2 year old making herself throw up - eeek!

I have an almost 2 year old daughter.
Over the last couple of months she has started a new behaviour that creeps me out: she puts her whole hand in her mouth until she gags. She will cough and then do it again. Until she vomits. She usually only vomits up a tiny amount. But still, this isn't normal, is it? And she does look like she achieved what she had aimed for when she finally vomits. not llike this was an unpleasant result iykwim.

The reason this freaks me out to no end is because I have suffered from various eating disorders, including bulimia for most of my adolescent life. My DH has actually asked me once, after DD vomited: she hasn't seen you do it, has she? I had only been waiting for him to come to this conclusion. But I have not made myself vomit in many many years. And i don't think she has ever seen anybody throw up. None of us has had a stomach bug since she was born. The last time I had to vomit was when I was in labour with her. DH believes me. But I can't blame him for making this connection.

Anyway, does anybody know why she could be doing that? And how can I stop her?

Another thing she has been doing over the last few months is play with her belly button. I know this is normal. But she takes it to the extreme. She has her finger in her BB almost constantly. it's getting cold now, but her midrif is always exposed. she seems to find it comforting. When she was smaller, she always played with her earlobes when she was tired. now it's the BB. She constantly fiddles with it and it's often red raw. She actually digs 2 fingers into it and trys to pull it out. I think I might justt have to bite the bullet and put singleet suits on her for a few days to break this habit. I know there will be tears and tantrums, though.

Thanks for listening/reading. In the most part, she's just such a joy. Really outgoing and inquisitive and very loving. Buut these 2 things bother me a bit.

Sasa
xx

Oh Sasa - I don't have any advice, I'm sorry. Just wanted to say I am thinking of you. My mum used to look after a little girl that would stick her finger in her nose until it bled (not picking it, actually sticking it in there for the purpose of it bleeding). There was no reason for her to do and although it was absolutely horrible, not much they could do. She just eventually stopped - I think it was to recieve attention for doing it. Just you saying that she 'looked like she had achieved what she aimed for' reminded me of this little girl. Can you talk to your MCHN or doctor maybe? It would be hard to stop her because I can imagine it would be difficult to explain to her that it's not a nice thing - she is a few months older than my DS but I'm not sure he'd understand 'talking about it'. Fingers crossed some of the other girls can give you some good advice!

Sasa, I don't have kids, so maybe not the best to comment but I just wanted to say perhaps (and this kind of grosses me out to be honest :D) your daughter likes the feeling of being ill, or the attention that she gets? Kind of like throwing a tantrum or "being naughty" in that she knows you'll interact with her if she does it because it pushes your buttons, IYKWIM?

Maybe if you concentrate on giving her attention at other times (and I'm not saying you don't, maybe your daughter just feels this way 'coz they always want more of a good thing ;)) and focussing on when she's behaving in a way that you want to encourage, she might grow out of it? But you might need to talk to a professional about this behaviour too, I don't think it's normal, but my first impression would be that it's an extreme attention grabbing exercise.

With the bellybutton thing, perhaps you could get her a "snuggle" to hold instead?

This post probably didn't help much, just wanted to let you know that you weren't posting to the void :)

Our DS does it too (also 2 years). He does it more since we said bye bye to the dummy so I guess he likes things in his mouth. Try not to freak out as she will figure out that it isn't a nice sensation and you dont want to reinforce it by giving her a lot of attention over it. At her age. it probably has little to do with a learned behaviour and more to do with the sensation of it. She will most likely get bored of it. Big hugs. The belly button thing is probably self reinforcing. Ie she has irritated it and it gets a bt sore or itchy so she does it again, until it becomes a habit. Covering it up would probably do the trick. We have taught DS if he has an itch then he should pat the spot instead of scratching. He starts off scratching then remembers and starts to pats. Before that he would just keep scratching.
Hope this helps!

My DD started doing this about a month ago too (she is nearly 2). I am so glad I'm not the only one with a strange child :p I think it is very normal and my DD didn't even start it in reaction to anything, she just discovered she could do it one day and keeps on doing it.

She doesn't just use her hand though, she also uses eating utensils and she thinks it is soooo funny. Everytime she does it she looks around for someone to give her attention. We are just ignoring the bahaviour and hope it stops. I do take spoons away from her if she is using those to make herself gag, but apart from that, I just try to distract her and don't pay any attention to the behaviour.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts. It makes me feel sooooo much better knowing that my DD isn't the only one doing it. I think, if it wasn't for my own "history" it wouldn't freak me out nearly as much.
Having said that, I do not think she does it (the vomiting) to get attention. I know the kind of look she gets when she does something naughty to get my attention. This just happens sort of quietly on the side. I don't give her lots of attention for it either. I just ask her "why do you do that" and clean it up. Not that she ever answers me. She's not very verbal yet, so agree, talking to her about it doesn't do much.

With regards to the Belly Button. She has her favourite Teddy and takes him with her everywhere. she also has countless other cuddly toys and a baby doll that all get her attention. She also has a dummy, but I only give her that when it's about time to go to sleep. But that's just the thing, she can be sitting on my lap, while cuddling her teddy and sucking on her dummy, and she still has to have her finger in her BB.
So far, all I've been doing is to kep her fingernails very very short, so she can't do too much damage. Yes, she definitely plays with it more when it's sore. Especially when there is a little piece of skin hanging off (that sounds horrible, it isn't quite as bad as it sounds). But in the past, we have managed to clear it up completely, and she just starts all over again. I'm sure she will just grow out of it. This is more annoying than anything. I'm not really worried about it.

MrsCricket, Thanks for sharing the story about the little girl who made her nose bleed. That sounds like a very unpleasant thing to have to watch, too. By the way, your son shares the same birthday as mine. And the same number of sevens in the day (just that mine was 1979). He wasn't also born at 7am, was he?

Townsvillegirl & Krysaliss, thank you so much for sharing your own experiences with this. It really helps to know I'm not alone. Let's hope our kids won't do this for long. How often would you say your kids do this? I think for DD it might be twice a week or so. I hope she won't start doing it more often than that.

Sasa

Oh, Townsvillegirl, I just noticed that your DD was born in May 07 just like mine. And we're both preggers again. Just that you have been way busier than me, having pushed out another bub in between. ;)

You're welcome :)

My DD does it every time we get in the car - but doesn't vomit everytime she does it - just keeps gagging over and over again. She also does it at random times during play time.

The reason I think DD does it for attention is because she does it and then looks at us for a reaction but I don't think she is being naughty or anything, she just likes the sounds her own body makes (like coughing and sneezing as well) and wants us to enjoy it with her.

I don't give her attention because I don't want to encourage her by letting her think that we also enjoy it. Because I don't think she is being naughty I just try to get her to do something else with her hands rather than giving her a consequence. I usually find distracting her gives her a reason to stop.

I have watched a Triple P program of kids that make themselves vomit at bedtime (not that I think your DD does this, I just thought it was interesting) because it means mum comes in and the lights get turned on while the vomit gets cleaned up and the kid was getting to stay up with the company of mum. It scares me to death that DD might one day start to do this as a way of getting out of having to go to bed. Probably not particularly relevant to your situation but it is another story of a 2 year old who makes themselves vomit . . . I was actually quite horrified by this when I first saw the program.

Must be something about the month they were born then ;)

I had DS 12 and a half months after DD but I am not quite as pg as you this time. You only have a couple of months to go . . . that's exciting! I feel like I have ages yet (but it really does go quick).

So, this seems to be quite a common thing.
I know what you mean when you describe her looking around to check whether you have witnessed this "cool thing" she has just done. DD does this too with some things. But not with the vomiting. Which is why I don't believe she does it for attention.

Wow, that would be annoying having to change the sheets all the time cause the kid vomits in the bed... Not even mentioning how distressing.

Sasa

I really hope that it is a short phase. I am not a big fan of vomit :sick:

I am a sympathy spewer so I would be terrible if DS decided to go through the same phase.. SS - he was born at 10.37am so another 7! I like having so many 7's - it feel lucky :D