Sunday, June 11, 2006

Babyhood Bulimia?


When Aveline was very young and we were oh so inexperienced, we dealt with her tendency to throw up her last meal. At first, we thought something was majorly wrong. Once we ruled out the big stuff, we started looking at other things. I was breastfeeding at the time, so we scrutinized every morsel I ate, in case something I ingested was causing her indigestion. Nothing surfaced as the culprit. People suggested that I stay away from dairy (yeah right...I'm a full fledged ice-cream junkie,) fresh veggies like broccoli and spicy foods. We tried this elimination tactic, but the vomiting continued. When my diet was cleared, we examined her eating habits. We burped her extra hard. We tried feeding her less more often. No clear pattern emerged to point us to the cause of her ailment before it just stopped. Or so we thought.

During this last week alone, she has thrown up five times. She had different foods during each time. The episodes were spaced out, so we ruled out a virus. The only common link amongst any of them were the two times she upchucked at Bravo. Once I noticed she had her WHOLE hand in her mouth before she spewed, which led me to believe she gagged herself. Three of the times have been after huge meals. I thought babies never over ate. Obviously, no one gave Aveline the memo, because she can pack it away like a champ. I hope this isn't the beginning of some binge/purge cycle. I hope we don't have a budding bulimic on our hands.

2 comments:

Jamie said...

I'm sure that's not the case.

Maybe she has acid reflux??? That can make you throw up.

Thanks for your votes!!

Christina said...

Reflux could be a possibility. Cordy didn't fully outgrow her reflux until 15 months.

It could also be a weak muscle at the base of the esophogus (so food is unable to stay in the stomach). It's a common problem in babies, and if it doesn't correct itself by 18 months or so, they generally will want to do a scope to confirm the problem, and minor surgery if needed.

I know it's a huge pain to clean up, but hang in there, and hope she outgrows it soon! :)