Fasting times are down to a bare minimum. Some patients are actually allowed to have clear fluids up until two hours before an operation. We pay more attention to this in a Children's hospital, because adults can go without food and fluid for quite a long time, and they can tolerate being hungry. Whereas children don't tolerate hunger very well. Small infants, without food or fluid, can actually become dehydrated, or develop a low blood sugar.
Some surgical procedures are more likely to induce vomiting.
His colleague Dr George Chalkiadis, says women undergoing gynaecological procedures have problems with nausea and vomiting. There are several influencing factors, including components of the anaesthetic that can induce this side effect. Also the drugs used for pain relief. The traditional morphine, and morphine type drugs are very potent stimulators of nausea and vomiting. We are also using other new drugs, which are better for preventing or treating nausea, if it occurs.