Child vomiting

davyjose

My girlfriend's daughter (just turned 3 in March) vomits almost everytime she gets upset. To be honest it seems as if she does it on purpose, e.g. when she doesn't want to eat her dinner or go to bed, she cries, starts coughing and then pukes up, and its problem solved. Has anyone else experienced this? It's starting to distress my Girlfriend.

dame

My daughter did that about a year ago (I think it was about then, she'd have been 2 1/2 ish). The first time she was having a tantrum and I think it took her by surprise when she vomited. A couple of times over the next few weeks when she was complaining about something or other, not really a tantrum, she'd remember the vomitting episode and start trying to vomit. We could see her and knew she wasn't really sick so we just told her sharply to "stop that now, there's no need for that" and then ignored her. She gave up on it after a few attempts.

I'd say if you and your girlfriend tell her to stop it and then ignore it she may give up. The attention is what keeps a thing like that going. That and the result (ie a delay or abandonment of the activity she didn't want). If she succeeds in throwing up, then I'd clean it up without making a scene and then without delay insist on bed or whatever caused the incident anyway.

If it kept on happening at bedtime then I'd calmly tell her that there was no time for a story now after that. The next day telling her if if she wants to have a story she'd better get ready might be enough to stop it before it really starts.

If dinner is always a problem then maybe think about whether she's hungry at that time or has she eaten a snack or something recently. There's no point in trying to force-feed a child who isn't hungry.

Kids can get cranky when they're over tired or over hungry so maybe think about having dinner a little earlier (even half an hour) and/or bed a little earlier, if you think either of those might be the cause of the tantrum.

Good luck with it.

Nevyn

If you are convered take her to the dr or the health nurse to be checked out and once ye are happy that it is not something physical I would suggest that you break her of that habit and the emotional blackmailing as quickly as possible.

Femelade

My daughter went through that stage too. She would work herself up so much she would vomit or else (usually) start empty reaching...
I'm sure your girlfriends daughter will grow out of it if its not made into a big deal..
Take her to a public health nurse if worried..