1yr old vomiting at bedtime

[mrsmorgy]

My 1yr old son has, for the last 3 nights in a row, been sick when we take him up to his bedroom to get ready for bed. We usually get him ready for bed, brush teeth etc then give him a cuddle before putting him in his cot to let him settle himself to sleep. This is what we have done, successfully, for months. The last week, however, has been a different story! He has protested like never before, despite the fact that he is clearly very tired. resulting in, last night and the night before that, him being sick.
Tonight, I thought I would see if staying with him in his room might help. After a couple of minutes he began retching and (I am convinced!) made himself sick!
Does anyone else have any experience of this? I am absolutely convinced he did it deliberately, just watching the way he started to retch until he was sick.
My husband thinks I'm mad and that hes too young to be cunning enough to do that but i'm really not so sure! Any ideas anyone? xx

he's not got a cough or cold has he. My DS (nearly 2) keeps being sick at bedtime the last couple of weeks and its due to his cough

Nope. For once (!) he actually doesnt have a cough or cold. If he did I'd be far less convinced it was deliberate :)

Has he just turned 1 or is he closer to 2? My ds1 used to make himself sick when he had tantrums/ got upset as he had worked out it got him attention and worried us. I'm not saying he was deliberately manipulating us, just that he got in to the habit of doing that. We started to ignore it as he got older and just clean him up without a fuss if he was sick. He eventually stopped.

Hes 13months. The first couple of nights it appeared to be down to him being worked up, but tonight however, i'm sure it was deliberate. I think you might be right about the attention thing. In the past if hes been sick, we've (naturally) been worried about him and let him spend the evening cuddled up on the sofa with us!
Its just that my DH is convinced hes too young to be that clever!
I didnt make a fuss tonight, just cleaned him up and put him back in his cot before saying goodnight. He cried for 10mins or so but was asleep before I knew it :)

My dd used to make herself sick for attention when having tantrums, up to about 3.5 years. She would start deliberately trying to retch on purpoe

DH used to chuck a bucket in say "go on then, be sick in that" and then we would leave the room with no attention given to her at all

It worked after a bit

Ah glad he went to sleep in the end. As I say, he's not old enough to manipulate you on purpose but probably just made a connection that sick = lots of fuss. Sure he'll stop doing it if you carry on as you are

You did the right thing. My DS did exactly the same at exactly the same age. On advice from the health visitor, we simply left him to cry (and make himself sick!), cleaned it up with the minimum of fuss and without talking to him and laid him straight back down. This carried on for a few nights ( I think we had to clean up about three times one night!) but he soon got the message that it wasn't going to get him anywhere, it stopped, and he has never done it again!

Could he be developing separation anxiety which is causing him to get upset at being left alone? I doubt he is manipulating you.