4 year old keeps making herself sick

[helenpw]

Hi, I'm new to this website so please bear with me. I'm at the end of my teather and just don't know what to do, I've been reduced to tears and just feel like I've tried everything I can to help this situation. My 4yo has always been a fussy eater, so I have given her the foods I know she will eat for mealtimes, hoping that as she gets older, she will try more foods. I wish the fussy eating was the issue here, but its actually worse. The past week, its been a struggle to get much food into her (maybe half a slice of toast for bkfast and a bite of a sandwich followed by a tiny fromage frais for lunch) Then at about 4pm she starts to complain and cry of stomach ache and straight away says "I'm gonna choke, I'm gonna be sick and need the sick bowl" She gets herself so worked up until she is eventually sick. We have tried every single thing we can think of to calm her down but nothing works. Then of course, she won't eat dinner as says she will be sick. We took her to a&e yesterday because of the pain and after the doc checked her over, we were sent home as they couldn't find a problem. I'm starting to think it could be all in her head? We can tell just by looking at her that she's losing weight and we are so concerned. Can anyone offer any advice or has anyone been through this? I don't know what to do.

Your GP should be your first port of call - some tests to rule out anything going on with her system that may make it uncomfortable to eat. If there is nothing obvious then maybe a referral to a child psychologist?? I have no experience at all but if your child is losing weight then definitely needs to be seen sooner rather than later.
Can you make an app for Tuesday??

what do you do when she claims she is going to be sick?

it might be something as simple as ignoring the behaviour if you reduce the attention food gets it is less of a control issue

sounds like acid after four my son used to get that he ended up on gaviscon he put on weight after that but before he was skeletal and in constant pain after a certain time

My son is like this he has basically reflux (aged 8), I do think there is a bit of a psychological element (in that stress makes it worse) to it but is a physical problem.

He no longer Eats gluten and is much improved.

Thanks for your comments. We are definitely getting her to the GP on Tue. The reason I thought it could be more psychological is because she is absolutely fine all day (playing and running around as usual) Its late afternoon that the episodes start. We've tried the calm approach of gently explaining that she's OK and she's not going to be sick but admittedly we have got angry and frustrated too. We tried a reward chart that actually worked for 3 days! This is another reason I think it could all be in her head. Of course if there is a real problem, I will feel terrible. Myself and partner just don't know what to do about this anymore but it can't carry on. She shouldn't have any insecurities or worries as we are an affectionate family that give our children lots of attention.