Sounds trivial but it's driving me crazy!

[harrietlichman]

I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous but it is getting worse and worse and is driving me mad with irritation, and I am starting to worry about it.

My DS is 6 and has recently started making a revolting farting noise with his mouth (not blowing a raspberry, kind of out of his cheek, IYSWIM) - he does it all the time, when he's wallking round the house, watching TV etc, and it is the most revolting and irritating nosie imaginable.

I have asked him to stop (and then told, and finally shouted at him about it) but he says he can't help it. I wish I'd asked his teacher if he was doing it at school but he has broken up now. My dh doesn't think it's a problem, but he only sees him for half an hour at bedtime at most, and doesn't realise how much he does it. I am not sure if he is just choosing to do it or if he really can't help doing it - I just don't know how to get him to stop - do I ignore it and hope it's just a phase he's going through? If anyone elses dc's have done anything like this I would love to know how you got them to stop...

You've asked him in the most forceful way. Now you should remove priviledges - screen time and sending him to his room. He will soon get the message.

Unless it's a tic - then no amount of removing screen time will help. Distraction can put a new behaviour in place of an old one, but it's not a guarantee. A GP would probably say ignore, but I'm not sure that's best either. What I would suggest is dropping the anger (difficult I know!) as this isn't going to help if it's a tic and probably not even if it isn't

My dd2 (now almost 12) has had any number of tics like this over the years, some of them have been infuriating. I tried to get her to stop with some of them in the early days but realised quite quickly that the pressure of trying not to do them was making them worse

I had to make a conscious decision to ignore them. I actually think that she's on the very (VERY) mild end of tourettes and I really didn't want to make it an issue until we got the point of it being impossible to ignore. Fortunately they've lessened over the years, although she still has some facial tics when she's stressed - and they're a good indicator of her state of mind which can be very useful!

I'd say that if you can ignore the cheek farting noise you'd probably find that it stopped eventually with minimal confrontation.

I know the sort of noise you mean - kind of filling his cheek with air and then forcing it out. It's quite satisfying to do!

But it is impossible to do while you're talking, so perhaps if it's really driving you crazy then you could get him to talk to you.

My ds has had tics like this he couldnt help them. We were advised by pead to ignore them because everytime someone said anything they became worse. He is a lot better now and we only see them when he is really stressed. Does there seem to be any pattern to when your DS is doing it ? Is he bored or stressed or tired?

Thanks everyone - I am concerned he can't help doing it (so felt horrible when I got cross with him about it) He doesn't seem to have any particular pattern to when he does it, just randomly when he's walking about or sitting drawing/watching TV etc - I am going to monitor it over the next week or so and see how it goes. Really appreciate all of your comments, thanks again x

Have you tried doing it back to him? He clearly likes it, so could you turn it into a game? That way it's more 'purposeful' and he might stop doing it on autopilot. Try 'farting' a tune! I know it's a revolting sound but boys do like that!