My daughter is 1 year old and recently started experimenting with sticking her fingers down her throat and gagging herself. I tell her "No, no!" and try to distract her with a toy, singing songs, or playing games. Tonight she was gagging herself while I was cooking dinner. So I did the usual "no, no" and gave her something to play with while I continued cooking. Next thing I know she's puking all over herself! Even after throwing up she still kept trying to gag herself.
I am a huge puke-o-phobe, so it totally grosses me out. Is this normal behavior? Is she just experimenting to see what will happen or for attention? Anyone else's child do this? I don't know what else to do to get her to stop. Ugh! So gross!
Thanks for the replies. I never even thought that it might be teething. She is teething right now, so that makes sense. I woke up this morning to hearing her on the monitor gagging herself. Why don't they teach you about this stuff in those parenting classes you take while you're pregnant?! =p
My son started doing that at 1 or little later, and still does it from time to time and he is 2. My cousins son did the same thing. It could be that she is teething, I also tell my son NO NO, I would give him teething tablets and also distract him with a toy and it helps. You can get the teething tablets at Walgreens or Walmart, the name is Hylands Teething Tablets.
Hope that helps
First it's putting everything in their little mouths. Then it's seeing how far it will go. There were days I actually thought my boys would get the entire slobby little fist into their mouths, but they didn't. This is perfectly normal and as with anything if it causes a reaction they are going to see if it happens again. You can't take her fingers away from her, so let her work through it. She probably didn't like puking very much either, so this may help to curb how far she shoves those little hands. Just rinse her off while fighting not to gag yourself and pray that she gets though this phase quickly. You may also try handing her a toy that's interesting, but to big to put down her throat.
My daughter used to do that too. She eventually grew out of it. It feels weird to them and that's why kids do it. Good luck with her!!!
My 13 month old has been doing it for a few months as well, although its finally slowing down some. I think she does it, because she can. She generally does it when we are eating dinner, and all of the other kids laugh, so it seems to be the entertainment effect. We tell her no, she smiles, looks at the other kids, and does it again. So now, we all just try to ignore her. It seems to be working. Now, its throwing food on the floor, and her looking up to see who's watching her.
My daughter did this too and it drove me crazy. It was so gross and I would also tell her no ect. and she would smile after I made a fuss about. Then I stopped acknowledging it at all and she stopped doing it. I'm not sure if she stopped because I was ignoring it or if she found something better to do like put her fingers in her nose.
Erin made me feel a lot better! I thought my daughter was the only one who quit gagging herself so she could switch to shoving her fingers up her nose. Maybe you should start preparing for that phase! I also quit making a big deal when she gagged herself. She threw up a few times but then I guess she figured out it wasn't much fun. Now we have to boogie-check before we hold her hand to make sure we don't get any surprises. Good luck!
