She's not sick or running a fever, I'm positive of that. If she cries for more than one minute, I can pretty much guarantee she's going to throw up. I know she's doing it on purpose, because she stands there and opens her mouth and she tries to start gagging herself!
She went through a similar stage about 6 months ago, but it was nothing like this. She'd have to be crying for 5+ minutes before she'd make herself get sick and she never tried to gag herself on purpose. The problem, besides the obvious mommy guilt and mess, is that she automatically gets her way after she throws up.
Dr. Sears says "Highly sensitive and deep-feeling children seem most inclined to throw extreme tantrums," including, but not limited to, self-induced vomiting. His advice is to hold her until she calms down, but that doesn't really help me. Today when she made herself sick, I had just put her in time out for hitting me. Picking her up and holding her would only defeat the purpose of the time out, right?
So if any of you have some advice, I'm all ears, or eyes, in this case! I hate that gets herself so worked up to the point of puking. I am now open for suggestions!
5 comments:
Oh dear. I don't even know how I'd go about solving that conundrum. I guess maybe I'd still follow through with whatever you were doing with the hopes she'll realize that puking isn't going to work? I mean, she can't enjoy it, especially if it's not getting her anywhere. I dunno, that's a tough one.
Maybe just clean it up and continue w/ punishment or whatever you were doing, and act like she didn't even throw up. Hopefully she'll knock it off in a few days. I just wouldn't leave her alone while you're trying this method out, if you choose to.
Jeez, that sounds cruel! I totally feel for you right now! I don't know if I'd take my own advice and I hope you get some other suggestions, cuz I'm interested now. Good luck!
I also have no idea. My only thought is, how calm are you when she goes into time out? If she knows you are worked up maybe this is a response to outdo you??? I really don't know. Maybe if you could make sure to be extra laid back and calmly remind her what she did that wasn't appropriate and what the punishment is (of course, you may want to tell her first and then remind her as she tries to hit you).
I changed to the "calm" response approach when we were dealing with screaming and hitting walls. I just said that if she wanted to scream that was ok but she needed to stay in her room. Her tantrums got bigger for about a week but then the novelty of no audience wore off. If you think she's looking for a reaction then reducing the reaction (I know, easy to say) might be the best.
Really, I'm just guessing. I've never heard of this. I sure hope you find a solution that works.
Or you could have her help clean it up (which I'm well aware is more yuck in the short term and means she has to have a bath).
Oh goodness... I wish that I had some advice... I hope that this is a quick phase for you & her!
i have no idea what to tell you~
i would say clean it up and ignore it. she's doing it to drive you crazy...yes even our precious children do that to us.
this to shall pass. i promise!
Post a Comment