To not want dh to tell dd 6 to stick her fingers down her throat?

[cathyearnshaw]

6 year old dd came home from school yesterday with a temp and headache. Not too bad. She came through in the night saying she felt sick but then wasn't. Second time dh went with her and told her to stick her finger down her throat and she was then sick- although apparently not a lot.

Now to me if a 6 year old needs to be sick they will be. It's only as adults we might not be able to let go. And it's paving the way for bulimia if it's something she can easily do.

Dh says I'm being neurotic and it's best to get it out. It just feels wrong to me!

He sounds like a proper spanner. Not healthy.

I agree with you. I would never suggest to any one to stick their fingers down their throat! Apart from anything else I have never been able to do it and as you said, if she could easily do it it may be one step closer to bulimia in the future.

I'm speechless. He should NOT telling her to do that. For starters it's distressing enough being sick at that age without having to ram fingers down your throat. I'm really really stunned any adult would think this was ok.

Very bad idea, the body knows when it needs to be sick and doesn't need any help. In fact, this is monumentally stupid.

Completely inappropriate. She has a temperature, a headache and a dicky tummy i.e. some kind of bug/virus. Being sick isn't likely to make her better (or only temporarily).

She is not an adult who can reasonably know if puking is likely to cure and may takes steps to hurry it along if deemed appropriate.

Your husband was being impatient and selfish.

Well that's what I think too just not sure if I was being precious or not...

But from responses it seems not.

She was spectacularly sick last week with a stomach bug so it's not like she can't. Now just hot to try and convince him it's a bad idea

What an awful thing to have a 6 year old do. Did he demand she do this or did she do it unwillingly?

Well apparently he suggested it and she did it. She said she felt very sick and the sick wouldn't come. But I do question whether she even knows how sick she feels at 6.

How to convince him? Tell him that bodies know when they need to be sick. Forced vomiting can cause strains/damage to teeth and throat from acid and bile/damage to throat from nails. More vaguely, it's not really a behaviour to encourage. Also, nausea is a medical symptom that should be noted, not necessarily hidden.

My mum used to give me warm water with salt in to gargle if I felt sick.
I'm not advocating this.

I agree that adults might need to use the finger down the throat method but I' wouldn't think this was appropriate for a child. He probably didn't think it through

Blimey! The medical advice when something poisonous has been swallowed is categorically not to force the poisonee to be sick - forcing sick up is way more harmful.

Yanbu- in fact you seem to be under reacting! What the hell was he thinking? It's never advisable to force yourself to be sick, if it's a virus the sickness is a symptom and not a vehicle for expulsion! Poor dd

Ok well I asked him not to tell her to do it again and he said I'm talking out of my arse.

Well when she decides to do it on a wet Wednesday in January so she doesn't have to go to school he can take time off work to deal with it... Right?

Feeling sick from an illness isn't the same as feeling sick from, for example, too much booze as an adult where a quick finger down the throat and throw up will cure all.

YANBI

No, HE is talking out of HIS arse.

There are not many occasions when I would tell one of my children to ignore the other parent on something, but this would be one of them. Tell her to ignore her dad on this. It is dangerous.

I have never heard of anybody that I've met in RL making themselves be sick by putting their fingers down their throat, except two women who suffered from bulimia.

There simply isn't a medical situation that needs you to force yourself to be sick. If you need to vomit you will, if you don't then you won't.

Your DH sounds like he is being a stubborn arse about this one. I suspect that when she gets her first hangover in a decade or so, he'll be recommending a hair of the dog and thinking he is being helpful.