17 month old sticking fingers down throat to make himself gag at mealtimes

[MummyToBen]

Not sure if this should be on this board or discipline/socialisation?

For the last few days DS has been making himself gag by putting his fingers down his throat .  He's just had breakfast and made himsefl gag about ten times, and I'm not really sure what to do  .  I've not been making a big deal about it - I've told him a couple of times it's not good to do it, but I've pretty much just carried on as normal and not focussed on it (I don't want to make it a bigger deal as I know he will do it more  and I don't want it to spiral into something worse).  He enjoys food, feeds himself, so I know it's not because of a power struggle/wanting to get out of eating......my hunch is that he's just 'discovered' he can do it, and now keeps doing it.  Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and how did you handle it/how long did it go on for? 

Thank you xx

[*Liz*]

Wow - there is something food related that could upset a Mummy that J hasn't figured out yet  . So no personal experience sorry.

my hunch is that he's just 'discovered' he can do it, and now keeps doing it.

If that is your hunch I would guess ignoring it is the best thing to do. Same as the fake coughing phase etc etc.

Is he making himself sick at all?

[MummyToBen]

Is he making himself sick at all?

Not yet, but he wasn't far off from it this morning  .  Yes, it is similar to the fake coughing thing I think.  It's tricky because once he gets into a 'habit' with something, it is difficult to break him!!!  Stubborn like his mother 

x

[Mashi]

Wow - there is something food related that could upset a Mummy that J hasn't figured out yet  Shocked.

Don't worry Liz, I've got us covered with this one!! LOL!! 

Yep, got a gagger here too! I didn't (don't) worry about it toooo much, but that's because I remember reading another post about something unrelated and Cathie (speechie) mentioned Nick did this and by 18 months some of his first words were "no gagging" because she had said it to him so often! So I figured other kids did it so mine's not a freak.

I think it is because he can, in our case.  I just take his hands out of his mouth and say "no gagging" or "fingers out of your mouth please" and then distract him with something else.  Roll on 21 months and he does it half as often as he used to...but still does it

[KathrynK]

my hunch is that he's just 'discovered' he can do it, and now keeps doing it.


If that is your hunch I would guess ignoring it is the best thing to do. Same as the fake coughing phase etc etc.

Claire I had a good chuckle at the title of your post- like Liz, I thought omg that is something Alex hasn't discovered (yet)

I would ignore ignore ignore ignore and distract, and hopefully it will pass, just like most things do eventually 
xxxx

[Texomamama]

Very common, I think.  My 2.5 y.o. does this periodically, most recently as yesterday.  Honestly, I think she was only doing it because she knows it bothers me.

[Roseii]

Claire I nearly posted about this a few weeks ago, DD was sticking her fingers down her throat regularly, she made herself sick on a few occasions and I am pretty sure she found it funny! The more I reacted the more she would do it, I took to totally ignoring her when I could see she was doing it and I instructed everyone else to do the same if we were with family. Touchwood it was yet another "phase" that passed after a week or two, I hope you find the same with Ben

[MummyToBen]

Ladies, thanks....where else could I ask such a strange question and find other people with the same experiences?!!

Yes, I think I will just keep on 'ignoring' it (can you imagine what a terrible mother I will look like if we're out and he starts doing it and I don't say anything  ).  Now that I know that other kids do it, I am pretty sure he will just get bored of it and stop if I don't make a big deal of it.  Although he was giggling  he actually looked a bit upset every time he did it  .

Oh, Liz and Kathryn, I'm glad I've helped you find something 'odd' that your boys aren't doing  ...made me chuckle xx

[Tweakster]

Great I have something to look forward to lol

And here I was getting ed with food on the floor...