Albert Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I now know exactly what he meant.
Lately Little Miss has been purposely using her fingers to gag herself. Every chance she gets the fingers are digging at her tonsils.
This wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t gag herself to the point of blowing chunks. She’s only puked once (luckily) but we want to discourage the behavior. And seeing as how tying up your baby is frowned upon, I am stuck finding a different solution.
The hard part to figure out is the cause. Why does she feel the need to gag herself? Is she teething, sore throat? Or is it a habit while tired or a grab for attention?
After a quick search I came across a post at baby center that asked “how can I get my toddler to stop gagging himself?” Looks like we’re not alone – there are kids out there just as crazy as Little Miss.
Here are a few tidbits from the post:
- It’s an attention grabber. Ignore it.
- It’s normal for a teething child.
- To help deter, coat their fingers in lemon juice.
- It’s a new sensation and one hell of a response. From their body and us parents!
So it looks like she is normal – for now. We are going try and ignore her to see if it passes on its own. I personally don’t think the lemon juice would do the trick. Once she figures out her fingers are a lemon flavored lollipop we’ll never get them out of her mouth!
Anyone else had/have this issue? What do you suggest?
Photo courtesy of: Red Betty Black
No related posts.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Haven’t had this issue yet, but I remember a friend’s daughter did the same thing. Thanks for sharing the tips. Might try the lemon juice for my son – 3 years old and a nail bitter (doesn’t say much for his home life, eh
Naomi recently posted..Sharing
[Reply]
Thanks for the tips, While I haven’t experienced this one yet, its great to have more tools in the tool box to deal with these types of situations…. And don’t worry I’ve Googled many weird things my 2 yr-old does!
BTW, I love the new look here.
Eric – BHF recently posted..Top 5 Things Every New Husband Should Know
[Reply]
Naomi,
Nail biter at 3 years old? Can’t say I’ve heard that before! At 3 you should be well past the finger gagging stage anyways!
Eric,
Thanks for the compliment. It’s good to know about these little quirks before hand so you don’t get caught with a sucker punch of weirdness!
[Reply]
Yeah Chris, but I also have a one year old girl that has read the book on how to stump mom & dad, so i won’t be surprised when she starts putting spoons down her mouth to see what happens
Hopefully your Little Miss moves from this soon!!
Naomi recently posted..Sharing
[Reply]
Hey Chris!
So I just did a google search on this topic because my 11 month old is doing this exact thing. She sticks her fingers down her throat, gags herself and will sometimes throw up!! Your post made me feel better about it. I notice that you posted this last year. So can you tell me, did the ignoring help? I would love any advice you can offer me. I really worry when she does this and often wonder why it is happening.
Thanks so much, Katie
[Reply]