Mouth stuffing/swallowing things whole?

[Frankys Mum]

Hi all, I'm new here and what a fab community this is

Has anyone else experienced their little ones stuffing heaps of food in their mouth every time they eat? My guy is 20 months and stuffs his mouth really full every time he eats and swallows a lot of things whole (once he swallowed half a piece of toast and gagged and it came back up again whole, ew!) If we offer him smaller amounts at a time he seems to just swallow it whole, pushing it in with his finger.

I talked to our health nurse recently and she said he should be eating like a 'normal person' now (?!) which he definitely isn't!

I'd love to hear others' experiences and whether this is something their little ones have grown out of or tips to help with this?

Thanks!

[Ima shel Alon]

Do you mind if I listen in? 'cause we have the same issue, we always did. I really don't know what to do, even now when DS is at an age that I cam talk and he understand and communicated back we don't manage to tackle it

[Frankys Mum]

Please do listen in! Did your wee guy have issues with feeding prior to solids at all? All this has got me thinking because we have had a number of feeding challenges from day one.


Hopefully some people with experience and advice will come along soon

[Ima shel Alon]

I wouldn't call it issues... He was always very hungry, so much that I had to stop BF early on because it was so so demanding. He always had more in his bottles than "supposed to", more solids than other babies had and he hardly ever refused any solid food.
When he was a bit older, like 1.5yo, I used to make his food in his own plate. For example we used to sit for supper and DH and I would eat bread and spreads and stuff from the table but DS had his piece of bread, egg, cucumber already on the plate, cut and ready to eat. But I realized that he stuffs his mouth even more like that, so we started having him ask for what he wants to eat from the table. Since then and now as well I don't give him a whole slice of bread or the whole egg he is eating, but only half of it and when he finishes it he can have the other half.
When he was younger we cut his food, like bread for example, and he ate it with a fork - even that didn't make him eat slower and I felt that he is not using his hands enough eating so we stopped cutting the food.

[anna*]

We had this with Stan. He just had'nt realised that chewing was part of the deal I think. So we did lots of modelling (exaggerated chewing) at the table, reminding him to 'cut it with your teeth', loud crunching of crunchy foods etc. I think the best was telling him his teeth are like sharp knives and can he cut the food with them.

[brummum]

Gatecrashing if that's okay?! We have another crammer/stuffer over here. I have been drip feeding him his food because if he has it all infront of him it just gets shovelled straight in and down. His dad eats the same way though! ;-)

[Ima shel Alon]

LOL, C, I often think that Alon got it from me! I eat so fast myself, surely he picked it up .

[speechie]

Mouth stuffing can be a normal part of development, and sometimes a clue for sensory or oral apraxia issues,
Take a look at this link,...
http://www.new-vis.com/fym/papers/p-feed11.htm
Written bya speech path with feeding experience. HTH!

[Frankys Mum]

Hmm, we definitely talk to him about chewing but it hasn't seemed to have made any difference at this stage.  I love the 'teeth being like sharp knives' though!!

Thanks for the link Speechie. I think I might have another chat to our doctor about it all. She seemed to think it wasn't really an issue because he sometimes seems to eat normally, usually a couple of bites before the stuffing begins, and maybe it is something he'll grow out of.

We have had a lot of issues with feeding from day one with our guy, breastfeeding issues galore, he was slow to take to solids, has been very picky, and we still have to be very careful about what we give him as he often (1-3 times a week) seems to inhale bits of food when he's eating and has coughing/gagging fits (it's not fully choking, but not his normal gagging from swallowing something too big that he does occasionally  too) I have no idea whether this is in the realms of normal but a few people have commented on his eating recently and that maybe we should talk to someone about it.

We have tried just giving him little bits at a time but he seems to swallow things whole then! The doctor actually suggested trying to give him really big things so he has to bite bits off and chew but that just leads to stuffing of course...

I think I might make another appointment tomorrow and talk to the doctor again about it all.

Thanks everyone.

[Ima shel Alon]

The doctor actually suggested trying to give him really big things so he has to bite bits off and chew but that just leads to stuffing of course...

This happens here as well. I hope you can get some answers soon from the Dr.

Cathie, that is so interesting and helpful, thank you. Alon is doing some of the things she mentions like preferring "strong" foods like lemon and pickles. He also puts the food to far down or at the top of his mouth and then when it falls down to the mouth he is gagging on it.
I thought that it's all bad habits but maybe there is more into it.

[speechie]

Frankys Mum, what you describe sounds like feeding issues that a speech or feeding specialist would want to address, especially with the history of difficult feedings, I think it is a good thing to discuss with the MD. I am not a pediatric speech path, but maybe someone irl can take a peek.

Ima shel Alon, any speech issues to go with it? Sometimes kids with oral motor issues that aren't just developmental can have other overlapping clues like later speech development etc...

Hope that was helpful, I don't want to make anyone worry unnecessarily, as sometimes these things are more of a stage.

[Ima shel Alon]

No, Cathie, I am not worried or anything, just interested. If I can help him in any way it would be great
I don't think there are speech problems. Considering he lives in a house with 3 languages he is doing pretty great. He even corrects himself if he says a German word to me, lol, and knows that in kindergarten it's only German.

[brummum]

Has got me thinking, little man has big issues with teeth brushing and only has a few words (although receptive is fine). Tried to get a look in his mouth after meals today but he just won't play ball. Hmmm... Will have to do a bit more reading.

[Frankys Mum]

We have huge issues with teeth brushing too brummum, our little guy is not keen on anyone/anything approaching his mouth (we have never been able to spoon feed him either) It's tricky huh? We don't want to force it to make it a horrible experience for him and put him off for life, but looking after teeth is so important.

Thanks for your input everyone. I took some eating videos to the doctor and we have had a referral put through to the hospital to follow up on this. It's so hard to know with little ones what are just normal developmental stages or quirks and what warrants further investigation, especially with your first when you have no comparison!

[speechie]

Keep us updated! Good idea to take videos!!

[Frankys Mum]

Hi all,

I just wanted to update just in case anyone is interested or it helps anyone

We're still having mouth stuffing issues here but things possibly seem to have slightly improved, although the little guy is now often using his arm to push/keep food in his mouth which is annoying because he only likes wearing long sleeves!

There was a bit of a wait for an appointment but we have now seen a paediatrician and a speech language therapist and been given some tips from a dietician and occupational therapist. The conclusion was that there doesn't seem to be any physical reason for his eating style and that he appears to have some sensory issues which are contributing, and is maybe a bit 'immature' when it comes to feeding.

They said he is definitely on the more limited scale of foods he will eat but we are doing the right things and as he is growing well and developmentally doing really well we are basically to continue what we are doing and hope that he will figure things out through experience. We also got a few tips on toothbrushing which is good but have yet to have much luck there. The more I think about it the more the sensory thing makes sense when it comes to a lot of things throughout his life which is interesting.

I hope all the other mouth stuffers out there are doing ok?