My 4-year-old is afraid to swallow her spit: Advice?

My 4 year old is too scared to swallow her spit. She got soap in her mouth while taking a bath the other night and now thinks she still has bubbles in her mouth. She let’s her mouth fill with saliva and then spits it all out. And she sees little air bubbles coming out with her spit so she still thinks she’s got soap in her mouth. How can I get her to believe me she doesn’t have anymore soap in her mouth. She acts like she’s going to puke if she can’t spit it out fast enough.

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Maybe if you show her your spit she’ll see it’s normal to have bubbles? :joy:

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Don’t encourage it and start ignoring it… My kids have gone through weird silly episodes like this and the more I dwelled on it the longer they played it out.

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Just ignore it. Tell her everyone has air bubbles in their spit.

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Yeah that’s what i was going to say too Alyssa Echols. Maybe try brushing her mouth and teeth, than having her rinse her mouth out and tell her that its all gone.

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maybe show her how spit looks like, let her know bubbles are normal when spitting. my son wouldnt take his band aid off for days cause he seen his skin was peeling off which was the result of the band aid being in there so long. i had to convince him to wear a glove instead of band aid so at least it could air out…kids are tough.

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Candy or ice cream. She ain’t gonna spit that out. She can’t have it until she shows you she can swallow.

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Have her brush her teeth. So she k ow that taste is gone

Give her a lollie or gum…

Just ignore it it’s a phase

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Tell her she does it at night

Have her lick some soap and ask her if her mouth tastes like that all the time. If not, then logic will set in. She’s four, not retarded

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Kids are gullible. Tell her you have medicine for that and give her a syringe full of juice haha

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Tell her the way to get soap out is by water. Give her a few oz of water then give her a lollipop. She’ll be happy to swallow her spit because of the lollipop and she’ll hopefully forget about the whole thing. How cute :stuck_out_tongue:

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Eat some soap bubbles from her next bath, show her it’s safe to swallow? Idk my kids never did this lmao.

It’s just a little anxiety! Just stay patient and keep explaining that it is not soap, the soap is gone, and it will pass! Being there for children when they have anxiety is the best thing you can do for them as they process it.

I’m sorry to laugh but this is ADORABLE!! :rofl::heart_eyes: well I think what I would do is make some “magic mouthwash” (maybe some sparkling water with no label ) and tell her it’s the magical cure for a soapy mouth! Have her gargle and spit it out till her little heart is content :slight_smile: hope this helps !

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My childs just done this but she thought she was going to choke so was scared to swallow her own spit…we went to the drs 3 times so they could reassure her her throat was ok…she lost around 8lb in weight and it lasted around 4 weeks were just about out the other side of it. We ignored the behaviour of her panicking when swallowing but reassured her when she was asking questions and made sense of it with her. So I would try and explain it to her and reassure her xx

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Distract her when she’s drinking something.

She’ll move on from it. Show her in the mirror that she doesn’t have anything in there

Show her that you don’t have soap in your mouth but your spit bubbles too maybe?

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Tell her that if she can have a treat if she can go a certain amount of time with out spitting and extend it a little bit each time.

Do as other say “magic mouthwash” or “medicine” do show her that when you spit bubbles come out too. :woman_shrugging: She’s young and while it’s annoying this too shall pass.

Save this for when she is married! Too funny

I seriously just watched something like this on intervention. Look it up it was a crazy episode