my 7 year old says he feels sick EVERY bed time - but is not sick

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My son is 7, 8 in March and has always been very strong willed and a brilliant actor when it comes to ailments. A year ago he was sick one night through over eating chocolate at a chocolate fountain (I know, bad parenting). Over the last year he has started saying that he feels sick, and lately this is becoming EVERY bedtime, he has now started eating less and less at tea time, coz he says it'll make him sick. Last week he was sick, but I think thats because he drank lemonade too fast, and this has only heightened his 'sick' fear. He is quite small for his age, and really needs to be eating. Anyone else going through this... any advice please.

bumping for you, as I feel for you (my DS has a bit of a sick-phobia, probably inherited from me ) but have no useful advice!

What kind of attention is he getting for this??? Maybe just completely ignore it when he starts (my dd wouldnt eat for fear of choking to death and the hv said to completely ignore it but give lots of praise to people who were eating. She was 7 at the time and it totally worked, within 2 days she was back to normal eating and it was never mentioned again. HTH

thanks, the attention he gets depends on my mood / tiredness levels to be honest. some nights I will soothe him and lay in bed and cuddle him, other nights I tell him to get on and go to sleep and walk away, other nights I've made him stand in the bathroom by the toilet. he did this for 2 hours one night. however, he has to get up for school the next day and I can't have him standing in the bathroom for ages.

When Im tired I feel ill. It started in primary school (cant remember what year tho I was prob p5 or so) On rare occasions I have actually been physically sick, even now at 24!

What does he do just before bed? Is it a very relaxed time or is he running around? I try avoid doing anything remotely energetic, when possible, from about 7pm onwards, or else I feel ill by 9pm.

Actually I'd say just before bedtime isn't as restful as it should be, as he has swimming lessons / football training on a couple of nights and coz I want him to have lights off by 8pm there is no time for the bath/reading routine.thats interesting that you say you feel ill when you're tired.
Just like to say Thank you to everyone who is taking an interest and helping me here. This is the first time I've used this site and its great to know I'm not the only mother who feels that they're not doing the best job in the world.

I would say this is your DS worrying about being sick. I used to do this as a child. Every night I would tell my parents I felt sick and I believed I did. They used to give me a glass of Andrews to settle my tummy and I remember how much better it made me feel. It was only years later that they told me that they actually gave me a glass of fizzy water, which had a wonderful placebo effect. That doesn't really give you any answers. Unfortunately, I am now 42 and still have a phobia of being sick and have a wonderful imagination for feeling unwell, other than that I'm quite sane

what a fab idea. I will get some fizzy water. yesterday when he came home from school I told him that I'd spoken to the doctor and was told to give small meals and have a restful time before bed. so he had the smallest meal in the world, (he ate it all !!!) then we had to go to swimming lessons, usually its then straight to bed, but we stayed up, I read to him then let him lay in bed and read to me and himself for 1/2 hour. again he said he felt sick, but I said I needed to cook dinner for mum and dad, then I'd be up, when I went up later, he was asleep. lets hope he / we keep it up.

HMMM my DD is also feeble small for her age and a non-eater and we don't do ANY after school actitvities because to be blunt she isn't strong enough. She does swimming/dancing lsessons on a Saturday.

I like the fizzy water idea - perhaps he could see you dissolve one of those small chalky penny sweets in it (like parma violets?) and say it is a tummy settling medicine?

I would also let him have a special treat supper in bed after a tiring day with lessons - perhaps a bit of toast of dry cornflakes or whatever he likes and you could sit in bed with him and read to him while he eats that for a quiet 10 minutes?

Good luck!

My DD kept saying she felt sick at bedtime. It stopped when all she got was hard-hearted Mummy saying "there's a bucket, now GET INTO BED"

I would also say his is worried about being sick. I have had a phobia of being sick since i was a small child, if i was sick after eating something (as a child) i would refuse to eat that food again and get anxious about what time of day i ate.

I'm really glad to see other mums have the same concern. Nearly every night my son gets up age 7, telling me he feels sick. I used to cuddle him, now I get a bowl and leave him to it as he never is. As neither approaches have worked im going to try this fizzy water medicine. I feel stupid calling the docter for this.
This post is old so I'd love to here if your child got over it as such x

DS2 had a phase in Y1/2 of feeling sick at school, and we eventually worked out that it was due to dehydration. Make sure he's drinking enough (fizzy water trick should help with this too ).