[OnTheJourney]

Anyone have a child the makes themselves throw up on purpose?

My DD, 14 months, will stick her finger down her throat and cause herself to throw up when she wants something/is misbehaving. Example: If she wants out of her high chair before we a finished eating, she will make herself throw up. If she wakes in her crib and decides she wants out NOW and I have not made it to her yet, she will do it. If she wants out of her carseat. Or if she is being disciplined, she will do it sometimes too.

The thing is, she has found it gets her results! I just can't leave her sitting in vomit. When I see her put her finger in her throat, I pull it out and firmly say NO. But I don't know how else to make this stop? Has anyone ever seen this? What should I do? Please Help...I have a queasy stomach...

[portlowski]

Wow! That is genius-level manipulation! My son pretends to have an "owie" when I speak to him strenly. It is pretty clear that he is lying because he will just scream out, "mom! I have an owie!" When I oput him in time out.

Is there any way you can allow her to sit in her vomit for at least a few moments before responding? It is hard at that age because cause and effect punishments are not always useful.

I hope someone here has a good answer for you.

[reetoreet]

My daughter has done this a few times. She hasn't done it in months though. Mostly she did it when she decides she doesn't want to go to bed. She will make herself throw up on her sheets and then she gets to sit with daddy while I change her bedding and stuff...so it works for her too. She doesn't stick her finger down her throat though....she just makes herself cry so hard and gags herself. It is intentional though. I don't have much advice to give you except that hopefully she will grow out of it. You are not alone!!!

[Magic_Hat]

As hard as it would be for me, I think I'd let her sit in it for a bit once or twice and just see if it does anything. Like you said, you respond immediately with what she wants so maybe if she doesn't get what she wants right away, it'll lose its effectiveness. ?? I hope for your sake!

[kara05kara]

Our second child, now 20 months, had a short phase of this. If I caught him starting to put his fingers in his mouth and stopped him, he would laugh & do it more! What worked for us was to IGNORE the attempts and vomit, and then keep him in the situation a little longer. I would set the microwave timer for 60 seconds so it helped me stay true to just letting him sit in it a minute. Then, I'd clean him up in a very matter of fact manner and NEVER mention the fact of what he just did. He did stop after about a week or two.

About the gross factor: Our oldest son had daily projectile vomit from an undiagnosed milk allergy, so by the time our second came to us I was so used to vomit I could have cared less. (The day he painted his crib & room with poop nearly put me over the edge, though.) Hopefully your toddler stops this soon!!!

Natalie

[momraine]

Oh yes, I have one of these! Except mine is 9! He learned this in an orphange and was able to make it work for him for a couple of years. He also doesn't eat and can days. Trust me on this, you want to nip it in the bud. Now, I make my son clean it up, but yours is probably too young. You need to not let her see you react. If you are at home during meals, first see if you can place the high chair a little away from the table. If you have a weak stomach, you will want to take some precations. Put paper under the high chair (there are some things they make for training puppies that will soak up a lot) since right after eating is when she will be able to throw up the most. Let her sit there until everyone else is done, then begin to clear the table and then you can get her down and put her in the bath, and then down for a nap - tell her that if she is sick she needs a nap. For the crib, get some waterproof crib sheets, and layer them with regular sheets. That way when she throws up in the crib you can leave her there for a few minutes and when you do get her out, it's easy to pull off the top sheet and waterproof sheet and you have the clean sheet waiting underneeth. Then you can toss the dirty ones in the wash. Put a trash bag under her carseat and maybe another one on the floor of the carseat. This will help make it easier to clean up the mess. The harder part will be the carseat. You might be able to line it with old towels or old sheets if you have some. Something else you can do is put disposable bibs on her during times you know she is likely to try it. (over the straps when in the carseat.
If you are really not up to it one day, put long socks on her arms (adult size), pull up the extra behind her back and safety pin them together. If you can use diaper pins they are safer and don't come undone easily. she will still be able to move just fine, but she will have a harder time getting her finger in her mouth.
Anyway, those things should help some, but the most important thing is to not react and do let her sit in it for a short time. If it's safe, make sure she does not get what she wants. For instance in the crib, you can leave her for a moment and then move her from one end to the other while you remove the dirty sheet, use a clean end of it to wipe her off or remove her dirty clothes and then leave her in the crib for five more minutes. This way she will learn that she does not get what she wants by throwing up, in fact sometimes it may prolong the thing she does not want.

[Quesita]

Liana has a gag reflex, and she often vomits when she coughs hard. Several times she has woken up from a cough vomiting. Of course, she gets pulled out of bed, gets a bath, gets pedialyte, gets to watch TV while I change the sheets, etc.

Sleep is our major problem, and at least once, maybe twice, (not sure if the second time was intentional or a cough) she stuck her finger down her thoat while she was in bed so that I would come and get her up, bathe her, fuss over her, let her watch tv, etc.

I was terrified. It seemed like the ultimate manipulation, and one that she would win every time.

I did explain to her that if she vomits tonight, that means she is sick tomorrow, which means no park tomorrow. No zoo. No friends. No playing. If you vomit you are sick, and you need to keep your head on the pillow tomorrow.

I don't know if I got through to her, or if she decided that vomitting is really icky and she just decided to try other tactics to not go to bed/get out of bed.

It has not happened again, and it has been about 10 months.

[Saya]

As much as possible, ignore it. Don't let her know it gets to you. I agree, don't do anything for as long as you can handle it - 30 sec, a min. Then clean it up with no emotion, and DON'T reneg on whatever it was she was trying to get you do to in the first place.

Gross, but this too will pass!

[redbonec]

JOurney,

IN addition to other great ideas others posted, I've not been through it but just wondered if, especially if you are able to predict it will happen soon--like mealtime--you can put on the bitter tasting stuff you can buy that deters thumb sucking and put that on her finger before she sticks it in her mouth? Then she would have a bad taste from doing that.

I hope this ends soon for you!

[nee18]

So happy you posted this! I thought our son was the only strange child out there that did this! Really, I could have written your post-it's so identical except he's almost 16 months. I don' have much advice. When I yank his hand out of his mouth and say 'no' he laughs. I just try to keep him distracted when he's in his high chair and I'm trying to clean him off so he doesn't make himself vomit. It seems worse when he's teething too. It drives me crazy, too, because there are days I WORK to get him to eat anything substantial and then he tries to puke it up! Ugh! They're so smart at getting what they want!

[OnTheJourney]

Originally Posted by portlowski

Wow! That is genius-level manipulation!

We all feel so proud when someone call our kiddo a genius...lol NOT!

Originally Posted by kara05kara

About the gross factor: Our oldest son had daily projectile vomit from an undiagnosed milk allergy, so by the time our second came to us I was so used to vomit I could have cared less. (The day he painted his crib & room with poop nearly put me over the edge, though.) Hopefully your toddler stops this soon!!!

I normally do not have a weak stomach, just today I'm not feeling well. My older son - projectile vomit for a long time. Oh and the painted poo! BTDT two days in a row - DD first, the DS had to the next day just cause he saw the rise it got out of me...but that is a whole other post!...

Thanks for the great support and suggestions! The crib one - moving her to the other end while I change it and leave her a few extra minutes may be effective.

I will definitely try to leave her a little longer before cleaning and not give her what she wanted in the first place.

redbonec - never thought of that. I wonder if I should get some of the ill tasting thumb sucking stuff and then when she starts putting her finger in her mouth, instead of the game she plays with me pulling her finger out of her mouth, I can just pull the polish out of my pocket and paint it on. It may stop her from following through??? I don't know.

If there are any more ideas - please share!

[OnTheJourney]

Originally Posted by nee18

So happy you posted this! I thought our son was the only strange child out there that did this! Really, I could have written your post-it's so identical except he's almost 16 months. I don' have much advice. When I yank his hand out of his mouth and say 'no' he laughs. I just try to keep him distracted when he's in his high chair and I'm trying to clean him off so he doesn't make himself vomit. It seems worse when he's teething too. It drives me crazy, too, because there are days I WORK to get him to eat anything substantial and then he tries to puke it up! Ugh! They're so smart at getting what they want!

posting at the same time!

Hang in there mama - we could start a really sick club! I too thought I was the only one.

[carlychan]

My 2 year old soon to be adopted little boy does this. He has been doing it for several months. It seems to be getting a little better now. He gags himself and tantrums until he throws up. I am pretty sure that they are both intentional. Since I have started ignoring it he has gotten better. I think this is generally a "normal" action for toddlers. If it continues for long I would suggest discussing it with your doctor.

[CaddoRose]

If you can, when she does it int he high chair, take her out, clean it up and put her back in the chair. If she does it in the crib, do the same thing. If you put her back in whatever place she was when she did it, then she will learn that it will not work to get her out of the situation, but instead, puts her right back.

I would also put her high chair away from the table and a cloth underneath it, so when she does it, you are not required to deal with it right away. If you feed her at a different time that the rest of the family so her actions will not ruin dinner for everyone.

Make sure she knows that throwing up means you are sick and need to be in the bed away from everyone without comfort toys too. (I make it as hard as possible for them to like doing it)If she doesn't get the desired result, she will eventually stop. She is getting a lot of attention when she does this so anything you can do to stop giving her the attention will help speed the process along to an end.

[sugarmuffin]

I have seen this when she doesn't like the food i am feeding her. I am so glad you posted this too.