toddler sticking fingers down throat and gagging/throwing up

[Anonymous]

this week, my 15-mo-old DS discovered that he can make himself gag by sicking his fingers down his throat. he's thrown up once, but that has not stopped him from sticking his fingers down there.

I don't know what to do. I guess he thinks it's fun/interesting, but it's horrible to see and can't be good for him. HELP!

[Anonymous]

Is it possible that he's seen someone else do this?

[Anonymous]

OP here... I can't imagine where, unless someone is doing it at daycare. he often does put his fingers in his mouth, but never this deep before.

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain. My now 3 1/2 year old son did this. Plus, he was very sensitive to certain food textures so he would also gag and vomit during dinner on a regular basis. He did outgrow the gagging himself behavior pretty quickly (the other took more time). I think it's a fairly common behavior at your son's age. He's learning cause and effect. He's probably not going to do any serious damage to himself. I would just try to catch him before he vomits so you don't have to clean up.

[Anonymous]

My nephew did this too, and got a lot of attention the first couple of times which I think made it more fun to continue. He did outgrow it, and I don't think it's that unusual. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP here... thanks, everyone. now I don't feel so nuts about it! what a strange little thing to do!

[Anonymous]

Totally normal for that age.

It's an interesting sensation for them - and if you just ignore it and let the natural consequence of gagging occur (and then look kind of puzzled, like "see? not such a great thing to do?") - it will abate on its own. Just don't overreact or show much emotion.

[Anonymous]

I think it will stop as long as DC doesn't get too much attention when doing it. DS experimented with it for a few days then just stopped.

[Anonymous]

My daughter did it and each time we shrieked and asked her to stop. She didn't. Asked my pediatrician about, he didn't think it was a big deal. He asked that we just ignore it. We now literally look the other way when she does it. Few weeks later, no gagging.