Toddler gagging himself in cot and vomiting

[LDriver1]

My 2 year old gags himself as soon as we put him in the cot for nap or bedtime and makes himself sick so that we have to go in and clean it all up. He has a weak gag reflex so when he gags himself he is sick very easily and it’s a LOT of sick. Vomiting doesn’t seem to bother him but it is very triggering for me as we have had a long battle with getting his weight up so when he loses everything he has eaten by vomiting it’s hard.

He is a child who gets a lot of attention through out the day, he is so happy and well behaved and doesn’t do it then but he knows if he gags in his cot he will be sick so we have to come in to clean it up. I cannot break the cycle as I can’t let him lie in sick. I have to go in and clean him obviously.

He stopped doing it for a long time but past couple days has started it up again so nap and bedtimes are horrible as we know he is going to be sick. He sleeps through the night so gets plenty of rest but I am looking for help on what we can do. So many articles say if they vomit they won’t like it and will stop but that’s not the case here.

Please help.

That sounds really tough. Is he doing it when you’re in the room or when you’ve left?

Get rid of his cot and put him into a bed. 2 is quite old enough to be in a bed. He may stop doing it. Introduce it as “big boy bed”
Hope you can break the cycle.

What do you do when you clean it up? I would clean him up in silence, change the sheet and put him back down for sleep. Do this on repeat and it’ll soon stop.

Please keep in mind that he is not being manipulative and this is his reaction to genuine distress.

Maybe get rid of the cot and get him a bed and establish a slightly different bedtime routine to remove associations with the cot.

Take the cot away and try a bed then the association anxiety with the cot might go away.

I agree get rid of the cot or the side rails...

On a different note, my DD (2.5 at the time) used to do exactly the same thing in slightly different circumstances- not getting her own way!
When I finally had enough, I took her hands squatted down in front of her and asked if that's all she can do... no? Good... any more? Great... really, you already finished? ....
Anyway, the mess was horrendous to clean up (kitchen, DD & myself) but she never did it again.

It's probably a bit out there in terms of parenting, but I have to add, cleaning up sick usually makes me sick as well. So needed drastic measures!

I should add he has always been a great sleeper since sleep training at 9 months. He has never had an issue with his cot.

Today as soon I we got into his room where I let him play pre nap time he gaged himself and was sick. I didn’t react and cleaned up and he did it again two more times. He isn’t distressed and often laughs after he does it.

dn used to do this and the only thing that made him stop was not cleaning it up straight away. He hated being left like that. Might work if you’ve tried everything else and you’re sure it’s for attention and not physiological.