Baby having trouble switching to real food

[ZachnElli]

Anyone else have a baby who had trouble switching to real food? Noah just had his first birthday and he even has trouble with jarred baby food. Tonight he ate 2 jars and then threw it all up. This is quite common with him. He didn't have reflux, only spit up occassionally and only a little bit. But he can't handle chunks of real food at all, he gags and throws up. We see the doctor tomorrow so I'll ask then too. He is #3 and this is a new one to me! And it's very frustrating. Is he just not ready for it?

 

[DisneyPhD]

I think you are doing the right thing talking with the Doc. He (or she) will know more then us. Not so much that he doesn't like soilds, but the throwing up that concerns me. Do you feel that he is getting enough to eat? Is he growing well?

I do know that people often pushs solids on babies before they need it.

My kids never did baby food too much, I waited for soilds until 6 months and then they only did it briefly before moving on to table foods. Good think too, becuase those baby foods are pretty pricey for what you get.

 

[ZachnElli]

Yeah, I think he is getting enough to eat. I haven't pushed the baby food at all. I just started him last fall when he was 7 months old. I feel the same way, doing baby food briefly until we move to table food, but he is not tolerating either very well. Sometimes he throws up the jarred stuff and he always throws up table food. I'd rather not give him baby food, but I feel right now it seems the only way to introduce other foods to him. My dd never cared for baby food at all and just went to table food, so this is new to me!

 

[DisneyPhD]

How does he do with finger foods such as cherrios, and the gerber baby snacks (stars, cookies ect..) Is there anything he does have a taste for, or is it the act of eating he doesn't like? How does he do if he feed himself?

At 19 months I have a different problem. My DD walks around all day asking to eat and pretty much refusing everything I offer her. She does eat some, but what she can is limited due to food allergies and she sure is picky.

The throwing up is what concerns me. See what the Doc says.

I guess the food allergies is another issue. Could that be the case? Is it all foods he does this too or just some. When my DD would get any milk products she would vomit too. (and get a rash also.)

 

[southernbella]

Hi, Our youngest DD did o.k. with baby food until we got to stage 3's. Then she started doing the same thing your son is doing, gagging on the littlest chunky foods. I did the same thing you are doing, talked with the ped. She said just keep trying new things, new textures.

We tried tabletimes, those cups like chef boy r dee comes in(they are sold with the baby food). She loved the chicken & stars. She slowly started coming around to real food. Now, she's a pig at the dinner table. When she smells me cooking, she starts saying "MMMM Mommy".

It did take time & we did have issues with her drinking too much milk to make up for her food intake. We switched her to the silicone sippy cups that Wally world sells (the liquid is harder for them to suck out) and that seemed to help. Sbella

 

[padams]

Is he actually throwing it up (swallowing and then bringing it back up), or just spitting it out?

When DS#2 was learning to eat solid foods, he would spit it out by pushing it out with his tongue. My ped said he was just doing to get out attention, and that he must not be hungry when he did it. It wasn't until later that an occupational therapist told me that it was an early sign of low oral motor skills/low mouth muscle tone.

 

[FreshTressa]

My son was 11 months before he would even eat baby food, then about 14 months before he wanted table food. He just prefered to drink milk.

I swear he would still live on milk if I would let him!

 

[FreshTressa]

Thats funny...I never made the connection until now....

Recently, last year, DS now 8 was diagnosed with a tongue thrust and has speech delays. I wonder if it is related??

 

[tiggersmom2]

My youngest son had real problems with chunks of food until he was 2. He is 3 now and everything cleared up on its own. He stayed in stage 3 baby food until he was 2 1/2.

 

[ZachnElli]

Well, I feel better knowing he's not the only one! He does actually throw it up. He ate one jar of #3, a chicken dinner and we were on some applesauce and the whole thing came up, not just one bite or two. He does like cheerios, crackers, anything with crunch (he has 12 teeth), but nothing else, no plain noodles, mashed potatoes, tiny pieces of meat, he gags at it all.

 

[anewvance]

My son had this EXACT same problem. He could handle any baby food that was smooth. Anything with chunk (or as the therapist said lumps and bumps) he gagged and threw up. Got to be a year old and he was still only eatting smooth foods. We had a video swallow test done on him... absolutely painless, they just fed him different texture and sorts of foods and did xrays and video of how it went in and down from the inside.

Turns out he had a highly sensitive gag reflex. We did some therapy and magically he was able to eat anything he wanted to. Went from smooth foods to all kinds of food & table food too... it was like a whole new world for him.

The big thing is to not address the situation. Ignore the wrong (gagging and throwing up) and praise the good. Give him something he really likes along with somethng he can't handle. Give one bite of what he really likes and then switch for the thing he can't eat, praise him when he gets it down without gagging. It didn't take him long at all to figure it all out!

Good luck, if you need anymore help, PM me.. like I said, we went through the exact same thing.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Well, I feel better knowing he's not the only one! He does actually throw it up. He ate one jar of #3, a chicken dinner and we were on some applesauce and the whole thing came up, not just one bite or two. He does like cheerios, crackers, anything with crunch (he has 12 teeth), but nothing else, no plain noodles, mashed potatoes, tiny pieces of meat, he gags at it all.

And he has never had a rash or red marks on his face after eating? If that is the case you should look into food allergies just in case? Can I ask if he was formula or breast feed? The reason I ask is my DD is allergic to milk but she was excuslivly breast feed so she never had any stright milk until she started soilds. Then she woulld throw it up (but there was the rash too, even with very small amounts like an animal cracker with milk in it.)

It does sound more like a texture thing for him though. I wouldn't try to push too much until you get this figured out, because when he throws it all up he doesn't get the food value anyway.

 

[ZachnElli]

Well, he does have a rash on his face right now, I'm pretty sure it's eczema that's why I made this doc's apptmt. He is adopted, so formula fed and not allergic to milk. He was drug exposed, but not addicted. So I guess I was wondering if he could be delayed or if this is normal.