My son is 18 months old, and since he was almost 12 months old, he's been making himself throw up when he gets angry. I've only seen this behavior in one other child (a 4-year old girl I taught at preschool), and I know that she was old enough to know better. If I lay my son down to sleep when he doesn't want to, he'll shove his fingers down his throat to gag himself, or when he's been trapped in his carseat for longer than he'd like, he'll cry so hard he'll vomit. Has anyone else had this problem? I've been trying to stop it every way I can think of, but my options are limited. I can't let him sit in vomit, and I'm worried that one of these times he'll choke on it. I consider myself a pretty strict (but of course, very loving and affectionate) mother - my son is NOT allowed to throw temper tantrums in public or at home, and he knows that when I count to 3, he needs to stop what he's doing or face the consequences. The problem is that method works for every situation but the bedtime and carseat. The funny thing is that when he does go to sleep, he sleeps all the way through the night, most of the time for 11-12 hours!
Your responses are appreciated,
Meg
M., I have an 11 year old that came to live with us when she was 8 and did this same kind of thing. However, the techniques we used would not work with an 18 month old and so I did a net search in hopes of finding an answer that would help you. The following page tells about this very thing. http://www.raisingkids.co.uk/1_4/TOD_emo11.ASP
Hope this helps.
A friend of mine's son also did this at a very young age. She talked to her doctor who told her to a way to stop it. The doc said he was doing it for her attendtion. When she went into the room at night she would comfort him. She said this just reinforsed the problem. She told her to go into the room, remove him from the bed just long enough to change the sheets and put him back to bed. No speaking. Put him into bed give him a kiss and leave. Soon he would realize she was there if he needed her but that it was time for bed not play. She also said in the car to get some toys that were only car toys. he could have them only in the car and then he would have something to pass the time in the car. She thought it sounded extreme but she tried it. She said it only took a few days and he would calm himself down and got to sleep. I hope this helps. L.
Hello M.. When my now 4y/o was just over one she would cry and scream when I put her to bed until she got a fever and becaqme sick. I have not experienced a child making themself vomit, so I don't know if this will be helpful or not. With my daughter I gave her tylenol when she started throwing a fit so that she didn't get sick. Best of luck!
Hi M.,
Well, my children have not done that but my girlfriend's son did. He would puke whenever he got really upset about anything, not necessarily throwing a fit. Then again, he is just a puker by nature (as is my friend), if he gets an ear infection, sore throat anything...he pukes. I think that I would call the pediatrician and ask if there are any kinds of behavior modification tricks to help you calm him down. Does he really "know" that he is making himself puke, or is he just pushing his hands down his throat in frustration and then just happening to puke? i don't know, good luck to you. thats pretty gross...;)
~L.
