please help. making himself gag

My 17 month old son seems to get great pleasure out of making himself gag, whether it be by sticking a toy in his mouth or putting his fingers in his mouth. He does it, gags and laughs hysterically all the while he has tears streaming down his face.

I hate that he does it, because often its when he is in the back of the car and I think he is choking on something.

Is there a reason why (other than the entertainment value) he does it do you think? I am thinking attention but at that age

please help its horrible to hear

My 14 month old just started doing it too! I've heard it is a sign of teething.

I have never heard of that, and have no idea why he would be doing it, but by the sounds of it he just finds it amusing seeing as he is laughing when he does it, perhaps at the sound rather than the sensation?? I guess I would just be discouraging it with a firm "No, that hurts Samuel" and hopefully he will eventually get the picture.

How do you react when he does it?

My niece did this from 12 months old and it was purely for the reaction value. My sister used to freak right out and fawn all over her and tell her to stop and make a big fuss of her and my niece is very cluey....so she cottoned onto it very quickly.

If he is doing it on purpose I would totally, utterly, completely ignore it. Don't even flinch ;)

Once my sister started doing this my niece grew out of it.

my 2 year old went through a stage of doing this, and it was right after i fell pregnant with DD and had terrible morning sickness, so i think he saw the attention i got from spewing all the time! we just ignored it though and he eventually stopped.

My DS used to do it around the same age, he sometimes still does! I think maybe an attention thing. I would try to ignore it. If DS does it now I tell him to stop being silly, he usually laughs which is how I know its just for attention