my 13 month old has been gagging on table food and consequently throwing up what he has choked on and everything else that's in his stomach. it does not matter what the food is, size, texture, etc. he loves to eat, so that's not the issue either. because of this he is still on baby food and toddler formula (which he will only take out of a bottle, but that's also the only way that he's going to get enough formula to get the nutrition he needs). he has had a barium swallow test and all anatomy and physiology is normal and working properly. has anyone had this problem with their baby? i'm just so concerned w/his health and nutrition...
I would keep exposing him to some table foods for the next coupe of months. If he doesn't make any progress you may want to have him evaluated to see how he swallows. Good luck!
Some kids take longer to get used to harder solids then others. Don't rush him, just continue to offer them but in very tiny pieces. Gerber offers a great line of super soft diced veggies and fruits and even meat sticks. Make sure he knows to mush them up with his gums or whatever teeth he has. If he doesn't have many teeth that could be the real culprit. I would break the habit of the bottle, catering to him right now will just encourage this behavior too. Give him sippy cups slowly and offer even the Pediasure drinks with lot's of vitamins. If your Dr isn't concerned with him still being on formula or baby food, I wouldn't worry. They do have formulas now based for toddlers over 1 that has what he needs for nutrition. Hang in there.
My son did this for so long and it was so frustrating. Finally I realized he was doing it unpurpose and my pediatrician told me to walk away from him without responding everytime he did it and let him throw up on himself. I know this sucks because it requires clean up but I only had to do for a few days and he stopped. Good Luck.
I have a friend who's son used to choke on his food too, but he never choked on his bottle either. This might be a total different problem but never hurts to check, he was what they call "tongue tied" the little thing under his tongue was messed up and they had to clip it, once they did that he could then eat correctly and stopped choking. I hate to say this but the doctors here in yuma area never was able to find out what was wrong with him, it wasn't until they moved to another state and the doctors there found it.. good luck. L.
Hi L.,
My son is going to be 14 months old and he was like this for the longest time I can remember. He's come a long way and he's still eating Stage 3 babyfood. I also have been frustrated but I try not to over react when he gags and throws up and just be at hand to make sure he's okay. I encourage him to feel and examine the foods I am giving him even if he can't eat them yet without gagging and throwing them up.
I know it's frustrating but I do the best I can in exposing him to new foods and being patient. That's what my doctor recommended. He wasn't sent for any tests at least not for now as his pediatrician says that he will eventually outgrow it by the time he's 18 months old or sooner. If he doesn't then ofcourse he will send him for tests.
How many teeth does your son have?
Good luck and feel free to write to me if you need any advice of snacks that I have used to help him get better with chewing his food better.
Hi L.! I had the same problem with my son, just maybe not as severe. I would try to feed him bread and chicken and other normal people food and he would choke and throw up everything at least once a day. It broke my heart and it made me really dread feeding time. I just had to keep babying him by only offering small pieces and watching him very closely, which I'm sure you're already doing. My son does have severe food allergies so I just thought it may have had something to do with that. But now I think that he just had to go through that to learn how to eat right. He is now 16 months and is doing great. He rarely chokes, and if he does, he doesn't throw up. Hopefully, it works out like that for you. Maybe he just needs time to get the hang of it. In the mean time, keep the Spot Shot handy to clean up all the messes. Also, I just got him on a sippy cup for his milk about a month ago so don't sweat that. I hope this helped. Take care.
L.,
I would look into allergies. My son began the gagging thing around eight months. We had a full scan of the GI to see if there was anything going on. Unfortunatly this showed nothing. At a loss we continued to a GI Dr. and after a few tests and guesses, found about about the allergies. Milk protien allergy is his toughest one, and not knowing the formula was hurting him. Allergens become irritants, and as this progresses his insides became inflamed, causing him to gag and vomit. After about a month (maybe it was closer to two) he was able to eat foods!! We still have issues once in awhile if something slips into his diet, but the boy I never knew was sad is now clearly happy!! It may be worth asking about!! Good luck and I hope it just turns out that he is being stubborn!! :)
Does he gag himself or is it just when he is eating? I had trouble with my 18 month old a few months ago gagging himself all the time and he would do it until he threw up. I was very worried but found out it's just another crazy thing our kids love to do:) He has since outgrown it and has no problems eating. I supplemented his milk with Kefir every day and that ensured me that he was getting his nutrients plus it's a good probiotic. Good luck.
My son did this at 12 mos when I was trying to offer more regular foods. he would eat it then gag and throw up like on almost everything we gave him. He was fine with liquids (milk and juice) and baby food just not regular texture foods. The pediatrian just told us to keep him on baby foods but offer different textures and give him time to adapt. By 15 mos he was on all reg food. But he is my first and it kind of freaked me out.
A specific barium swallow might give you more information. In a specific swallow, they test all sorts fo different textures and consistencies. Also, does he has reflux? When we started treating our son's reflux, the gagging and choking went away. We also were told to do Poly-Vi-Sol vitamins with iron. Hope you find a good solution!
