making himself sick

[mushpea]

i care for a 2 yrold who for the last 4 months has made himself sick when he dosent like what is hapening, today , for example, when mum went he was fine but when she called me half hour later he heard her voice (he was on my lap) and started to cry when i said good bye to her he then made himself sick, then at lunch time because my full attention wasnt on him he made himself sick again but this time loads and i have a son who is very sensitive around food so this really put him of his lunch.
tommoro i am going to the zoo with my two and the 2yrold and am worried he will do this again. have spoke to mum and Nan who part cares for him and they both say that he does it in the night when he dosent want to sleep, obviously this is somthing that cannot be ignored but it is mega gross:panic:
today and for the last couple of weeks i have just been getting him cleaned and changed with out speaking to him, i used to give him a bit of sympathay but that was it now its nothing but today he kept saying 'bad' which to him means he has done somthing bad. i have discused with mum and nan and agreed that we do this 'no talking' thing and sort of ignore the fact of what is happening but i get the feeling its not working that way at home, have spoke to nan tonghith again but she says thats what they are doing and they don't tell him off.
home life is confusing and upsetting for him for different reasons which is certainly not helping but don't know what else to do to stop him from being ill, any suggestions gratefully recived

[theoldwoman]

I do feel sorry for you, I had one that did this, he was scared of another mindee (who was youger than him!) and would hide behind my legs and then be sick, ugh. In the end I just put him outside the back door while he was sick so I could just swill it away. His parents hardly dared to take him out as if something displ;eased him he would throw up.
His Mum had another baby and I used that as an excuse ans said I was too full for both and perhaps it would be better if they both went elsewhere. He didn't last long at the next childminder or a nursery and Mum gave up work.
I saw him in the Dr's last month - behaving just as you would expect with parents whe darn't tell him off, jumping all over the chairs etc etc, and he is now nearly 7!!
So don't know the answer!
Sue

[ORKSIE]

This is obviously attention seeking behaviour, do you have an adviser you can talk to or equivalent. I belong to a childminding network and our advisers are always there to advise, with parents permission.

[mushpea]

i am joinging the network but never thought of asking my adviser for some reason:blush:
have spoken to my minding freinds but they have no answers.

[ORKSIE]

If you do ask advise from advisers etc get permission from parent first. :)

[sammy]

the 2 year old i have also does this too, but normally when he comes in, if he doesnt feel settled (normally hes not interested in any activities, he walks around looking sooo bored!) he will cry and make himself sick, he doesnt cry for long at all. HIs mum just said he has a sensitive tummy, as he will also throw up his milk at home after one cough!!

He also did the same when one of my clingy ones would winge, he would make himself sick.

He must feel anxious and worried.

My house is a very happy, lively house so nothing to do with me! lol

[helenlc]

I watched a boy do this once on supernanny and supernanny said to clear up the mess on the floor etc but dont clean the child up. That way, they are staying it and hopefully putting themselves off doing it.

Not sure I would though.

My 3 yr old mindee has taken to spitting on my floor when having a tantrum - when he has finished his tantrum, I hand him tissue and make him wipe it up.

When I worked in a pre-school, there was a little girl who came in every time and made herself sick as soon as she got near to the school and in the school. Mum had even taken to bringing along her own sick bowl in anticipation. The pre-school leader told Mum not to bring the bowl anymore as it was just giving little girl green light to do it. She would also say to the girl as soon as she started gagging NO! Quite firmly and on her level. It stopped within a few days and from then on in she came in fine.

I think you need to say No to him when you see the throwing up about to start and then when he does, as someone else suggested, put him somewhere that its easier for you to clean and he is away from people giving him attention. I am sure the other children, including your own, are aware of what he is doing and probably look out of curiousity - this is all attention to him.

Its also hard when you are not sure what Mum and Nan are doing at home. I find this with my 3 yr old mindee - Mum says she gives time outs as do I , but I am not entirely sure that she does.

Good luck. Have you tried googling this sort of behaviour or getting a book from the library to give advice. Then you could print it off and show mum and suggest you both do it this way.

Hope you resolve the behaviour soon for all of your sakes.

[wendywu]

If you think the parent is not putting her full effort into the situation at home, just bring in the 48hr rule on excluding a child that has been sick.

She will soon make an effort to stop it then:)

[her8y]

If you think the parent is not putting her full effort into the situation at home, just bring in the 48hr rule on excluding a child that has been sick.

She will soon make an effort to stop it then:)

I was in the same situation and was advised that if a child is sick no matter what the reason the 48hr rule applied? Although I felt this encouraged the child to continue to be sick to get their own way it did make mum realise something had to be done.

Could you suggest mum arranges an appointment with the health visitor
which you could attend as well. I found this beneficial. Also I made 6 written obs which I took with me which prooved helpful.

Good Luck

[Blaze]

If you think the parent is not putting her full effort into the situation at home, just bring in the 48hr rule on excluding a child that has been sick.

She will soon make an effort to stop it then:)

I agree with the above....my son went through a period of doing this 7 I did exactly what you are doing & he did stop, so sounds like all that is needed now is consistancy.....:rolleyes:

[mushpea]

If you think the parent is not putting her full effort into the situation at home, just bring in the 48hr rule on excluding a child that has been sick.

She will soon make an effort to stop it then:)

the first time he did it i did send him home but of course then he realised that if he was sick he got to go home and so made him worse, once he realised that he wasnt going home it stopped doing it quite so much but still does it.
Im not sure i like supernannys advise of not cleaning him, i can see why it would work but from a hygeine point of few with all the other children i cant really do that. but can see what you mean about him getting the attention fromt he other children so i think when i see him start doing it i will take him straight to the toilet withoug saying anything and leave him to get on with it, the toilet is downstairs and there is no poisens bleach etc in there and it will be within hearing distance of where we sit for lunch so will try this.
thanks for all your help and suggestions