Infant Daughter Gags Herself

My daughter did that for several months when she wa younger. I put lime juice on her fingers (when it wasn't near nap time, you don't want that in their eyes). She hated the taste, and stopped after about a week. I hope that helps some.

my 7 month old used to do this but i think it was just getting over excited about having something to stick in her mouth. i started giving my daughter biter biscuits. they are great for chewing on cause they are rock hard and she can't bite off any to choke on, great for teething and are to big to get that far back in her mouth, so she can't gag herself with them. also her dr. said that as long as she keeps her food down for about 15 to 20 minutes she has already absorbed the nutrients so she was ok there. good luck i hope they help

S.

My daughter has had a love affair with her fingers since birth. We can't keep them out of her mouth. She went through a period of sticking her fingers so far down she would cause herself to either wretch or spit-up. Chances are really good that she is only losing a trivial amount of food and poses no risk of becoming malnourished. She'll eventually learn to not stick them so far back. I'm not sure if it's a behavior that can be discouraged easily. I think the distraction method that your trying is a very good idea. Good luck! -Les

My daughter did this from 8 months till about 18 months. It's about getting to know what they are doing and then as they get older getting a reaction from you. The hardest thing I had to do was tryt o idnore it when she was older, but once I did that and didnt play into it (like sticking finger up nose as well) she stopped. They will get enough to eat, You will know becasue she will make a fuss that she is hungry again!!! :)

My daughter went through this stage for awhile, and it IS developmentally normal (now my daughter puts her fingers in her ears and nose instead) - but really frustrating. Don't worry, her making herself spit up will not compromise how much nutrition she gets as long as she isnt throwing up all of her food at every feeding.
The habit probably began as developemental, but she may continue to do it because it brings her attention, almost like a "social cough" that some babies will engage in because it gets mommies attention. All you can really do is continue the no no bit, but TRY not to give her too large of a reaction when she does it (I know, it will be hard). Just clean her up: reactive neither positively or negatively, because at this age, attention is attention. It is a stage, and it will pass as long as you give the behavior as little credence as possible. And whatever you do, DO NOT PUT MITTENS ON YOUR CHILD! Mittens discourage a child from using their sense of touch, that can lead to developmental impairments - and it wont keep her from putting her hands in her mouth (it might even encourage her to do so more.

Good luck!

Yeah, my daughter used to do it all the time. I mean she would do it in the car seat, which I hated because I couldn't get to her to make her stop. Eventually i think that she realized that every time she stuck her hands down her throat she throw up anf stopped. Telling my daughter "no" and taking her hands out of her mouth never really seemed to help the problem.

M.
Well my experience has been that babies put everything in their mouths. Its part of the learning process. I do recall my son choking himself a few times doing the same thing. She will learn eventually that its not fun to do that. If it doesnt stop you may want to ask her doctor.
Have a good one
M.

Hello M.,

My daughter does the exact samething. I have also tried to discourage her, but to no avail.

I would love to hear of other's ideas, so I pray someone will respond soon.

M.

Have you tried putting mittings on her hands? The other thing is to get an aloe plant, cut it and rub the juice on her thumb. Aloe is bitter. That might work.

There is something that you can put on her fingers. I know it's like Bitter Apple for dogs. It has a really bad taste to it, which will in turn cause her to not put her fingers in her mouth. I had a friend who's daughter went through the same thing, and that's what she used....sorry that I don't know what it is called, though.

M.,

Make sure she is not eating too much. Kids have a way of fixing themselves if they are not comfortable. As far as the nutrition is concerned, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the intestinal tract to completely break done the food and take it to the stomach. Once it hits the stomach, the all the nutritional value as been taken out of the food.

Make sure that you use her palm to measure a serving for her. Also, if you have her on formula, make sure it's not the formula making her tummy upset.

Feel fee to call me if you have more questions.

L. C
Personal Nutritionist
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Hi M.. Don not worry about this. My son still does it sometimes. I think it might be because their back gums hurt them. Is she teething? Or trying to? Cause she may be wanting to soothe the pain and she tries by rubbing the back of her gums with her fingers. And that results in gagging. My son is still trying to bresk through the last two back teeth. We catch him doing it still. Good luck with this. Look at her gums and see if you see bumps on them. Those could be her teeth coming in.

My daughter did that a couple of times but once she threw up she stopped. I do not know what to do if she keeps doing it and throwing up? i think Kaitlyn just got scared and didnt do it. But i do know as far as being worried about loosing the nutrients the doctor told me just to make sure she continues to have the wet diapers so she doesnt get dehydrated. Hope this helps!

hello M. , my name is M. i have a 25 month old boy and ive been through that, i found that buying him a bounceroo they cell at walmart the come on a stand they dont hang it will distract her, with all the colors it comes with and she will focuse on trying to jump and that might help i know it heled me

My son did the same thing around that age and the doctor told me not to worry to much because it was just him figuring out what his boddy can do. Eventually us telling him no became a game so I just let him figure it out and after a few weeks of playing around with his gag reflex he moved on to something new.

Since she continues to do this, I would talk with her pediatrician's nurse to see if you should bring her in. It's possible that she has a health problem causing this and her putting her hand down her throat is just coincidental or the result of a medical condition. Also, spitting up often can result in burning of the esophogas. Or, as others have said it just may be normal, what she does. But I'd want to be sure.

My grandson spit up all the time and the dr prescribed an antacid. He still spit up but I think the antacid was to neutralize the acid so that his esophogas didn't get burned. And he grew up to be healthy in spite of it so apparently he didn't lack in nutrition. He has outgrown it. Seems like he spit up less and less as he ate more solid foods.

My son did the same thing. He's now 16 months old and stopped about 3 months ago. He usually only did it if something was bothering him, like a piece of hair in his mouth and he couldnt get it out. After I bottle broke him he stopped making him self throwup. But as the other mom's have said, its normal and they are going to test their bodies as far as they can push them.

Hope you get the answers you need.

J.

I am not sure of techniques you can use to discourage this behavior other than trying to recognize the signs ahead of time and redirect her when she is about to do it. I can say that my now 2 1/2 year old used to do the same thing - up until she was about 18 months, and she is healthy and hasn't seemed to be affected nutritionally. One theory we had was that maybe she felt uncomfortably "full" in the tummy and did that as a way of relieving that feeling, so we just tried to make sure she didn't stuff herself too full. However, she continued gagging herself periodically despite our best efforts. If you are too concerned, just give her doctor a call and get their take on her behavior. I hope this is helpful for you.

Sincerely,
J.

My son was doing that a lot around that age and still does every once in a while. We've found that its an attention thing, he'll do it if he does not have our undivided attention at meal time. Our doctor said to ignore it and if he spits up just clean it in a matter-of-fact way. I started just being more involved during meal times and it happens much less.

Hello M.,
My 5 month old son is doing the same thing. I believe it is because he is teething, and when he starts doing this its because he wants to chew on something to relieve the pressure or pain in his gums. Whenever I see him sticking his fingers towards the back of his gums, I put a little bit of teething gel on his gums to help relieve the pain, and then I give him a "soothies" pacifier. The "Soothie" is a brand that the hospital gave us, and he refuses to take any other type of pacifier. I've seen them at stores like WalMart and Target. It gives him something to chew on that can't choke him or gag him, but allows him to keep working on the teething. It was worked really well for me to keep the spitting up down to a minimum. Hope this helps!
S.

My son did that for quite some time. The best thing that helped us was using a pacifier, I would put that in his mouth and when it was there he couldn't get his fingers in there, nor did he try, he just relaxed with the pacifier. My doctor also said not to worry, babies do that.