Vomiting is common in children and can happen for a number of reasons. It’s usually due to an infection in the gut – gastroenteritis – and will clear in a day or two. Occasionally it can indicate something serious, but other signs also guide you to recognise this. Gastroenteritis can also cause diarrhoea – this may appear a few hours or a day after vomiting starts – and abdominal pain or cramps. Children are usually off their food, and they may have a mild fever. If it lasts longer than a couple of days or they are struggling to keep fluids down, it’s time to contact your doctor.

It’s really common for children to experience abdominal pain. Depending on their age, you may only know it’s their stomach that’s uncomfortable as they cry and clutch it or point to it. Even when older, it can be difficult for them to describe. Most cases of tummy pain tend to get better on their own without any treatment and usually just last a few hours or a couple of days. If the pain continues, it’s severe or you have specific concerns, you should speak to your doctor. Symptoms associated with abdominal pain can include vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation, increased temperature, poor appetite, cramps, tenderness when you touch the stomach and swelling of the abdomen.

A sore throat is a pain, scratchiness or irritation of the throat that often worsens when your child swallows. It may come out of the blue if they’re fighting a viral or bacterial infection, and they may also experience cold symptoms like a runny or blocked nose, sneezing, a fever, coughing, headache, and they may complain of pain on swallowing. You might be able to feel the glands in their neck are enlarged and these can feel quite tender to touch. If you look in the back of their throat, you might see one or both tonsils are large and red, causing the gap between them to reduce, and you may notice some white spots on the tonsils.

Seizures occur when the brain’s normal communication of electrical activity is interrupted. Seizures in children can occur for several reasons, and the first time they need to go to the emergency department for urgent assessment as to why they’ve had a fit. If no clear cause is found and they have two or more seizures, this is diagnosed as epilepsy.

Possetting is when your baby brings back up undigested milk after each feed. It's really common in the first few months of life. This happens because your baby's digestive system is not very well developed after birth. The valve between the food pipe and the stomach normally works to prevent the backflow of milk. However, as this mechanism takes time to develop, your baby may spit up milk frequently in the meantime. Coupling this with the fact that babies have little stomachs, and breastfeeding mothers tend to have an oversupply of milk at first, it’s easy to understand how possetting comes to occur. 

It’s common for children to get minor injuries to the hip, leg or foot that could cause them to limp – this might be a cut or bruise, a blister on their foot or a muscle strain or sprain. This can cause them to walk with a limp. While limping is not usually anything serious or that needs treatment, it’s important to look out for signs that something more serious is causing a limp, and get them to their doctor for a thorough assessment. A good starting point is whether there's an obvious injury – they might remember falling over or playing sports, or you may be able to see the cause. Minor injuries will not cause other symptoms, so look out for any fever, excessive tiredness or inactivity, warmth or redness around the hip, or pain that’s not improving after a week or so. Inflammatory conditions, deep infections, broken bones or developmental problems are serious problems that need specialist input.

Hair loss in children can be unexpected and worrying, especially if the hair loss is significant. Rest assured that it’s most likely to be temporary and is not usually a sign of anything more sinister. There can be a few underlying causes why children may experience hair loss, but it is important to be emotionally supportive and reassuring to your child, and avoid drawing attention to it unless they do. It can be distressing for them and cause a big dent to their self-confidence. For your own peace of mind, ensure that any of your concerns are reviewed by your family doctor.

A stomach bug causes vomiting and diarrhoea. It's medically known as gastroenteritis, and referred to as food poisoning, if there is a particular meal in the frame. The diarrhoea mostly resolves within 5 to 7 days and the vomiting in 2 to 3 days. Symptoms associated with a stomach bug include diarrhoea, stomach pain and cramps, nausea, vomiting, and they may have a mild fever or a headache. Generally children and babies feel fairly well with a stomach bug - they will still want to play and be their usual self, and they may keep their appetite, so trust your instincts if they appear unwell.

An ear infection can affect the middle ear, just beyond the eardrum, causing inflammation and pain, and this is called acute otitis media. Bacteria or viruses can cause the infection, but either way, it usually gets better by itself after about 3 days. The middle ear can fill with pus and the pressure can cause pain. Children can get ear infections due to a cold, flu, letting too much water in the ear after bathing or swimming, or constant allergies.

Diarrhoea is common in children and babies and normally resolves on its own. In its mildest form, it can be something new that they ate, such as something spicy, or teething in young babies. It’s common for them to pick up viral infections from food or from each other at nursery and school – these are usually short-lived and they recover within a few days. This is acute diarrhoea, and the main risk is dehydration. If it lasts longer than two weeks, it’s called chronic diarrhoea and is worth a discussion with your doctor, even if they appear well – toddler's diarrhoea is one cause of chronic diarrhoea. We will talk you through the different causes, when to worry and when to seek medical help.

A cough is the most common illness in a child. At times it can sound really bad but is not always a sign that there is anything very concerning. A cough can be caused due to viruses like COVID-19, colds or flu, bacteria like chest infections or pneumonia, and it can also be cause by allergies or asthma. Typically viral coughs last for 1 to 2 weeks, resolving on their own –they can last longer but are hopefully improving in that time and your child should be well.

Constipation can happen at any age but is particularly common in children. Let’s look at the science first. The food we eat goes through our stomach, into our small intestines where lots of the nutrients are absorbed, then into our large intestines (or colon) where most of the water is absorbed. After all these processes, you are finally left with stool. In the simplest terms, the less we drink, the harder and drier our stools are. So why does this matter more in children than adults? Well, as adults we have far more control over when we push out stool, and we accept that sometimes this can come with a bit of discomfort or pain. For a child, the pain of doing a poo is scary. They don’t understand it and they don’t like it. Therefore – like many learned habits at that age – they shy away from anything that causes discomfort and pain. This leads to a fear of going to the toilet, which leads to a vicious circle: more constipation, which, in turn, brings more discomfort.