Q&A: gagging with a spoon

Julia writes:

"My 14.5-month-old daughter has recently discovered her gag reflex. Apparently, she finds it fascinating.  It usually begins at the end of a meal when she teethes on her fingers, which she then begins to insert further and further into her throat.  Gagging ensues.  Much, noisy gagging.  And lots of drool.  And sometimes actual vomit.

I try not to make too big a deal of it, because I've definitely seem how overreacting can encourage a behavior.  But is it okay to just let her go on gagging herself?  Will she lose interest soon?  Have you heard of other kids doing this? (You could tell me it means she's a genius, and I'd choose to believe you.)  It's quite unseemly in public places, where I'm convinced people will think I'm a careless bulimic who's let her daughter watch her purge.

Any suggestions or stories of comfort?"

I had totally forgotten about this phase. I have no idea if it's, like, normal, but El Chico went through the gagging phase. He'd mostly use his finger (or whole fist sometimes), and only barfed once or twice. It was grody stage, but transitory. It lasted maybe a few weeks, and then he lost interest, for sure.

And don't worry about people thinking she learned it from you. As if!

Comments

[Wood]

My 14.5 month old does this too! Not regularly, but every once in a while, and she's been doing it for about a month. Glad to know other babies do this. Grody, indeed.

[heather]

Yep, our 14.5 month old does it too sometimes. I thought we were the only ones with a homegrown baby bulimic.

[Heidi]

This is absolutely uncanny. My boy--14.5 months. He's been doing this for a few weeks now, BUT it seems to be happening less in the past week. I too have joked with my husband about our son showing early aptitude as a bulimic. I really think that, at least in our case, it has something to do with a developmental step, since the abatement of the bulimia coincided with greater willingness to put some food IN that little fist when he put it in his mouth. Until now, he's been a reluctant self-feeder.

[julia]

Whew!

[Linda B]

My daughter just started to do that with her entire fist and I gotta say that it's pretty annoying. She'll be gagging in the carseat and my husband and I will whip around in the fear that she may be choking on something... only to see her chubby fist shoved in her tiny mouth. "SIGH"

This stage must end soon.