My 14-month old girl has started gagging herself. The puts her fingers in her mouth and dry heaves. It is the strangest thing. She does it randomly, and it doesn't seem to be linked with hunger or overeating (she has done it before a meal, after a meal, during diaper changes, in the car..). It's not a daily behavior, but she does it several times a week. She has successfully made herself throw up a small amount on a couple of occassions (once at Target!). I am hoping this is just a weird phase, but am wondering if any of you have experienced this before? She has a routine Dr.'s appointment tomorrow, so I will be asking her Dr. as well. Thanks!
My son did it too. It scared me! But, the phase has past :-) BTW, he also got his molars at the same time.
My son did this too. It passes. I did find it was around the time he was getting his back molars. Check her mouth and see if she has any new teeth.
My little girl did the same thing! I tried not to make a big deal out of it so that she wouldn't do it to get attention. It did freak me out. I would try to distract her and give her something to do with her hands. She's just 2 now and I haven't seen her do it in months. I bet yours will be the same - it will just go away. But I definitely woudn't reward it with big reactions!
My daughter went through this phase as well. I spoke to her doctor and he said they're just learning about their body. Kind of a "If I do this (stick my finger down my throat) will I feel that feeling (gagging) again?" thing. I didn't make a big deal out of it and it passed pretty quickly.
If you think she's not harming herself, let her keep doing it until it gets old. If you think she's hurting herself, and you need the behavior to stop immediately, I feel a time out is appropriate whenever a child is doing something harmful or destructive. After she has had one or two time outs, she'll understand what they are and most likely you won't have to give them any more, you'll just have to say "if you do that again you're getting a time out" and she'll stop.
totally a phase... she will stop eventually.
I have 3 kids and 2 of them did this. They thought it was funny to get some kind of reaction out of me. It didn't last more than a couple months before they stopped. I really wouldn't worry unless it was going on often and she was vomiting up a lot food.
My 14 month old son does this as well. It is so crazy huh? Well I randomly mentioned it to my dentist the other day because she also has a young daughter and she said that he might have teeth coming in. He is also drooling like a madman so it made sense. =) Could this be a possibility for your daughter?
It's a weird phase. My 14 month old girl also does it every now and then. It might also have something to do with teething.
Let me know what your doctor says.
