Hi, I have a 15 month old son who still is not able to eat foods that are not pureed. He gags on/vomits or spits out any food with texture or chunks. I think there are a few things going on. He has some trouble chewing but also once the food gets to the back of his mouth he has trouble getting it down (swallowing). As a result he spits out any chunks in his food or gags on them/vomits. For example, if I give him chunky applesauce, he spits out the chunks. If I give him cottage cheese he spits out the curds. If I give him peach yogurt he spits out the tiny tiny pieces of peach. He has interest in food and it is mostly not a taste thing. He enjoys picking up foods and putting them in his mouth he just spits them out. If I give him the dissolvable puffs, he picks one up, puts it in his mouth for a few seconds and then spits it out and then picks up a new one, etc.
I discussed it with my doctor who said we can see a speech therapist or wait it out. My son is still on the next stage formula to make sure he is getting enough nutrients. He is in the 6th percentile for weight so the doctor’s main concern is getting enough nutrients in him. Developmentally everything is on track. He has a few words, sings the abc song on his own and has been walking since 12 months.
I am wondering if anyone out there has experienced this sort of thing? Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this and do you have any ideas to help my son learn to eat that I have not thought of. Also, has anyone sent their child to therapy for this issue. What did the therapist actually do and did it help? Thanks moms!
Thanks to everyone who responded. Because of the responses I called and made an appointment for my son to see a therapist at Children's Mem. It took a while to get an appointment so I am glad I did not wait any longer!
We met with the feeding therapist today and he identified 2 issues with Aidan’s difficulty eating. First, his tongue is not moving the way it should. When we eat the tongue moves food to the sides and then back down your throat. His tongue is not moving the food to the sides so the food gets stuck in no man’s land and causes him to gag and vomit. So we have several exercises/techniques to work on to build the muscles in his tongue.
Second, he has a sensory issue where he has a physical aversion to any texture. For instance the therapist crushed a cheerio to dust an mixed it in with his yogurt. When Aidan tried to eat this slightly textured food he made faces and had some difficulty but did swallow it. So we have some techniques to desensitize his mouth to different textures.
I personally feel better now that we have identified the issues (I am not crazy) and have a game plan in place. We will follow up with the therapist in 3 weeks. He said we should see some progress between now and then. At that point we will develop a further game plan. He may be ok with continuing working with us at home or we may have a therapist come into the house weekly or something like that.
I know in the grand scheme this is not that big a thing. We are so blessed that Aidan is healthy and thriving. Hopefully, he will be eating normally in no time!
PS Maria, It sounds like our children have the same issue! Let me know if you want to chat.
I am a speech-language pathologist and agree with your ped that having your son checked by an SLP is a great idea. There are many things that could be causing this little difficulty and an evaluation is the perfect way to check and provide suggestions, therapy, if needed, etc. Feel free to email me with any questions in the meantime. Good luck!
I am a speech pathologist who typically works with adults, however, being in the field, I have seen first hand the success of speech pathologist with children just like yours. I am going to refer you to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's professional web site. There it has some descriptions of what a speech therapist might do. It is www.asha.org and then go to the "for the public" section and you will find some "questions on swallowing for children" and it may help you decide the direction to go. My cousin's little girl sounds exactly like your baby. She had wonderful success in a short amount of time with her speech therapist. good luck.
My son had a gagging problem when he was like 9 mths... and we couldn't figure out what it was till he got the stomach flu and had to STOP formula... when he wasn't on formula, he could eat find, no puking/gagging etc. Back on formula he had issues again. I talked with the ped and they said that he was having Formula Induced Lactose intolerance. We switched him to soy (since he was under a year) and regular milk at a year, and he hasn't had a problem. The reason they said he was gagging was because his stomach was probably churning and eating more, was sort of making him sick. Not sure if that's YOUR issue, but usually you stop formula at a year, so you might see a difference if he was off it...
GOOD luck!
Hi E., My daughter, 13 months, is having the same problem. She puts table foods like cherrios, puffs, graham crackers but, just spits it out or it makes her vomit. I went to a speech/swallow specialist however, they are not helping too much. So, I am going to try to get an appointment with Children's Memorial Hospital to see another speech/swallow specialist. Maybe your son has reflux. My daughter has reflux and is on Zantac. The reflux may impact aversely affect his desire to eat chunkier foods. I was told by the speech/swallow specialist to slowly increase the thickness of her food by adding a thicker puree of the baby food. However, they discourage stage 3 foods. If you would like to talk more about this, you can reach me at the following e-mail address ____@____.com't give up and Good Luck, A.
I am with the others. Definitely get your child evaluated (and treated by) a qualified speech therapist. My son didn't have swallowing issues, but had gagging issues, and hated baby food; it was like torturing him to feed him. His issues turned out to have more to do with sensory issues as well as hypotonia of cheeks and tongue (he couldn't manipulate his tongue to deal with almost any solid foods.) Even though we started speech therapy at about 15 months,(He just turned 4) it took 3-4 speech therapists until we were able to get past the issues. Unfortunately, he now has emotional issues with food-"it's scary." The emotional anxiety that he tied into food has taken longer to deal with than the actual physical problem. Get your child help now, before it becomes an emotional issue. Your child should qualify for a free evaluation and sliding scale for treatment through the state's Early Intervention program. Just make sure to do research and make sure your assigned therapist is qualified and experienced with your child's issues-we lost valuable time as a result of that, as well.....
When I read your post it sounds so much like my son. However, my son was in the hospital for 13 months and on a venitlator - so they called it an oral adversion.
Now he is 2 1/2yrs old and we are just now getting him to swallow the puffs that dissolve. He still spits out everything. He does have a speech therapist for the past 1 1/2 now. She tells me that we just need to keep trying this stuff. Keep trying new textures and eventually he will not gag anymore when it hits the back of his neck. He just needs to get use to it.
I wonder if your little one gagged at one point and is now afraid of swallowing? Was there anything that could have caused an oral adversion?
Also, we add calories to Johns diet by adding cereal and oil to his sippy cup. He is in the 5th percentile for his weight. If that does become and issue you can try that...
Good Luck! I know how frustrating it can be to get your child to eat.
Barb
Johnny's Mommy
www.carepages.com
CP: johnrmurphy
Does he eat the same food pureed and not spit it out or vomit? I was wondering about a food allergy reaction or protective aversion. Like he knows it's not good for him.
Some kids with a non-IgE allergy (serious still, but not anaphylactic) have swallowing issues, failure to thrive, vomiting etc. It's called EOS - Eosinophilic (ee oh sin oh fill ick) disorders occur when the body reacts to trigger(s) by creating too many white blood cells (eosinophils) which hang out in inappropriate places creating trouble. White blood cells target germs and other invaders; in eos kids, they recognize normally harmless things as *enemies*.
Symptoms include any of the following; only ONE is necessary to justify testing. Vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain (which the child may not recognize - a child who grows up in pain assumes it is normal), FTT, GERD/reflux. Eos kids also frequently have eczema, asthma, and multi-food allergies (diagnosed or not - eos kids may test negative to everything).
Eos disorder is classified by where the eos hang out. So, a child may have eosinophilic esophagitis, eosinophilic colitis, etc. EE, EC, etc are all forms of EGID - eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorder.
For more info go to www.apfed.org or www.kidswithfoodallergies.org
You could ask your doctor or a speech pathologist for a swallow study. This involves your child drinking a substance and they use x rays to watch the way the mouth and esophagus etc digest and swallow food/liquid. It is very helpful and could answer a lot of questions. It also could be a tactile issue with food textures.
