Hello,
My 18 month old daughter seems to be growing without any developmental problems - she's talking, walking, and seems perfect fine - except for the fact that she won't swallow anything solid.
She's very interested in what you're eating, and will always put things in her mouth. But then she just lets it sit there and never chews or swallows. I try to show her what chewing and swallowing is, but she's just not doing it. any suggestions? i'm just afraid she's going to choke on something soon, since she loves eating grown-up food and often takes it without you noticing!
also, i'm dying to get off of babyfood!!
Help :)
Thanks everyone, for your comments. My baby girl has her normal check up in a month, and this is something we will definitely bring up. It's just so weird that she can talk so clearly (even hard letter sounds like G and K), but she just will not eat her food. I'll keep you updated!!
She could have sensory processing issues – the textures could simply be confounding or distracting her senses. Do bring this up with your pediatrician. You might also try introducing very small amounts of other textures in her baby food. She may adapt to very gradual changes over time.
Have you brought this up with the pediatrician? I'm surprised if the topic hasn't come up as our ped asks at every appointment if my son is eating well and what he is eating, offering suggestions and such. Is she doing well with the baby food, swallowing it fine? Try giving her what you are eating, but cut it up in very tiny pieces. Start with softer foods that are really easy to mash up. Does she have many teeth? I don't know, but I would definitely talk to your ped about your concerns. They may want you to see a specialist to rule out a chewing/swallowing difficulty or a sensory issue.
oh talk to your pediatrician (or hers rather ; ) and see what they think. kids go in stages, they either walk, or talk, or run, or talk, or ....
she may have issues with textures and consistency, too. Is she sensitive to water/taking a bath also?
It may take a bit. A friend had a child who couldn't tolerate anything until 2.5 years. So she was very lucky her Mom bit the bullet and kept on nursing, else she would have had to go on formula or worse.
good luck,
M.
I would ask my pediatrician for a referal to a speech or occupational therapist who specializes in feeding issues. Even if she is talking fine now, clear articulation is dependent on children using the muscles to chew food, and to move the food from the front, to the back of their mouths. A therapist can help you sort out what the issue is.
M.
I would talk to the dr about this just to make sure. My daughter is now 20 months and she went through this same thing. She was a bit younger though. I even asked a couple questions on here about it :) She would only eat baby food from the packets that you can suck on, nothing from a spoon. When we started her on solids she wanted to eat everything that we were eating but she would just chew it up and then spit it out. I was so worried thats she wasn't getting enough food, but it just took her a little longer to figure it out. Now she is fine. So it could be that she just needs a little more time to figure out what to do with the food, but just to be on the safe side, talk to your dr to make sure there isn't anything else going on. Good luck and I hope you guys figure it out soon! :)
