anybody?
My 18mo dd is Spitting....
She is spitting at people! I have no idea where she got this. She knows that she is to spit in the sink after brushing her teeth or if she has something she shouldn't in her mouth. Her older sister who is five thinks it is the most hilarious thing in the world and laughs at her every time she does it reinforcing the spitting! I can't think of how to get her to stop other than just wait it out or ignore it. I ask DD1 to not laugh b/c she shouldn't be spitting at/on people but she won't stop saying that her body just makes her laugh at the spitting! We have told dd2 that spitting is not nice, spitting is yucky.. that sort of thing. I don't know how else to handle it. Do I just ignore the spitting? Anyone else had this problem?
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My 2yo *still* spits all the time. (she's just discovered the bubbles)
My advice: tell her to stop, tell the 5yo to stop laughing and if she doesn't, tell the 18mo why it's inappropriate that the 5yo is laughing.
Yes, I *would* make this about the 5yo, b/c the 18mo is not going to stop spitting until the 18mo decides to stop. But, I think the 5yo needs to understand her position of influence as much as possible.
Then, again, when my baby spits, I laugh, too. After telling her not to spit, of course. Your 5yo has a very good point: the body just laughs.
My advice: tell her to stop, tell the 5yo to stop laughing and if she doesn't, tell the 18mo why it's inappropriate that the 5yo is laughing.
Yes, I *would* make this about the 5yo, b/c the 18mo is not going to stop spitting until the 18mo decides to stop. But, I think the 5yo needs to understand her position of influence as much as possible.
Then, again, when my baby spits, I laugh, too. After telling her not to spit, of course. Your 5yo has a very good point: the body just laughs.
I have been having the same problem with my 3 yr old dd for the past 2 yrs. For her, it's these 2 things: 1. the pleasure of playing with her body (she also had a long bout of playing with her poop~yuck!!) 2. pushing the envelope on what she is "supposed" and "not supposed" to do. Like you, I tried rationalizing with her and ignoring her, both of which to my dismay did nothing. She stopped playing with her poop when we decided to potty train her (I think she is much prouder of going in the toilet), and what I started doing about the spitting was this: when the weather is good, I scoot her little butt out back and tell her she can spit to her heart's content outside, not inside. When it's raining, I usher her into the bathroom, sometimes several times a day, and give her 2 choices: 1. she can brush her teeth (we use flouride free toothpaste, so I don't care if she brushes 12 times in a day) or 2. she can spit in the tub or toilet. This was a bit time consuming on my part at first, but I have found time and time again, a diversion works. Giving her a positive outlet to do what she wants in a way that doesn't hurt anyone. Eventually, she for the most part grew tired of it, since it was no longer an interuption or shocker. Right now, your daughter is reaping 2 benefits from your situation. First, she get's your attention (good or bad, the babies love your attention), and second, she's getting a good chuckle out of big sis, which ultimately makes her feel good. Another good thing you might try is getting the girls together for a round of dress up, and dress your younger one in something silly to promote the same reaction from big sis. You may find, ultimately, that was all your little one was after, and finding another technique to make big sis laugh could detour the situation altogether.
My 18 mo was just spitting. She would take a drink and then spit the liquid out - her favorite place was the ottoman. I explained that spitting drinks on the ottoman was making the ottoman very dirty and that she was not thirsty, I was going to put the drink up for her. She mainly nurses but does drink a little from cups. I think this lasted about two weeks. Then she was through. I think it was just a new sensation for her.
mandy
mandy
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