Anyone else have a kid who chipmunked food?

[preshi]

My 2 yr old has been storing his food in his cheeks when he eats. He's a scrawny little guy and a picky eater so we try to have food out for him most of the day. Recently he has been storing the food in his cheek and not chewing it. I can't figure it out. If you tell him to open his mouth he goes "No!!" I think he knows this isnt something he should be doing. I dont get it, we cut his food up into small enough pieces we make him things that are tasty. It's not that he doesn't want to eat it he just likes to store it and sometimes we dont notice for 10-15 minutes that he hasn't actually eaten it that he's kept it for later! Anyone else have this happen? Or am I the only one with a little Dale?

 

[hentob]

Does he have any type of speech delay? My HFA son has an expressive language disorder and was a big-time food packer. His speech therapist didn't even bat an eye. She saw it all the time. Apparently, he loved the feel of a full mouth. That way, he didn't HAVE to talk. Plus, as part of the autism, he liked the texture of different foods touching the insides of his cheeks She made it part of his IEP to stop the packing. Took about a year or so. He will soon be seven and has no food issues at all anymore.

As a side note--He loves to watch videos of himself when he was little. And when he sees how he shoved his food, he always looks puzzled and says "Why did I do that?"

 

[Kirby]

My daughter used to do that when she was a baby. It used to drive my husband nuts! We would feed her baby food and she would just pack it into her cheeks, eating it at her leisure.

 

[famofsix]

My poor niece did this and then she would spit it out after awhile. She ended up getting checked at the doctors and they found her tonsils were huge and needed to be removed! After the tonsils were out she had a huge growth spurt. I think she was around two or three at the time. Just make sure there's not a medical reason your little on wants to be Dale beyond just being a little silly.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

DS doesn't do this exactly, but he will stuff his mouth full of food until he's almost choking. It's been really frustrating for DH and I, but DS is slowly getting the idea that he cannot have another bite until he swallows what is already in his mouth.

Glad to know my kid isn't the only one who does things like this. I thought it was kind of wierd, but figured it was just part of who DS is.

TOV

 

[katerkat]

I had to start feeding DS slowly because he chipmunks it. If he doesn't swallow, he doesn't get more. It amazes me how much he can shovel in there - both in his mouth and eating in general - and still be the skinniest toddler alive.

Once, when he was 9 months old, we took him to a hibachi restaurant. He ate everything - then later we discovered he wasn't eating the veggies! They were all in his cheeks!

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

It amazes me how much he can shovel in there - both in his mouth and eating in general - and still be the skinniest toddler alive.

I know what you mean. DS still has some 12 mos pants/shorts that fit him. DNephew IttyBitty is even worse than DS though. He's so skinny, he can still fit into some 6-8 mos pants and he's the same age as DS! DSIL told me that his baby doc gave her tons of ideas to help fatten him up, including putting butter on everything. Or even giving him JUST butter to get some calories/fat into him. He's so incredibly active, whatever he eats gets burned right up.

TOV

 

[Cool-Beans]

Yup, had one that did it, just after turning 2 (I think. It's been a loooong time.) Could never tell how much the doofus ate, as was storing in cheeks. We started calling him Chippy for a while, as was like Chipmunk. I talked to the doctor about it and he said the kid's height & weight were fine, not to worry.

And it wasn't like I was force-feeding him or giving him food he hated. He just decided for no reason to keep food in his mouth. He'd keep it in there for an hour...so gross. He didn't have big cheeks, either. Wasn't fat in any way, shape or form.

Lasted about 2 months and drove me nuts.

 

[ilovepcot]

My daughter began doing this at age 2. We had to feed her before the rest of the family ate so we could keep a very close eye on every bite she took. Hot dogs were her favorite to hoard in her cheeks and they pose a choking hazard even when eaten and swallowed properly. Kids!

 

[Wonders10]

As a speech pathologist in grad school, I just want to second the speech therapy comment. I have observed a lot of young children's therapy sessions and many of them had food issues - wouldn't eat certain textures, wouldn't eat period, sensitivity issues, etc. Most of them also had expressive speech and language delays too but they don't always go hand in hand. Maybe try to make a food diary of what he eats, pockets, etc and see if there are any patterns or anything. Then you could look into a speech eval. He is so young, that the state would probably even pay for it if thats an issue. Also, and I have seen this more with older patients, if he is truly pocketing his food, are you sure that its either being swallowed eventually or being spit out at some point? My point is, if he sleeps with some of that food still in his cheeks, he could breathe it in to his lungs, where it is not supposed to go. In older patients, this has resulted in them getting aspiration pneumonia which can be fatal. So just watch out for that too, to be on the safe side. Good luck though - even if its nothing, I would imagine it's pretty annoying.
*Shannon

 

[Cool-Beans]

Hot dogs were her favorite to hoard

Mine, too!

And FWIW, my kid had no speech problems or any other problems. He was just a goof. Still is, for that matter.