Anyone Ever Seen A Child Throw Up Like This?

[mickey2]

I have been doing daycare for over 20 years and have never seen this!

I have a little dcb 3 years old who has been coming to me for over 3 months now. The first few times he did this, I thought he was just not feeling well but now I realize, or at least I think that he is doing this on purpose.

He throws up at lunch time but only the food he chooses to. Its almost like he is reguritating his food!

Today for lunch I gave the children pizza and fries. This little boy ate his fries and then brought it back up. Its like he gags and makes himself bring it up. I have seen one other little girl put her finger in her mouth and make herself sick but never a child who can just do this. He has done this to me a few times and in the past when he does I removed him from the table thinking he was done. Today when I removed him he had a screaming fit he wanted to eat his pizza. I said no you are sick!

He is not sick, he just makes himself throw up.

Has anyone ever seen or heard about this before.

When I first got this little boy he was a nightmare. He would throw himself on the floor when he did not get his way. He would scream/cry at the top of his lungs throw things etc. In 2 weeks I got this little boy completely out of this here yet apparently he still does this at home. He is an angel here and mom can not believe it!

I am thinking this food thing may be a behavioural thing? Is this possible? if it is how can I help him?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Oh... he doesn't really like ANY food unless it is processed or full of sugar so the foods he makes himself sick on are full home cooked meals everyday like veggies meat and potatoes.. Today the pizza was a real treat! He also never poops here and if he does he spends 1/2 hour on the toilet trying to get a big constipated poop out.

[daycare]

I have been doing daycare for over 20 years and have never seen this!

I have a little dcb 3 years old who has been coming to me for over 3 months now. The first few times he did this, I thought he was just not feeling well but now I realize, or at least I think that he is doing this on purpose.

He throws up at lunch time but only the food he chooses to. Its almost like he is reguritating his food!

Today for lunch I gave the children pizza and fries. This little boy ate his fries and then brought it back up. Its like he gags and makes himself bring it up. I have seen one other little girl put her finger in her mouth and make herself sick but never a child who can just do this. He has done this to me a few times and in the past when he does I removed him from the table thinking he was done. Today when I removed him he had a screaming fit he wanted to eat his pizza. I said no you are sick!

He is not sick, he just makes himself throw up.

Has anyone ever seen or heard about this before.

When I first got this little boy he was a nightmare. He would throw himself on the floor when he did not get his way. He would scream/cry at the top of his lungs throw things etc. In 2 weeks I got this little boy completely out of this here yet apparently he still does this at home. He is an angel here and mom can not believe it!

I am thinking this food thing may be a behavioural thing? Is this possible? if it is how can I help him?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Oh... he doesn't really like ANY food unless it is processed or full of sugar so the foods he makes himself sick on are full home cooked meals everyday like veggies meat and potatoes.. Today the pizza was a real treat! He also never poops here and if he does he spends 1/2 hour on the toilet trying to get a big constipated poop out.

he could have some kind of allergies..
I have a kid who has gag reflux. He will go weeks withou vomiting and then all of a sudden will throw up days in a row, then go back to not throwing up again for weeks.

He always does it at the table. Its so gross. Some times he throws up on other kids and their plates.

The reason I know it's gag is the food has not been digested and I also got a doc note stating he has gag reflux.

Maybe you should require the child to be seen by a doctor to see if this could be the case.

also, I allow for this child to vomit twice before going home. The mom is ver understanding about it and also has paid for the carpet to be cleaned once. As well as supplies carpet cleaning agent monthly.

[Cat Herder]

There was a heated debate about this on the parents board.

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27458

[mickey2]

Thank you Catherder I will read it.

[mickey2]

As posted on the other thread.
(By Catherder)
There are kids who do it on purpose when they do not get their way.

My niece used to pee her pants at the grocery store when her mom said no candy.....she knew it was her Moms "hot button".

My own kids used "smack" their lips loudly during dinner when they got a "no" for some lame request...they knew it made the vein in the middle of my forehead swell... I sent them on their merry way, hungry, and it stopped quickly.

Kids just think different.

This is not an uncommon practice in childcare, pre-school or the public school system.

The premise of the theory is that if you take the reward out of the behavior, the behavior changes.

Is it possible that they see the pattern more readily than you since you deal with just your children, while most of those providers have dealt with dozens of children using the same manipulation technique???


I give no attention at all! I just remove him from the table and he is done!

There have been times where I have caught him gagging and told him "No You don't do that!" ....and he has stopped which leads me to believe he is doing this on purpose for sure!

Usually he does not do anything at all when I take him away, he is fine with leaving. Today though he screamed because he wanted his pizza. Nap time everyday is immediately after lunch. Wash up, bathroom, then bed is what I do everyday and is what I did with him today when he was done. I explained to him he was sick and could not eat anymore. He cried for one hour and I ignored it.

Oh another thing! This child will sleep all day if I let him. He is only here 8. He comes in the am at 7 am and has to be in bed by 8 30 am or he is unbearably cranky! He will sleep until I wake him up at 10 am then back in bed at 1 and I wake him up at 330. He is always exhausted!

When I first got him I was only putting him down at 1 but we could not get through the morning. It was a nightmare for everyone!

[meganlavonnesmommy]

I would have the parents bring him to the dr as well. I posted on another thread about my daughter who was diagnosed with Celiac disease.
Certain foods would cause her to throw up. But not a "complete throw up", just a little bit at a time, like she was gagging. She would only throw up a few tablespoons at a time.
It was caused by her food allergy, and totally not her fault.

IT sounds like your DCK may be doing it on purpose, but its worth getting him checked out just to be safe. Frequent vomiting can be a sign of a food allergy, bowel obstruction, lots of things.

[Cat Herder]

It is possible he is doing it on purpose but it may also be more about a medical issue. It really is one of those "rule out everything else first" kind of things.

IMHO, The vomiting french fries when pizza was coming next (win-win situation) makes me lean more towards something being wrong vs. a purposeful act. YKWIM? I can't tell because I did not witness it though, so don't take that wrong. Please.

My 3.5yo DCK, who did it on purpose, did it when I would not let her wear a Prom styled play dress to the lunch table or when her Mom was trying to make her leave the playground early for a doctors apt.

She even did it at home, the store, church, etc.... even with her Grandma.

In gradeschool girls were notorious for it to get out of tests or gym class. I have never really seen it with really young kids.

[kidkair]

Sounds like you are doing exactly what I would do. Tell him no if I caught him before the act and remove him and call him sick if he threw up. Sounds like something is going wrong though for him to always be so tired. Does he sleep well at night? Maybe he has sleep apnea or some other sleep disorder. Are the parents questioning the sleep pattern or the vomiting at all? Is he on par with developmental milestones? I'd be on the parents to get him checked out and I'd be documenting as much of his behaviors as possible.

[meganlavonnesmommy]

Also the constipation could be a symptom of a food allergy too. Def have mom get him to the dr for a check on all the symptoms. Hopefully MOm is on board with having him checked out.

[Country Kids]

If it is a food allergy why wouldn't he be throwing up the processed foods and the foods full of sugar? Do you serve the healthy foods everyday or just once aweek because you said he doesn't do it every day. It seems that he would really like the french fries to so why throw those up?

[Unregistered]

Maybe it gets stuck in his throat and he's figured out how to get it out. This reminds me of my husband cause he has an abnormally small esophaugus. So if he swallows something that won't go down, he goes into the bathroom and gags himself to make it come back up. I know that sounds awful! But after 30 years he finally got it checked out and found out he has an allergy to corn and it closes his esophaugus up. So ever since he stopped eatting corn flake type cereal (which he ate everyday) it got better but every now and then he will have a problem, especially with meat.
I would have the parents get it checked out cause if he does have an allergy to something that's causing this it will make his meals sooooo much more enjoyable. Before DH knew this he hated going out to eat cause he never knew when this would happen and he would have to get up and run to the bathroom.
Just a thought! His mom thought he did it for attention too!

[e.j.]

If it is a food allergy why wouldn't he be throwing up the processed foods and the foods full of sugar? Do you serve the healthy foods everyday or just once aweek because you said he doesn't do it every day. It seems that he would really like the french fries to so why throw those up?

It could be a texture issue. When my son was younger, he couldn't eat french fries because the texture gagged him and made him throw up. Although he loves the taste of cake, he still can't eat that for the same reason. There are just some foods, whether healthy or not, that have certain textures that bother him enough to make him gag.