Does your LO gag/vomit during mealtime?

[megan973]

I'm not quite sure how to deal with our little man's new mealtime activities.

Here's a recap of his feeding:

- EBF through 4 months
- Started rice/oatmeal cereal at 4 months, with some formula
- Started jarred food at 6 months
- Stopped BF around 7 months
- Introduced some solid foods at 9 months

He is currently about 11 months. He will self-feed things like puffs and little baby crackers and such. He does like to eat solid foods, but he tends to gag and/or vomit if they are sticky (i.e fresh banana).

I don't know if he's trying to get attention, or it's a more serious issue. The gagging doesn't seem to bother him at all (sometimes he pulls his tongue, and that starts it). If he ends up vomiting, it doesn't seem to bother him immediately afterwards. He smiles and laughs very soon after.

It's just causing so much anxiety for me that I can't stand it. I am severely afraid of vomit, and I'm just praying we can get through a mealtime without gagging or vomiting.

He doesn't particularly like to try new foods. We've still been giving him rice/oatmeal/mixed grain cereal mixed with formula because he doesn't quite get how to use a sippy cup consistently. He loves water. He likes the Gerber puffs and yogurt pieces. He gags on the infant cereal bars.

I think it's a texture thing, but I don't know how to move past it because I really want him to move away from the jarred foods since (1) he has 4 teeth, (2) he likes feeding himself and (3) they're so expensive, especially when we waste them.

Any suggestions? He has always been in the 95 or 90th percentile for weight and height, so he looks older than 11 months. We get a lot of strange looks from people in restaurants when we still spoon feed him food from a jar. (Also, my niece is 13 months old, and she doesn't eat any type of jarred baby food anymore.)

[BDKmom]

We are having the same problem with my 15 month old. I'm pretty sure it's a texture thing with him. He has been doing this since we started feeding him table food. He does this with anything that has a firmer texture. Only things he will eat non-pureed are puffs, mac and cheese, soft bread, and the "Veggie Sticks" snacks. Everything else I've tried he either chews up and spits out, or, if it starts down his throat, he will cough and gag until it comes back up, usually bringing other stuff with it. We spoke with our pediatrician about this at his 9 month check up, and she said that some kids have more trouble with texture than others, and that some stay on pureed foods until 13-16 months. I can sympatize with the frustration, especially in seeing other kids who are younger eat much more table food.

I have tried to not worry too much and see if it gets better, which it seems to be, slowly. Just started eating mac and cheese last week. Not scheduled for our 15 month check up for another few weeks, but I will definitely bring the issue up then if it continues.

Guess I don't really have any answers, just know how you feel...

[♥ms.pacman♥]

my ds used to gag often. he's now 16 mos and doesn't do it nearly as much as he did before. though he does often gag when eating when he has a really bad cold, or when he puts too much food in his mouth. the other day he was eating this new type of bread (i gave him the whole slice instead of pieces) and he gagged on it and vomited up some food. he didn't seem bothered by it at all. and today at lunch he put too much in his mouth, he gagged and then after he swallowed some food he started laughing (LOL). i don't know, i think it's just part of the learning process of eating new things. from what u describe it doesn't sound like anything so unusual. babies tend to have a strong gag reflex which is good bc it prevents them from choking.

also i don't see anything wrong with feeding jarred/pureed foods after 1yo. my DS had 8 teeth by 9mo, and he loved eating "real" food...yet we still gave him jarred foods past 1 yo when we went out to eat, bc it was often easier/faster than chopping up our food or ordering him his own kids meal. he did like to feed himself, but often that was just too messy and it would take too long. i think by 13-14 mos is when we finally stopped feeding him jarred foods and he was totally on table food. If you search threads on this board you will find the age that babies stopped eating jarred/pureed foods really varies.

eta: u also mentioned trouble with a sippy cup..have u tried a straw cup? my ds never really got the hang of using sippy cups either, nor did he ever learn to hold his own bottle (and he was drinking out of bottles up to 15mos). with a straw though, he's been able to use for the longest time ...it's a lot easier fo rhim bc there's no need to tip to drink..plus when we go out he can jsut drink out of regular cups.

[BDKmom]

my ds never really got the hang of using sippy cups either, nor did he ever learn to hold his own bottle (and he was drinking out of bottles up to 15mos). with a straw though, he's been able to use for the longest time ...it's a lot easier fo rhim bc there's no need to tip to drink..plus when we go out he can jsut drink out of regular cups.

So glad you mentioned that your ds didn't hold his own bottle. Mine doesn't either. He also does much better with a straw than a sippy, so I would definitely recommend OP give that a try. He also does pretty well with a regular cup with help. Trying to wean from bottle, but he's not a big drinker anyway, and is low on the growth charts, so trying to get him those extra calories anyway I can.

[megan973]

Thanks for the support!

DS does like to hold his own bottle. He likes a few sippy cups... but since some tip up and some don't, maybe we have confused him? We have a Tommy Tippee cup that's sort of straw like. Maybe I'll try that.

Thanks again for the responses. I work full-time, and I think it's bringing up some mommy guilt that's he's not doing everything like I thought he would (since I'm not there every day). But, I guess in his own time, he will.

[mikala]

How do you prepare the adult foods for him? At that age we were feeding table foods but still cutting them into either thin slivers for hand feeding, small cubes or microwaving/steaming to make them a little softer. We also had luck with soup w/ lots of veggies or rice. I'd pull out a bowl w/ extra solids and let him go to town.

Your son's reaction doesn't sound abnormal and he'll probably become more adventurous w/ textures soon as you keep offering him things off your plate.

This recipe was also really useful and we did it a lot w/ small pasta w/o pureeing everything so he had some healthy finger foods in different textures:
http://annies-eats.net/2009/06/13/adventures-in-homemade-baby-food-pasta-with-very-veggie-sauce/

As a bonus it is tasty enough for an adult meal so you can eat it yourself if the kiddo doesn't like it.