The best thing to drink when you’re vomiting is nothing at all, at least for the first few hours. After that initial rest period, small sips of water, ice chips, clear broth, or an oral rehydration solution are your safest options. The goal is to replace lost fluids without triggering another round of vomiting, which means starting slow and building up gradually.
Why You Should Wait Before Drinking
Your stomach needs a grace period after vomiting. Reaching for a glass of water immediately feels instinctive, but introducing anything too soon can irritate an already upset stomach and bring everything right back up. Give yourself at least one to two hours of rest before attempting any fluids.
When you’re ready to start, suck on ice chips or take very small sips of water every 15 minutes. This sounds painfully slow when you’re thirsty, but your stomach can only tolerate tiny amounts at first. If those small sips stay down for an hour or so, you can gradually increase the volume.
The Best Fluids to Start With
Clear liquids are the standard recommendation for nausea and vomiting because they’re easy for your stomach to process. The simplest options are plain water, clear broth (chicken, vegetable, or bone broth), and diluted fruit juices without pulp like apple or white grape juice. Tea without milk or cream is another good choice, especially if it’s lukewarm rather than hot. Even flat ginger ale or cola can work, though let the carbonation settle first by stirring it or leaving the can open for a while.
Ice pops made without milk or fruit pieces are a surprisingly effective option, especially for children or anyone who struggles to keep sips of liquid down. They deliver fluid in very small, cold amounts that tend to be soothing.
Replacing Lost Electrolytes
Water alone isn’t enough if you’ve been vomiting repeatedly. Every time you throw up, you lose sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes your body needs to function. Plain water replaces the fluid but not those minerals, which is why you can still feel weak and dizzy even after drinking plenty of it.
Oral rehydration solutions (sold at most pharmacies) are designed specifically for this situation. They contain a precise balance of salts and sugars that helps your intestines absorb water more efficiently. Sports drinks are a step in the right direction but contain more sugar and less sodium than ideal for someone who’s actively vomiting.
Coconut water is a natural alternative worth considering. It contains about 160 mg of potassium per 100 ml, which is comparable to commercial electrolyte drinks, along with roughly twice the sodium. It’s lower in sugar than most sports drinks and tends to be gentle on the stomach. Clear broth is another good electrolyte source, particularly for sodium.
Ginger Tea for Nausea
Ginger has a well-established track record for reducing nausea. Most research points to roughly 1,000 to 1,500 mg of ginger per day, divided into multiple doses, as an effective amount. In practical terms, that’s about 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger or up to 4 cups of ginger tea spread throughout the day.
To make ginger tea at home, steep sliced or grated fresh ginger in hot water for five to ten minutes. The key is to sip it slowly. Drinking it quickly, even though it’s meant to settle your stomach, can actually increase nausea. Let it cool to a comfortable temperature first. If fresh ginger isn’t available, two small pieces of crystallized ginger (about 1 inch each) provide a similar dose.
Rice Water as a Recovery Drink
If your vomiting comes alongside diarrhea, rice water is a simple remedy that does double duty. The starch from the rice helps bind loose stools while the liquid contributes to rehydration. To make it, boil 1 cup of rice in 2 cups of water for about 10 minutes until the water turns cloudy, then strain out the rice and sip the remaining liquid once it cools. It’s bland enough that it rarely triggers further nausea, and it provides a small amount of easily digestible calories when you can’t tolerate solid food.
What to Avoid
Dairy is one of the worst choices during active vomiting. Milk, yogurt drinks, and smoothies are harder to digest and can curdle in an acidic stomach, making nausea worse. Acidic juices like orange or grapefruit juice can irritate your stomach lining. Anything with caffeine (coffee, energy drinks, strong black tea) can increase stomach acid production and speed up dehydration through its mild diuretic effect.
Alcohol is also off the table. It irritates the stomach lining, worsens dehydration, and can interfere with your body’s ability to recover. Even beer or wine, which people sometimes consider “mild,” will make things worse.
Heavily carbonated drinks are tricky. While flat cola or ginger ale can be soothing, the full fizz of a freshly opened soda introduces gas into an already irritated stomach. If you want the flavor, pour it into a glass and let it go flat first.
Signs You’re Getting Dehydrated
Vomiting becomes dangerous when fluid losses outpace what you can replace. In adults, the warning signs of dehydration include dark yellow or amber-colored urine, urinating much less than usual, extreme thirst, dizziness, confusion, and fatigue. A quick test: pinch the skin on the back of your hand. If it doesn’t flatten back immediately, you’re likely dehydrated.
In infants and young children, watch for no wet diapers for three hours or more, a dry mouth, crying without tears, sunken eyes, rapid heart rate, or unusual crankiness. Children dehydrate faster than adults because of their smaller body size, so the window for intervention is shorter.
If you can’t keep even small sips of fluid down for more than 12 hours, or if you notice any of the signs above, you likely need professional help to get fluids replaced through other means.
A Practical Timeline
The first two hours after vomiting: rest your stomach completely. No food, no drinks. If your mouth feels dry, you can rinse and spit without swallowing.
Hours two through four: start with ice chips or tiny sips of water, about a tablespoon every 15 minutes. If that stays down, slowly increase to slightly larger sips.
Hours four through eight: introduce clear liquids like broth, diluted juice, ginger tea, or an oral rehydration solution. Continue taking small amounts frequently rather than large gulps.
After eight to twelve hours: if fluids are staying down consistently, you can try bland solid foods like plain crackers, toast, or rice alongside continued fluid intake. Keep avoiding dairy, fatty foods, and anything heavily seasoned until your stomach has been settled for a full day.