[jules17]

I am a new mommy, so I coming to the experts. In the past few weeks, Sam has discovered that sticking his fingers in his mouth makes him gag. He laughs when he does it. (eeewww, i know)

NOW he is making himself throw up by gagging himself at naptime. Two days straight of vomit everywhere. I read that you should show NO reaction whatsoever, as that is, at least in part, what the behavior is about. Like it may have started as "Oh, I didn't know my hand and mouth could do THAT," but could easily morph into, "I get Mommy's attention when I do that."

Have any of you dealt with this? Could you offer me some assistance?

Many thanks!!

[saranbr]

Jules,
Amalia used to do that in the car, though not to the throwing up part. I would reach back (she was in the middle facing forward at the time) and pull her hand out of her mouth and give her a firm "no". Seemed to work for that situation, but I'm not sure about nap time. Perhaps clean it up, put him back down and after a day or two (hopefully that's all!) he'll realize that it is an exercise in futility?

[dianneemily]

I have no advice, but will tell you that Elsa sticks her fingers/hand as well as spoons down her throat until she gags. She hasn't actually vomited yet, but she does gag. I don't know what to do about it. We don't make a big deal about it, but we do take away the spoon, or try to grab her attention to something else. Not sure what to do about him doing it at nap time.

[Tavidad]

We have had the gagging part, but not the throwing up. As it wasn't really too worrisome to us, we didn't pay it much attention and he gave it up pretty quickly. I would guess that at some point, the fun of throwing up would lose its appeal, and he would stop on his own. And as long as you're not doing something really funny (jumping up and down shrieking comes to mind ), and just calmly cleaning up, then he wouldn't care to continue.

[dilgra]

DD has done this a few times too and thinks it is funny. I think she liked my shocked reaction to it so now I just try to distract her with something rather than make a big deal about it. Hopefully it is just a phase that will pass, then they will move onto something else equally disgusting

[nmp0618]

My niece went through that phase, too. Making herself vomit after she finished her bottle. Luckily, it passed rather quickly.

[ana-mom]

Ana does this too - she has only thrown up once.

We also pull her fingers out of her mouth and tell her 'no'.

Now that her first year molars are coming through she seems to be doing it less and less.

[KJones5]

Our DS did this on a regular basis. I talked to the doctor about it and he told me it was a phase and while it's gross this phase will pass. He was right!

[WVUMom418]

Both my girls went through this phase, as hard as it is you just have to ignore it because the more attention they get from it the more they will do it. It ended after a couple of weeks.

[mommytoEli]

no advice...but ewww gross....isn't being a mommy fun?

[iammonikasmom]

Our daughter did this shortly after arriving home. At the advice of our doctor and we ran this by a therapist as well, the advice was to totally ignore it. Believe me, hard hard hard. We were to take her out of her crib, into the bathroom, clean her, and put her back to bed and not say one word. Once she realized that all she got out of it was a bath, it stopped. She is now 4 and all over it. It was a short lived phase. Good luck. Nancy

[bls0708]

Hi Jules,
My son has been home for a little over a month. He is now 15 months old. He did the "gagging" thing for the first 2 weeks or so he was home a lot. It absolutely was attention-seeking behavior. I tried the "No manos en tu boca, por favor" route, but that only brought laughter. (I don't know --- maybe it's my terrible accent. ha ha).

This mainly happened when he was in his carseat and wasn't getting much interaction/attention. The gagging seemed to work, so he did it a lot. Then I "ignored" it. That made him angry. I have to say, though, the fun wore off once no one cared anymore. He hasn't done this in at least two weeks.

He didn't vomit, so ignoring was not too difficult. I don't have any advice in that area. Good luck!

[TyAva]

Ava does this too. Also at nap time. It is such a pain to have to wash all of the bedding so often! We also give her a bath and get her cleaned up - but she really loves bath time. So we do let her have any toys during "clean up" bath so that way it's not as fun for her. She has done this since we brought her home, but more frequently lately. I think it has to do with her teeth. It seems like she does this alot right before a new tooth breaks through. Good luck and know that I am doing laundry as often as you!!!

[jules17]

You guys are sooooo incredibly helpful!! THANK YOU!!

I do think he is getting ready to get some new teeth, so maybe that is it??

Who knows, right?

Just keep trying and keep washing!! LOL

[SKL]

OK, here's an ignorant person chiming in. I have never seen this happen so I don't have experience. But I have a thought.

If it's associated with teething, why not try to do something about his teething pain before he goes down for his nap?

My mom used to wet her finger with cool water, then rub on the babies' gums with her finger, where the teeth were getting ready to come in. Sounds mean, but it actually produced relief, because the pressure was only occasional / momentary and replaced chronic pain. Of course there are other, more modern teething remedies, all of which are less messy than vomit. I would give one of them a try.

Good luck!