10 mo old gagging on chunky solids

[lizajane]

my sweet noodle is gagging and coughing when i feed him chunky solids. it just gets worse and worse! he did fine with purees, and then i thought he was doing ok with food milled stuff. then i started to fork mash or chop stuff up, or let him eat finger foods... and he started with this fake cough thing. but now he seems to actually be gagging/coughing some of the time. other times, i think he is making the gag sounds on purpose. i dunno...

i am worried that he will be way behind if he doesn't eat finger foods soon (as in, we will have trouble getting him to eat anything after 12 months that isn't pureed!) but i can't force him to eat something that makes him gag!

i hope it is because he has been sick and he is just being testy.

any other gaggers? help?

[barbarhow]

Liza-I read about this in Satter the other night. She said that the gagging thing is them learning how to cope with the new consistency and that it is all a part of the process. Jack sometimes does this with the chunkier foods. He was taking finger foods 2 weeks ago but now will have nothing to do with them-only wants me to feed him. I have these mental pictures of me spoon feeding him in a high school cafeteria...
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Logan gags sometimes when she is learning how to get a new texture down her throat. She gagged on cheerios at first, even though I broke them in quarters. She gagged a lot on broccoli the other night (see my thread about that).

I just let her gag and don't get all excited over it. I can see in her mouth that she is trying to work it to the right place to swallow it. I figure it is all part of the practice and figuring it out.

Sometimes (this is gross) it comes back out and some water comes with it. I just reassure her and move on to the next bite if she still wants more.

edited to add: Try Earths Best Chunky Orchard Fruits. It is pureed, but thicker and there are some chunks in it. Maybe it will be good practice for him, Logan loves it and did not gag on it.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[cinrein]

You got some good advice on the eating part. I just wanted to comment that Anna does the fake gag too. It started when DH had a cold and was really coughing. Anna decided to imitate him and we laughed, so a star was born. Once she gets going, she does actually gag herself with all the forced coughing/gagging. Just try to act like nothing is happening. I'm sorry we inadvertently encouraged her, but it was so funny the first couple times. :)

Cindy and Anna 2/11/03

[lrg]

I am so glad to see others with the same problem as me! I was about to put a post up asking for advice on getting my 10 month old to feed himself (also a b-day of 3/27) when I saw this post. He gags any time a solid-ish particle of food makes its way to the back, center of his tongue and in most cases, vomits.

He has no interest in feeding himself other than 2 or 3 tries of a corn puff per sitting. Anything else (cheese, tofu chunks, cut up grapes, cooked carrots, cooked apple) he just plays with. Mostly plays with the cereal, too. One hard thing we're dealing with is that my father has a wheat allergy, so no wheat for baby until he's a year, hence the corn puffs (which are a little larger than I'm comfortable with) instead of cheerios. (so no noodles, no bread)

Sometimes, he regresses on eating solid food, period. Pureed and all. Additionally, my little one isn't a big fan of drinking juice or water, either. So, I'm here to say you're not alone and I'm glad to find out that I am not, too!

However, if anyone has advice on getting them to learn to feed themselves for us...

[barbarhow]

No sippy cups for us either. Its the boob or an occasional bottle for my little star. I have tried every sippy known to man, we have tried to get him to drink from a cup, nope, no go, no way. We have started mixing extra ebm with his cereal to try and get extra fluids into him. You are definately not alone. Our March babes are stubborn aren't they???
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03

[lizajane]

i buy organic wheat free cereals at whole foods. "morning o's" are just like cheerios, but with no wheat. you may want to give them a try, as they tend to be a HUGE hit. that might get the ball rolling, since you said he likes his puffs.

sometimes, i feed schuyler his finger food, to get him started. we are still working on not gagging his chunky foods, but he can eat bits of brown rice pasta or green beans, for example. i put a bite in his mouth for him to "show him what it is for" and that he can EAT the green stuff on his tray!

[lrg]

I'll have to try those O's. These corn puffs were the only wheat free cereal I could find in the local grocery organic sections that were the right kind of bite for him to pick up himself. (puffed rice was a no-go) Whole Foods is wonderful but it's like 30 miles from my house! I've been wanting to get down there, though, so maybe I'll make an effort in the near future if I can get a sitter. (not enough time to feed lunch, drive all the way there, shop, and get home in between the 2 daytime naps)

I'm pretty sure he knows what the food on his tray is for, he just doesn't want to do it. I've fed him all of the things. He took a few pieces in the past from me, but gagged and threw up usually. Now he mostly pushes my hand out of the way when I try. Occasionally, I'll catch him doing it with other foods, but it's usually 1 or 2 times with the corn puffs per feeding.

He did do an excellent job of putting almost all of the cheese pieces INTO the tuperware container he was playing with tonight. So, he's got putting the food AWAY down pat. ;o)