my son is 17 mos and has always had an intense gag reflex when it comes to food (though he'll gag himself for the fun of it- go figure). he's still eating Gerber 2nd Stage foods because he gags when he eats anything with multi textures (chunky stuff in smooth sauce, multi-textured items like broccoli, etc.). any suggestions as to how to get him transitioned to regular foods?
My son is also 17 months old and at first had similar reactions to foods! I have an instrument that granulates the food into really, really small pieces and then would mix it with mashed potatoes or a sauce and he would take it better that way and then eventually he would eat it when I would juct cut it into bite size pieces for him!
Hello. My suggestion would be to maybe ask your pediatrician about Apraxia. It may be possible that the gagging is in response to his mouth and tongue muscles being weak and thus causing trouble with chewing and processing foods with complex textures in his mouth. If not your doctor, you may want to consult Easter Seals. They take most insurance plans. I found out that my daughter had Apraxia. By the way, it is correctable with specific exercises and patience. Knowledge is key. Just a thought. Best of luck to you. S.
He could have sensory problems...Maybe you should have him evaluated for Sensory Integration Disorder. It sounds like his aversion to certain textures could be related to this, but possibly not.
Good luck,
E.
Hi S., I have a daughter who has had similar difficulties. First, I would recommend that you see your doctor. They will do something called a "swallow study" (which is just that you will feed your child food while they take an xray). This will show them exactly where and when the gag occurs. It is possible that your child has enlarged tonsils, and sometimes this is responsible. If everything is ok, what we did is worked with preferred smooth foods. Use those foods to increase bite size, until the child can swallow that with no gag. Then introduce the chunkier foods slowly, with very small bite size. Only feed an amount that the child can eat without gagging. Slowly increase the size of the bite. Once the child can eat this level of "chunkiness", then move up to something that is more chunky, again starting with a bite size small enough not to cause a gag. It will take a little while, but it worked for us (we see a speech pathologist to help with eating who taught us this). For sure you want to check out the tonsils and other anatomy though. Good luck. Feel free to email me back if you have any other questions! If your doctor will give you a referral, Our Children's House at Baylor Grapevine has great speech therapists who can help with feeding issues.
Hi S.,
My son too does not want to chew on his food...and he just swallows the stage 3 gerber food...and sometimes throws up. He spits out any solid food given...even when he is extremely hungry. Please do share the advice that you get with me.
Eagerly waiting for a magic solution.
S.
Hi S.! I had the same problem with my daughter (will be 3 in March). She was VERY sensitive to anything with texture and after awhile she also enjoyed the reaction she would get from gagging... so it became a behavior problem, too. Anyway, I started by crushing Cheerios into a powder (I'd put them in a baggie and pound them). Then I started with one teaspoon of crushed Cheerios and added it to cereal (or anything that you can get into your son that he enjoys). I did that for several days and then went to 2 teaspoons. If he starts gagging again or having any problems I would go back to 1 tsp and start all over again. When that goes well for a few days I would crush the Cheerios, but not as finely as before.... after slowly adding that mixture I would break the Cheerios into very small pieces and so forth. Does that make sense?? It took a little time, but within a few weeks my daughter was eating whole Cheerios without problem and then we moved on to other foods. At the time it seemed like the eating issues would never end around here, but now the same little girl eats everything from raw veggies to steak!!! So, good luck and hang in there. If you continue to have problems you might want to check with your Pediatrician because some kids really do have tactile sensitivity to food and there is therapy for that. Let me know if there is anything else that I can do to help.
C.
Forget the baby food and multi-textured foods for now, mom! Food is one of the power issues between parent and child. The best thing you can do for now is to let it go. Start your son on finger foods right away. Let him feed himself. At 17 months of age, he's plenty big enough to do this. It will create a happier atmosphere at mealtime and will give him more of a sense of independence. From age 1 to 3 years for lunch or supper, he only needs 1/2 cup of milk or juice, 1/4 cup of fruits and veggies, 1/4 ounce of meat or meat alternative, 1/2 slice of bread or bread alternate. Here are some meat alternatives....1 ounce of cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup of dry beans or peas cooked, or 2 tblsp. of peanut butter (under supervision), or 4 ounces of yogurt. Give him a chewable multi-vitamin each day, if you are concerned about his nutrition. But he'll be fine. For breakfast, he only needs milk, juice or fruit or veggie, and a grain in the same measurements as above. You've got plenty of time to get him to try the other things. It will come with time. Don't worry if more of it lands on the floor at first. Just give him the measured amounts and let him have more when he cleans his tray off. Let me know how it goes. Good luck and God Bless. http://www.MissBrenda.com
Have you tried putting food in those mesh baby feeders. That way the food will come out all one consistency. Just a thought.
RC
Im in Keller, Texas, and know EXACTLY what you're going through. My son stopped gagging himself on purpose at a little earlier than yours has but it will stop. As soon as they make the connection that shoving my hand down my throat causes an unpleasant experience... they'll stop. My first one did this too, so I'm assuming it's perfectly normal. THey just found another place to put their fingers/hands.
Currently, my 18 month old doesn't gag, per se, on multi textured foods, he just won't have anything to do with them. We are STILL on stage 2 foods as well...for the most part. I've tried stage 3 (with those little teeny chunks in it) - the first time he DID gag. The 2nd time he wouldn't even have anything to do with it. Everyone else I know with kids this age -- their children eat vegetables, pasta, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, etc. not mine. He WILL eat those gerber puff things, cheerios (just the regular ones.. the other ones have a sugary coating that make them a little less quick to soften up), he will eaet smuckers uncrustables (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with no crusts -- in the freezer section). I can't get him to eat a vegetable to save his life. I think it has something tod o with textures. He hates anythign realy with a mushy texture. I've had another friend suggest smoothies or getting a juicer and juicing veggies and putting them in a shake -- carrot juice would be a good addition to apple juice b/c it's sweet, etc. I'm just holding onto the hope that since I've never seen a 5 year old eating baby food.. it is just a control thing and he will move past it. If you want to chat, feel free to e-mail me back, maybe we can figure out something together for us both! Good luck.
both my daughters were this way.i also had a friend who's daughter couldn't even eat 2nd foods for the longest time. my pediatrician told me if i wanted to keep them on baby food to go ahead. just to keep trying the other foods and they'll eventually get used to it. i always boilled frozen veggies broc.and culliflower till very tender. it gets a little mushy but makes it easier for them to eat it and get it down w/out gagging. try it and see. just keep your baby on baby food until ready they'll let you know don't worry. you're actually lucky your child has a great gag reflex it keeps them from choking easily,the ped. told me that. Good luck!!!!
S.,
I would definitely talk to your pediatrician about this. It is probably nothing unusual, but when my little girl was having a major gag reflex, my pediatrician referred us to Headstart (I think that's right - it's the early childhood intervention program provided by your local school). She thought there might be speech development issues down the road for us, etc. As it turned out, everything was fine. Lily still doesn't eat highly textured food (at 15 mos), so I mash everything. I feed her 2nd stage foods but also mash bananas, etc, for her to try. I probably need to talk to our developmental pediatrician about it - Lily was born early and maybe it relates to that.
Good luck with feeding!
S.
My son had a hard time switching to our food from baby food. We started him on muffins and bread. He gradually moved to other foods on his own, once he got the hang of more solid foods. Hang in there, it just takes a little time.
Have you spoken w/ your peditrician? I would suggest ruling out SID (Sensory Integration Disorder) - it often manifests itself with difficulty eating texture, loud sounds, "itchy" tags or socks, etc. If it goes undetected (as it did for years with our son) it can lead to problems in school, even misdiagnosis of ADHD. It may turn out to be just a stage, but if I were you, I'd want to rule out a medical problem. Good luck!
my sister's daughter has reflex problem and she could not eat chunky foods either so my sister had to put her food in a blender until her daughter grew out of it.
my son is 12 months and he is still eating the 2nd stage foods as well. But is interested in table foods, but it is a slower transition because he recently teethed all at once at 11 months old.
Have you talked with your pediatrician? My son has reflux and takes a prevacid tablet 2x a day. That helps keep the foods down.
Good Luck
S.-
Our son also had these issues and would gag himself into throwing up. We had him evaluated, and he did have sensory issues. We took him for speech therapy (even though he wasn't talking yet) and they worked with him to strengthen mouth and tongue muscles. He is fine now (at 3 yrs), but is still a picky eater and will gag if he doesn't like a new food. Good luck - it does get easier.
-L.
