Making himself throw up

DS has been enjoying making himself gag since before he was a year. He will put his fingers, straws, toys, etc as far as he can and then gag. He would then smile.

He seemed to grow out of it after about 4-5 months, but started up again recently. (He is now 19 months) Now, during breakfast, he started putting his fingers down his throat and gagging. He kept going and threw up everywhere.

Is this just a phase? What can I do to discourage it? TIA!

Re: Making himself throw up

Hmm I heard that you are supposed to sort of "ignore" those types of behaviors because if he doesnt get a reaction, he wont do it.
I would try that becuase my neice figured out that it made her parents VERY MAD and she then continued to make herself puke everytime she had a tantrum.....NOT FUN.

Re: Making himself throw up

Hmmmm... what can you do to discourage him... would it be innappropriate to tie his hands down??

You know I am only kidding. I don't have any experience with your exact situation, but DS went through a phase where he would make himself throw up at night after crying... which turned into us holding him until he went to sleep. Turns out he was manipulating us!

What is your reaction when he starts to gag himself? If you are making a big thing over it, maybe he is enjoying the attention it gets him? I don't know... just thinking out loud.

And how did you react when he threw up? I know for us, we ended up having him throw up, cleaned it up and put him back to bed as if nothing happened. He never did it again.

My only concern would be if he is putting objects in his mouth and making himself gag. It's one thing if it's just his fingers... he can't completely choke on those, but you don't want a toy getting stuck.

Bottom line is I am probably not helping... just letting my scattered thoughts possibly help you think of something!

Have you called the ped to see what they say?

Re: Making himself throw up

my DS does this but we ignore him and eventually he stops but ive noticed tha the only time he tends to do it is when he is teething and he tries to shove his fingers to the back by the molars and then he ends up gagging himself...

try to ignore as hard as it is not to say something maybe it will work...