11 Month Old Holding Food in His Mouth

Hi S., keep walking away, but take the food with you, keep him there til he swallows, if he spits it out or lests it fall out of his mouth, he's done, take him down and wait til the next meal. he has to learn that you will not put up with if. J. L.

Sounds like he's teething and his lil gums hurt... Go get some baby oragel Mom.
He is hungry, it's a new thing for him for sure. He does not know what to do with the hurt in his gums and the food in his mouth..
Just try it and after a minute its applied to his gums start feeding him.
I'm sure this will solve your problem..
Good luck Mom, your doing great !!! Remember he's teaching you as you teach him
XO H.

Your situation brings back many memories of my daughter. She also used to hold food in her mouth. We would call her chipmonk. We never took it seriously, but however we always made sure she swallowed her food or spit it out because we did not want her choking on her food. Let your son sit in his high chair until he is done eating. Just be patient. When he is done he will let you know. Good luck.

Hi,

My son does this exact thing, it's completely maddening! (Plus, our daycare lady says that the other kids his age do it too, so I guess it's normal). Either the meal takes 30-45 minutes, or I give up when he's only eaten a few bites and free him from the chair. Tried everything under the sun, and just last night I came across something that worked like a charm :)

Okay, first I give him a bite of whatever it is that he's hating (usually something with texture--homemade food--I'm trying to get away from the jarred baby food). He immediately starts whining and twisting his head from side to side. THEN, I fill the spoon with some fruit that he loves, and just hold the spoon in front of his face. As soon as he sees it, he stops fussing immediately, chews and swallows. Then he'll lean forward and help himself to the fruit. Did this last night, and dinner only took 10-15 minutes! You might have to give him a little taste of the fruit first so he knows what's in the spoon when he sees it.

I also tried giving him sips of water, either from a sippy or a regular cup (which he loves, apparently it's great fun). The water will make him swallow, but it would only work for a bite or two before he stopped drinking.

Anyway, I hope this helps, and wish you the best of luck...I think these toddler years will be much more difficult than the first year, but they're pretty rewarding too. Have fun!

My son did the same thing for a little bit. He had been eating solids as well for a while and just started holding his food in his mouth. I think it was a texture thing for him even though he'd eaten it before, his taste buds were changing and as he was getting older the same things felt different in his mouth. That's my guess. He did grow out of it in a couple weeks. He just stopped doing it after a while. I remember getting frustrated b/c I didn't want him to go hungry but I learned that they will eat when they are hungry and they won't starve themselves.
Good luck.

I did this as a little girl and I think I remember my mother writing in my baby book that I had huge tonsils and adenoid which might have hurt when I swallowed, so I just kept food in my cheeks like a chipmunk. Whether in fact this was true I don't know. I was a small child and not very interested in food except for a few items. My parents didn't want to make too much of an issue over eating because I was very small and they didn't want me not wanting to eat even more. In those days it was more common to get tonsils taken out and when my older sister had hers out because she seemed to have tonsillitis alot, mine were taken too. So....maybe swallowing hurts your son too.

Check to see if he has any teeth coming in, that will surely effect eating habits. Any signs of sore throat?
If he stops eating, finish up and wait till the next feeding. You don't want it to be a bad experience and turn into a power struggle. He'll eat when he's ready.

BOTH of my sons did this. With the first I made the mistake of making an issue about it. So it became an issue. Every meal time became a struggle of trying to get him to finish until I finally just decided not to say a word about it anymore and, yes, just end the mealtime. Then the problem went away. With my second one, I couldn't believe it when he started doing the SAME THING!! Well, this time I knew not to even make any issue of it and it passed very quickly with him. Just pleasantly end the meal time and ask him to spit it out in a napkin if it's soemthing he might choke on after he gets up. With mine, sometimes I wouldn't even know they had something in there and then 20 minutes later they'd come over and spit this gross lump out! It's probably just another "weird" phase!

I have some insight on this behavior. This is a sensory integration developmental issue. My son was in therapy for speach, fear of new foods, he would only would eat maybe 5 kinds of food (OT = Occupational Therapy) and other sensory delays. It also included behaviors like he didn't like certain textures like wet grass, any grass, he would just sit there until you picked him up, he didn't like sand, things like that.
I strongly recomend that you contact the Regional Center of Orange County. In the state of California you can qualify and receive FREE therapy for your child for issues like these until he is 3 years old. Holding food in his mouth is a symptom or sign of this sensory delay and can be addressed and fixed. You are so lucky he is only 11 months! you have so much time to address his issues and gain knowledge you both will benefit from. Your boy only has to show a delay of 30% (I think?) in only one area to qualify for free therapy. So this may be his only symptom and that is enough. Its so worth it!!!
They will come to your home and do an assessment on your child and ask you a number of questions about him and then say if he qualifies or not and then set you up with a facility convient for you to take him weekly (could be up to 3 times a week depending). Once you call them they have only 45 days to get you set up with a therapist so they don't waist time and you can start helping him and helping you understand.
Just know you are not alone and nothing is "wrong" with your boy at all! My boy did the same thing and he is now 4 1/2 and will now try new foods and eats very well with no holding in his mouth.

here is the website with a list of their OC offices, just call the main number and the rest all works out. Its easy and life changing :)

http://www.rcocdd.com/contact/contact.asp

Have a fantastic afternoon!
J.

The 1rst thing that came to my mind was that he could have a sore throat. He may realize this after swallowing 2 bites. I don't know how many days this has been going on, but if it continues a trip to the doctor might be a good idea. Hope you get some good advice.

Sandy

New mommy it's ok, give him a few SAFE healthy finger foods and YOU sit down and
show him how much fun it is to enjoy a meal. They will eat when hungry. My baby is 21.
Love Ya, D.

How are his bowls? Is he gassy? Maybe he's found that raising his leg alleviates that discomfort?

Kids often do this... and it's a phase.
Just make sure he does not choke...or get the food lodged in his throat.

Aside from that, perhaps take him to the Doctor.
SOMETIMES, food storing in the mouth can mean other things....for example: my son has a Speech Therapist because he is a late talker (he was assessed and there is nothing "wrong" with him but he just doesn't want to talk and is bi-lingual so he is taking longer)...anyway, during the assessment, the Speech Therapist asked if he stores food in his mouth. (my son did but not anymore). BUT the reason she asked is that she said it SOMETIMES indicates a mouth/oral coordination problem.... and this can also affect their speech/talking ability later.

If you do a Google search on this topic, there are things that will turn up.

I just would not punish him for it. Don't turn it into a "control" issue. But just watch him for safety/choking etc.

All the best,
Susan