Rumination in two developmentally normal children: case report and review of the literature

This report describes the cases of two normal 6-year-old children, both of whom experienced rumination for a period of 6 to 8 months, followed by full remission. For each of these children, rumination was a reaction to situational stress (adoption and maladaption, respectively). These cases represent the addition of a new form of rumination to the literature: a benign, self-limited childhood disorder of mentally and developmentally normal children, distinctly different from "rumination disorder," as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R).