Bedtime vomiting

Gabriela

My little girl will be 1 in a few days. We sleep trained her around 4.5 months but it always took her 20-40 minutes to fall asleep on her own, even months later. She wouldn’t cry, just roll around until she fell asleep. We started solids around 5.5 months and as we introduced more complex textures, she had some issues with gagging. Asked the pediatrician but they weren’t concerned. Around 9 months we stayed overnight in a hospital because she needed an EEG to rule out seizures as she was having brief moments of abnormal movements - the results were normal. However, she was so agitated when they were gluing and ungluing the EEG nodes to her head that she projectile vomited. After that hospital visit, the gagging while eating turned to vomiting. It seems to me that she learned she can make herself upset to the point that she vomits. Either that or her gag reflex got way weaker. At 11 months, she vomited three nights in a row when we put her down to sleep. She wasn’t crying prior to vomiting but was maybe anxious that she was alone, maybe separation anxiety is starting to kick in? Called the pediatrician again, got referred to a GI. He ordered a swallow test to make sure her anatomy was normal which it was and he ordered a gastric emptying exam to make sure her stomach is emptying properly - all results normal. He prescribed a reflux medication which seems to be working for mealtime - vomiting has drastically decreased there, although my girl likes to put her finger in her mouth and gag herself. We thought the medicine would help with bedtime vomiting but she did it again two nights in a row. When she vomits it’s very forceful and she gets very upset and she vomits until there’s nothing left to vomit. If nothing is wrong with her physically then why is she vomiting at bedtime? She doesn’t cry before vomiting. Is she anxious or upset and this is how she shows it? I’m nervous about her weight, she hasn’t gained in the month since the bedtime vomiting began and we are holding off on most finger foods to prevent vomiting, so very slow progress on transitioning to table foods. I’m also worried about undoing the sleep training because now we have to hold her to sleep to avoid vomiting. Besides going backwards with feeding and sleeping, I’m worried about her little body losing nutrients and sleep and all the acid burning her throat and her overall behavior toward managing anxiety, if that’s what it is. We will hold her to sleep of course but at what point do we stop? If we stop will she start vomiting again? I didn’t think babies this young could develop that kind of response to anxiety.