does your kid make up ailments?

KathrynMD · September 2011

DD keeps telling me her tummy hurts and she needs to go to the doctor, but its always seems to be at transition times - going to bed, going to school, turning off the TV, etc. my suspicion is that she's stalling and wants to continue whatever she's doing, but at the same time, it makes sense that during a transition she would sort of do a check in with herself and notice something hurts. Thoughts??

She had a yeast infection a few weeks ago and told me her "body" hurt (aka vaginal area). I obviously don't want to ignore her pain, but also, she's 2.5 and not reliable.

I'm going to start writing down when she says this and see if I can detect a pattern.

Cooper81 · September 2011

DS doesn't, but I think he's to young at this point to communicate that a specific part of his body hurts, other than rubbing or touching a certain area a lot. The tummy thing sounds just like you are describing it, and I view saying "my tummy hurts" over and over differently than say "my head hurts" or knee or something else. Maybe in some instances it's anxiety related and you know the butterly feeling is interpreted as "hurt." Does that make sense?

mrs. remy · September 2011

Yes. If I put an idea in DS's head, he will repeat it for days. For instance he had a bad cold a couple weeks ago and had been crying all day at daycare. DH took him to the dr to get his ears checked. The doctor asked him "Do your ears hurt?" and looked in his ears (no infection). Well for days he went around telling me "Ear hurts!". He will also say "tummy hurts" on random occasions and tell me it "needs cream". By cream he means the ointment I put on his mosquito bites. I notice he says this stuff when he is trying to stall me.

daisyterp · September 2011

It's so funny because DD used to do this- but she knows my dad is a doctor and can look in her ears, and that if we take her to the real doctor she may get a lollipop but she also might get a shot!

She also hates all oitments, creams and will not wear a bandaid for more than 20 seconds.

lauranne · September 2011

Aiden will to get sympathy, so it's hard to tease out when he's really got an ailment. I try not to ask leading questions if I suspect he's not well. That helps some.

My favorite line of his is "My pain hurts" (aka he has a belly ache).

jnealet · September 2011

She does sometimes and its usually during a transition for us too. We tell her that if she doesn't feel well then she can't do whatever she doesn't want to transition out of and her ailments usually clear up.

Now if she's acting off, then I start paying more attention but I think its really a delay tactic.

holly321 · September 2011

My little cousin used to do it all time. He always said he had to burp (what he called vomiting) just to get attention. And he always wanted medicine. He liked the way it tasted.

And not quite the same, but DD has had a cold, and it she was making a strange noise when she was breathing the other day (not breathing with her mouth, when her noses was too stuffed up), well she noticed she'd get a lot of attention when she did it. So now she is doing it on purpose, and cracks up at herself. It was so embarassing yesterday at Target, because she did it the whole time, and people probably though something was really wrong with her.

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