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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

HELP, DS and his throat clearing habit

37 replies

lollipoppi · 25/05/2014 14:41

Please help, it's driving me insane

I've not said a single word about it to him, I don't want to make it an issue, but honestly it's constant, like every other breath.

I have to keep walking away.
I've offered him a drink, tried distracting, asking him questions to get him to talk to me, but he just goes straight back to it

Any tips? Am I doing the right thing by ignoring it?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Original poster

lollipoppi · 25/05/2014 14:41

He is 3 btw

OP posts:

Questionsquestionsquestions123 · 25/05/2014 14:44

Could it be to do with nerves? I've no experience of this, maybe speak to the GP?

Chocotrekkie · 25/05/2014 14:47

Hay fever ? My DH does this constantly until he takes antihistamines.

Dd1 is bad for it too..

Selks · 25/05/2014 14:53

It could be a tic. You're doing the right thing not drawing attention to it. Most tics are transitory, children usually grow out of them.

However it could be throat / nasal related if you've noticed any other symptoms - runny nose, sore throat etc. Does it sound as if he is actually clearing fluids when he does this?

Original poster

lollipoppi · 25/05/2014 14:55

He isn't clearing fluid, he doesn't have a cold or anything.

He does have asthma, but he isn't having any difficulty with his breathing at the moment.

OP posts:

HermioneWeasley · 25/05/2014 14:57

Agree with Selks - it may be a tic

Original poster

lollipoppi · 25/05/2014 15:03

Please tell me they grow out of it within a few weeks were on week 2 already

Thinking about it maybe it is asthma related? He was on his inhalers for 6 weeks up until last week, maybe the throat clearing is him trying to breath and now it's turned into habit?

OP posts:

TheScottishPlay · 25/05/2014 15:04

I took DS to the GP at that age for the same reason and was told it was due to hayfever
Do you live near any fields of oil seed rape? It is at it's worst for hayfever symptoms just now.

Original poster

lollipoppi · 25/05/2014 15:09

Had to google that one we love near lots of fields but not with any oilseed growing.
Maybe hay fever then, that would explain his recent asthma flare ups!

OP posts:

Original poster

lollipoppi · 25/05/2014 15:09

*live

OP posts:

ppeatfruit · 25/05/2014 15:17

I'd cut dairy IIWY and see how he goes, ds has hayfever and everytime he stops dairy he gets better, it may well help his asthma too, it cured ds's.

PJ67 · 25/05/2014 22:30

Hi. My sons have tics and you are doing the right thing by ignoring it (if it is a tic). I know how you feel however as my son had a sniffing habit and I found it really hard and had to keep walking away or I think I would have gone mad. In my experience they tend to last about 4 to 6 weeks. New tics sometimes appear but it may just go away. My oldest grew out of them and my middle son seems to be growing out of his.

Iswallowedawatermelon · 25/05/2014 22:32

I would be suspecting some sort of food intolerance. Wheat or dairy.

ThreeLannistersOneTargaryen · 25/05/2014 22:34

It's transient tic bingo at our house and DD is the transient tic queen. The throat clearing one has been with us, on and off, for a good while now. It drives me potty!

ThreeLannistersOneTargaryen · 25/05/2014 22:36

As PJ67 says, they do grow out of them. Doesn't stop it bring very irritating at the time, though. At least they don't tic while they're asleep (unlike a physiological cough), so you (and they) get a break.

nestee · 25/05/2014 22:42

My ds did this for a while too, its a tic and perfectly normal. He knew he was doing it, and it annoyed him too. It went away eventually. Then he developed a cough one for a while. Grrrr. Its horrible to think it may be nerves or something but I think it's just a normal part of development.

Original poster

lollipoppi · 26/05/2014 10:53

Good to hear I'm not the only one finding it irritating, I feel quite bad being annoyed with it!
I might take him to the doctors for allergy testing anyway as it will help us rule out some triggers for his asthma especially if it has anything to do with hay fever

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 26/05/2014 10:57

My DS has this at about the same age. It went on for a few months and really niggled at me. I took him to the docs who said it was probably a tic and there was nothing really to be done about it.

It went away on its own.

ppeatfruit · 26/05/2014 11:28

The runny noses, coughs, throat clearing etc. are not normal; It's the casein in milk; it's a glue (that's used actually in the manufacture of glue).

Humans are not calves, interestingly cows don't drink milk to stay healthy. So after the age of about 1 yr. most humans could do well without dairy. In fact my GD is the healthiest child in her class and she is a vegan.

Original poster

lollipoppi · 26/05/2014 13:18

Ppeatfriut, but surely dairy is part of a healthy balanced diet in children

OP posts:

LeBearPolar · 26/05/2014 13:24

DS has had a whole series of tics and I think throat clearing was one of them - can't remember to be honest. He has grown out of most of them now - he's 11 - but still has one where he shrugs every now and then. You have my sympathies - it's infuriating - but nothing but time and patience helps, I'm afraid!

Standinginline · 26/05/2014 13:27

I have no advice ,but had to read this out to my parents as they constantly got wound up by my throat clearing. I don't know why I did it ,and I sometimes do it now, though not as often. Very interesting about the hayfever though as I've always had problems with sinuses ,"colds" etc... And wondering it was that ...

CustardFromATin · 26/05/2014 13:41

If you do cut out dairy just make sure you try it again later to be sure that was the cause - we see kids whose parents have cut out whole food groups (often dairy, but also glutens, different vegetables, meats), but actually the supposed symptom was just one of those childhood things that cleared up on its own... But because it all happened at the same time, it seemed that the diet was the problem, so in the meantime the child has been on a restricted diet and often the parent has been run ragged trying to find good food alternatives, be the snack police at birthday parties and the like, all totally unnecessary.

Hopefully it is a transient tic and will go away! ds1 got a whole string of them from throat clearing to blinking and it was very unnerving at the time, though at 4 we haven't seen any for a while.

ppeatfruit · 26/05/2014 14:28

lollipopi SOOOO many children have runny noses etc. there's protein and obtainable calcium in all green and coloured vegetables (the calcium in milk is not able to be digested efficiently by most humans because of our lack of a particular vitamin ). I have no allergies or health probs and i haven't eaten dairy for many years it's not hard to find different food groups. Also the Japanese and Chinese nations never touched dairy, now they have all the asthma type allergies that the we in the west have WHY? because they are having dairy.

The huge dairy industry has done it's brain washing very well hasn't it? In Flora Thompson's book Lark rise to Candelford she talks about the late Victorian DCs who didn't have milk and suffered no ill effects at all.

HermioneWeasley · 26/05/2014 14:30

Ppeatfruit, ok I'm going to bite. How do you measure that your daughter is th healthiest in her class?

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