My 14 mo cries when being put to bed, fine until she vomits( protrudes her tongue and gags) any ideas?

Question

She is a healthy and very happy girl; naps do not cause this response described in the question. she may cry for a couple minutes at naps and go to sleep on schedule, she is not afraid of the dark, her room, all the big ones.... Bed time is a scheduled time in a quiet house where she is the only child. She is put to bed at a time when she is obviously tired, yet 50% of the time she starts crying and if left, will vomit. This used to occur only after extensive crying; 5-10 minutes once a week, it has progressed the last two months and now she may only cry one minute and she vomits. It appears to be from protruding her tongue when she cries, maybe just a habit? She will also vomit if she gags on something; we found her to have an allergic reaction to soy, then regular milk so she is using lactose free milk now. This is becomming a problem now that, in the last 7 days she has vomitted 4 times, once being with a sitter. once she has vomited she will comtinue to cry until held...!!

Thanks for responses, no reflux involved, doc had no idea, if we stay with her at bed it takes 30-60 minutes, which I love, it's fun and all but not functional, and even more of a trick when #2 comes. We are concerned about her habituating that as well... she does have an advanced gag reflex, and we have noticed her sticking her finger in her mounth when she cries and gagging herself but, despite high intellegence, not making the connection. We tried the letting her stay up and fall asleep on the couch, she won't laydown and go to sleep, she tries to keep playing while so tired she acts intoxicated and ends up falling and hurting herself or something. She is very much on a schedule for naps and has a bottle to go down with them, down to the minute and is fine with it. She doesn't ever need burping, seems to manage that fine by her self....???? I'm starting to smell carpet cleaner in my sleep.

Answer 1

OK dad here ya go....
NO Milk or formula or food for 1 hour before bedtime
Make it clear that bed means it's time to go to sleep
If she can lay in bed and go to sleep without the screaming and vomiting routine give her a small reward in the morning
She probably does know what shes doing, If she screams and vomits you come back to the room , clean her up and give her affection.
you can try setting an egg time for 15 minutes, that will be the only time you spend with her in the room, once the timer is done you get up and leave.
I would also try to teach her, not at bedtime, that when she starts crying she has to remember to breath, My oldest went to a phase like this when he used to get colds, hed cough and throw up from the force of the coughing. It is gag reflex related and you can teach her to control it as she grows.

Answer 2

aww the vomit tantrum, fun. Well if there is no medical problem like you say then you have to read it for what it is.. a tantrum the only problem is that it is a very messy tantrum. You need to put her to bed on schedule leave the room and let her cry and yes let her puke. To make it easier on you maybe double up the sheets with a water proof pad in between so that bed changes are quicker. after she pukes go in and change the bed and her, but do not give her lots of attention just simply let her know that everything is ok and lay her back down. Now she may get sick again and you may have to do this a few times with each time less and less attention in between. Make sure that you are just cleaning her up not playing with her remember it is bed time. She will get used to it. She will understand that just because she pukes does not mean she will get attention and thus it will reduce and eventually she will stop. Do the same thing during the day if she is prone to tantrums where she gets sick. Just clean her up and let her scream while you ignore her and they will almost stop completely. I have had way too much experience with this lol. with time and patients it will work.

Answer 3

Are you sure she's burping fine? Because I thought my son was taking care of it himself pretty well, but he would spit up when he went to bed and cried for a while. Remember that crying they swallow air, so they will need burping again. When we brought my son home from the hospital, our pediatrician told us that babies get enough nutrition during the day, so when you put them to bed and they don't want to go, or they wake up and you feel like you should feed them, just when the cry go in and soothe them and burp them and do everything you can to make them comfortable and then put them back in their bed. Eventually they will get used to it. Maybe get into a routine, like read a book to her or let a song run while she falls asleep. I let a little music-box figurine play while my son goes to sleep. He got into the habit by the time he was 2 1/2 weeks old.

Answer 4

My older son used to scream bloody murder when we put him to sleep. (He was about 13 - 14 months old at the time.) He could be standing there so tired he could barely hold his eyes open, yet he shrieked like we were beating him all becuase he was fighting sleep and didn't want to go to bed. Now my younger son (13 months old) is doing the same thing. He rubs and rubs his eyes, yawns, etc. but the minute we pick him up and start walking him back to his room, the screaming starts. He cried for nearly 30 minutes last night before finally conking out. This morning when he got up, he was laughing and bouncing in his crib like nothing had ever happened. :)

When my older son started doing this, we asked his ped. about it, and she said to let him cry. Kids this age are testing you. You know they're tired, THEY know they're tired, but they still want attention. If you keep on rocking her or letting her get back up, eventually you're going to end up with a 2 - 3 year old going to sleep with you in your bed every night. My older son now does this. NOT fun.

If it weren't for her vomiting, I'd say just let her cry it out. I'm unaware of any babies who died from crying, you know? However, if she's vomiting, that's not good. Where is she vomiting? I mean, does it just dribble down her chin and land on her shirt, or does she projectile vomit onto the carpet/sheet, etc.? As long as she's not choking on it (and I'm sure this is going to sound gross) just let her be. Eventually she'll get used to going to bed at a certain time in her crib without mom or dad rocking her. Once she's in a deep sleep, you can quietly go in and wipe her face and hands and spot treat the carpet (if any vomit landed on it). If you're worried about it getting on her shirt, just put her to bed in a diaper only. If you're concerned she'll get chilled, close off the a/c vent to her room and put a light blanket over her. This way, you can also wipe off her chest and not have to worry about waking her up to change a messy shirt, or worse yet, letting her sleep in it!

Answer 5

With the symptoms you describe, I think it is highly likely that your child has gastrointestinal reflux. Try putting the child to sleep in their car seat (perhaps recline it a little but no more than 45 degrees). This may not look or sound comfortable to you but it may be for the child.

Answer 6

Let me know if you figure this one out. We have the same problem. I gave up trying to get her to sleep in her own bed and tired of the 2 hour vomit/cleaning ritual every night. She just sleeps with us.

Answer 7

Have you seen the doctor? I think it's best to get proffessional help.

A piece of advice though, put her down to bed when she is not tired. Play with her a little. Read her a story, and do not leave her until she's asleep.

I think your child is suffering from some sort of anxiety.

Answer 8

you just dont let alone at the bed when you go to sleep thats it this will do it if not then you should not make her lie in the bed at night before hand first you should make her sleep in the sofa or some place like it then you could take her to the bed if you want her to be taken to the bed

Answer 9

My daughter used to do that. Try raising one side of the bed on her crib. Also do you put her to bed as soon as she gets finished eating. If so let her eat and then put her to bed an hour or two later.feed her at 6 put her to bed at 8.

Answer 10

Is she scared of something? They say babies see things that adults don't see. Hold the poor little thing and if you have to put her bed in your room for awhile.