Does anyone else have kids who cant eat soft foods?

[whirlsy]

I guess I should say wont instead of cant but both my kids have a gag reflex that is over sensitive. I think its in their head more than anything but I cant force them to eat. what do I do. No bananas no pasta, peanut butter and jelly has to be made on toast is this just a faze my son is 3.5 and he doesnt talk very well so I am wondering if there is something deeper than just a stubborn 3 yr. old.

 

[dcgrumpy]

I have the opposite problem with my 3yo. He also has a strong gag reflex, but his porblem is with really crunchy foods like cereal flakes, tortilla chips.....I definitely think a lot of it is in his head because if he even gets a tortilla chip in his mouth he throws up before even trying to swallow.

 

[whirlsy]

thats how my son was with bananas this morning he would just lay it in his mouth and start gagging. It is so frustrating trying to get this kid to eat anything healthy. Every kid likes macaroni and cheese but not my Nat. wont even try.

 

[clutter]

I've been dealing with a kid with eating problems for years. You really KNOW in your heart when it's an issue and when it's made up.

Has he been like this since he was a baby? Has he had a gagging incident in the last year that scared him? If it's a conctrol issue, he'll outgrow it. If he's scared from a past incident, he'll outgrow it. If he's always been like this, you may want to have him evaluated (not that that always helps...).

 

[Stimpy]

My DS-4 has that problem with "real" vegetables! Its' the weirdest thing. He had no problem as a baby with baby food veggies but actual veggies he chokes and throws up still. He also can eat any other kind of texture of food, it's just veggies. He was eating baby food jars up until he turned 3 b/c I was worried about him. Doctor just said he would grow out of it. Even if I "hide" them in other foods and he doesn't know about it, up it comes. It's not that he doesn't like them, he does try to eat them and he doesn't fight us. The only ones he can eat are peas one at a time, some corn and mashed potatos (or french fries )

He's starting to get a little better now that he's getting older, but we really have to watch him without him noticing we're watching. Good Luck!

 

[lstokes]

I think this age, 3-4, is when our little "sweethearts" are really testing the CONTROL buttons.
All of my kids have tried this at around that age.
I realized after the second one that we were giving them a lot of attention when they had food aversions.
After making sure there was no medical issue here-swallowing abilities etc.... We just have kind of let it run its course with out much attention from either parent.
THey will move on to another trying CONTROL/ATTENTION getting habit soon enough.
Patience is the word of the day.....

 

[arminnie]

I remember as a child (many, many decades ago) that I would gag over certain "white" foods - rice, macaroni, egg whites, custard . I think it was a texture thing. I still don't like egg whites but I learned to love the rest of the stuff.