Hi,
I am getting concerned about my 20 month old daughter. When she cries, especially when she has a cold, she throws up a ton. She also does this if she chokes on a piece of food. My son never did this and never even threw up. Is this normal or could something be wrong with her that i'm missing??
Thanks!
She is gagging on the mucus. It builds up when kids cry and can get bad with colds. My daughter was the same way, she also has a sensitive gag reflux and she didn’t eat solid foods until she was almost year old.
My son did this when he was about that age. Almost always when he had a cold. I think the poster below is correct - its a mucus thing & kids with sensitive gag reflexes get it worse. My son used to gag if he tastes something he even *thought* he would not like, even if he had never tried it before to *know* he does not like it. It would usually happen at night time or nap time. He would cry a bit when we put him down, then within a few minutes he would throw up. He was not crying extra hard or extra long, I think it just had to do with the extra mucus from the cold & the crying losens is up and it gets in the throat and they gag. I always paid extra close attention to the baby monitor when he had a cold! He is almost 4 and we have not had any issues with this for at least a year now, so she will likely grow out of it soon.
It sounds like she's producing more mucus and gagging on it, especially if it's happening when she's sick. Plus when children cry they produce a lot of mucus. She probably just has a sensitive gag reflex. Most children outgrow it, and it's not really anything to worry about unless you're talking about her doing it all day every day.
My daughter did this...from infancy till about age 2. Any time she cried and was upset she would start throwing up. It was awful and we had puke stains EVERYWHERE. We pulled up the carpet so thankfully those are gone now. We heard from our doctor that some babies just have a very sensitive gag reflex and they outgrow it. She outgrew it, but it was a long road. It was particularly upsetting when she was sick because she'd be upset more often and would throw up more often. I was constantly trying to make sure she did not get dehydrated. We could not sleep train her at night because she would just puke and puke and puke till she was dry heaving. We just gave in and let her sleep with us till she was ready for her own bed. She is 2 and a half now and she has been sleeping in her own bed since age 2 - although there are nights she comes into bed with us in the middle of the night still. Things are much better now though. Hang in there. Talk to your pediatrician about it.
