What is celiac disease? Celiac disease is an immune disorder that affects the gastrointestinal tract. Gluten protein found in wheat and rye causes an inflammatory reaction inside the small intestine, which may result in diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping and distention. It can affect growth in children. Blood tests can provide clues to the presence of celiac disease, but looking at tissue samples from the intestines is the only accurate way to diagnose celiac disease.

What is inflammatory bowel disease? Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a general term for any inflammatory disease of the bowel, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

What is Crohn’s disease? Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract. It can occur anywhere from the mouth to the anus. This inflammation causes breaks in the lining in the GI tract. The common symptoms are abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss.

What is toddler’s diarrhea? Toddler’s diarrhea is a chronic nonspecific diarrhea of childhood. It can last more than two weeks. A child can have five to ten watery stools per day. It affects children who are from six months to four and five years old. These children are otherwise healthy and growing and developing normally. There is no detectable medical cause for this type of diarrhea.

What is encoporesis? Encoporesis is also called soiling, which is accidental leaking of stool into one’s pants or underwear. This is often seen in children with chronic constipation.

What is an anal fissure? An anal fissure is a crack or tear in the anus. They are usually self-healing.

What is gastroesophageal reflux? Gastroesohageal reflux (GER) is an effortless spitting-up of the stomach contents due to a weak muscle valve at the top of the stomach. This is a common problem for newborns and will usually resolves without treatment.

When is reflux a problem? Reflux is a problem when it leads to poor weight gain, irritability, or the breathing in of stomach contents into the lungs. Treatment with medication is usually all an infant needs but in more severe cases surgery may be necessary.

What is an umbilical hernia? An umbilical hernia is a small hole in the muscle wall around the umbilicus or “belly-button” which can balloon out when there is increased pressure in the abdomen. This type of hernia can resolve without treatment by age two. Sometimes if the hernia is still there after two-years of age minor surgery may be necessary to repair it.

The concern with not repairing this type of hernia is that it may eventually allow a loop of bowel to slip through which may result in an emergency surgery.

What is an intussusception? An intussusception occurs when a portion of the intestine folds back on itself, much like a collapsing telescope. This can cause crampy abdominal pain, vomiting and bloody stools. Medical intervention is usually necessary to resolve the problem.

What is a Meckel’s diverticulum? This is a small pouch or sac-like appendage off the small intestine. The pouch is remainder of tissue that was formed during development of the digestive system. The lining of this pouch is similar to the lining of the stomach and produces acid. This can irritate the pouch, causing bleeding and eventually a hole in the pouch, allowing intestinal contents to drip into the abdominal cavity.

What is pyloric stenosis? Pyloric stenosis is when the lower portion of the stomach is too tight to allow liquids to pass through into the small intestine. This is caused by a tight muscle band at the pyloric valve (stomach outlet).

It usually occurs in infants between two weeks and two months of age. The infant will have projectile vomiting. Surgery is necessary to correct this problem.

What is ulcerative colitis? Ulcerative colitis is a disease characterized by chronic recurrent ulcerations or sores in the colon due to an unknown cause. Symptoms can include cramping abdominal pain, rectal bleeding and bloody, mucusy stools with pus.

What is an umbilical granuloma? An umbilical granuloma is a piece of tissue that remains on your baby's belly button after the umbilical cord falls off. Rather than healing up and becoming covered with skin, a bright red stalk of tissue remains on the belly button. It has a grainy surface and produces sticky mucus. Without treatment, it could ooze and cause irritation for several months.

What is a vomit? A vomit is throwing up your stomach contents from your mouth. Vomit consists of half digested food or liquid that is mixed with your digestive juice that exits through your mouth. It could be anything that you have eaten.

Why do we vomit? Vomit (emesis) is a body response to protect us from swallowing or providing shelter to toxic substances. Our sight, smell, and taste serve to protect us from eating substances that might be bad for us. They can also help our bodies expel germs that may harm us. So if you find something looks bad or smells awful or tastes horrendous, it probably is. Most episodes of vomiting are due to a viral infection of the stomach.

Vomiting can occur due to several reasons. Most commonly it is due to infection. Sometimes, vomiting can occur due to overeating or even eating the wrong combination of food. Thus, anything that upsets the stomach may cause vomiting. Vomiting may not be related to food all the time. Sometimes, we may get dizzy while sitting in a roller coaster, riding a plane or traveling in a ship and we may land up vomiting. This is known as motion sickness.