4 yo son gets so worked up he vomits! help/advice pls!!!

[YankeeDoodle04]

Hi. Does anyone elses child get so upset he/she vomits? My son has always been easily sick, as a baby he'd often bring up his milk, if he's ever had a bad cough he will often vomit from that as well.

In the past 2 years (since he started pre-school) if he doesn't want to do something/go somewhere/or doesn't get his way, he will get so upset he will force himself sick. He usually does this by coughing until he vomits. Recently it seems he does it when he gets excited as well such as when he gets to play with friends or when he went back to school & saw all his friends.

I'm really at the end of my tether & have tried punishment & praise/cuddles to get him to stop. What has everyone else tried?

Thanks!

[YankeeDoodle04]

Thank you both so, so much! It's so hard at times. I just keep thinking what must his little head be thinking to go to this extreme?

It's also very hard to contain it when it happens on the school playground with seemingly the entire world watching; children saying ewwww; parents wondering why you've brought a 'sick' child to school.

I've started to bring small bags with me EVERYWHERE in case the feeling strikes him & will try not to rise to it in the future. At this point, I'll try ANYTHING!

Thanks ladies!!!

x

[Adept]

Yes, we had one of those! DS can still do it now at 10 although rarely does, but it was worse during toddler years. He has a hair-trigger vom reflex - can vom through coughing, or if he thinks he is feeling sick, or if he sees someone do something that he find disgusting, or if he smells something bad...

What we found worked for coughing or crying to the point of vomiting was to accept that it was going to happen. We started ignoring the behaviour (as long as it was safe!), and just giving him a bowl to be sick in. Then, afterwards, as monikar siad, dealing with it very quietly and calmly and not talking about it. After a few weeks of this, he started to do it less - as a strategy, it had loss it's potency .

Best of luck. I bet it isn't anything you've done to have caused this - some children just seem find more extreme ways than others to get their point across .

[monikar]

Yes, I have experienced this with DD who also has always been easily sick from birth. Same a you I tried everything, being cross, being understanding, everything.

I can only advise from the point of view of vomiting when upset rather than from excitement.

In the end I looked it up in a toddler development book and the advice there was to not pay it too much attention. So if your DS is working up to vomiting, rather than trying to talk him down, just let it runs its course (you may want to move him into the bathroom) and be very matter-of-fact about it. Don't get upset or cross (very hard when you know you will be cleaning up a pile of sick in a few minutes) and don't try and talk him out of it. When he has vomited, just clean him up and change him and then carry on without referring to the incident again.

For me, this worked, but it is difficult to carry through. Good luck, hope that helps a little.