ranting about killing off brain cells when it wasn’t nearly that bad).

So, my kid (9mo or so) tends to vomit when stressed. Leave him crying in the crib to go to sleep (intentionally or un, for example you had the monitor too low) and you will wake up to a barfed kid and evil smells.

So he’s been sick (see above note about temperatures) and vomiting occastionally, but only when stressed (okay, he did spit up earlier after trying to eat some rice, but it wasn’t a whole stomach contents barf). Some of the stressful things that have induced this include hours on end at the doctor’s office and most recently me squirting motrin (infants, to reduce fever) that’s made him barf.

My mom and brother insist it is physiolocially impossible for the kid to have thrown up from getting motrin down the wrong windpipe.

?

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-windpipe-instead-of-the-gullet-then-you-voimt/242703/2 "2004-04-29T18:58:55Z")

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Violent convulsive coughing can cause someone to vomit or at least have dry heaves.

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-windpipe-instead-of-the-gullet-then-you-voimt/242703/3 "2004-04-29T22:27:23Z")

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You should **really** talk to your pediatrician about this, and don’t be fobbed off with “he’ll grow out of it” excuses. There are a number of congenital malformations and abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract, some more serious than others, that cause unexplained (non-illness-related) vomiting in infants.

A simple upper GI series (a “barium swallow”) will tell your doctor if something is wrong.

[http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/radiology/uppergi/](http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/radiology/uppergi/)

> [@](#):
>
> An Upper GI or Barium Swallow are X-ray examinations of the esophagus and stomach with Barium. The Radiologist, assisted by the Technologist, studies the function of the GI tract under fluoroscopy by watching how the child swallows and how the stomach fills and empties. Radiographs are obtained throughout the procedure and usually one or two radiographs are taken at the end of the fluoroscopic part of the examination. Infants are given the barium through a baby bottle or, in some cases, a small nasogastric tube is inserted into the stomach for better control of the barium flow. This does not hurt the infant since he or she has not totally developed the gag reflex that is present in older patients. Older children drink the barium from a glass or cup.

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**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-the-windpipe-instead-of-the-gullet-then-you-voimt/242703/4 "2004-04-29T23:25:45Z")

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yeah, I figured it wasn’t completely impossible.

DDG, I’m not worried at this point about Gastro problems (though I had major ones as a child). He’s thrown up maybe a dozen times in his life, most of which were this week as he battles teething, a bacterial ear and sinus infection, and a random viral infection they haven’t any more info on except to feed him some pedialyte and stick to the BRAT diet.