Help Mamas… My 2 year old has been holding food in his cheeks. Sometime he will just chew and chew for up to am hour. He does this about half way through the meal and has done it with meat, veggies, bread… just about anything.
I am frustrated because he never gets through his meal anymore. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
My nephew did the exact same thing! I think it lasted for about 6 months, then he quit doing it. Whenever I would babysit him, I would watch him carefully and wouldn't let him put another bite into his mouth until he swallowed the one he had. He, of course, was more obedient of me than he was of his parents at the time.
Hi E.,
My daughter did that too, and I have worked with children whom have also "pocketed" their food. I have had a lot of success with singing a little "chew, chew, chew, and swallow" song. It was a great reminder, kept it fun, and songs are always catchy and a great way to remember to do things.
I hope this is helpful : )
My daughter does this a well, but it has gotten much better. I just ask her to spit it out and she does sometimes she will eat a little more most of the time she does not. I think they are just done eating and it is away for them not to have to put anymore food in their mouths. I would just start asking him to give it to mommy put it in a napkin and ask him if is done eating. They go through the not wanting to eat very much stage and I think it is the worst at 2.
I JUST went through this with my 2.5 year old. He did this for about 3 weeks- chewing food, holding it in his cheeks and then spitting it out or had to make him spit it out. I took him to the doctor to test for strep-negative, they ran x-rays to make sure he hadn't swallowed anything-negative, teeth,gums, tonsils-negative. He just started eating and swallowing this week. I supplemented with Nutripals in the interim to make sure he was getting something nutritious down, but the advice i would offer is to put the food out for him to eat and put it away when the meal time is over. Although i was very concerned he wasn't eating, i didn't want to create "attention" to it and make it worse. Business as usual seemed to work and whatever was bothering him has gone away and he's eating liek normal again.
