OT: 14 month old DD can't swallow solid food!

[deegack]

I just wanted to add that you don't have to go through your doctor to get an eval through Early Intervention. My doctors did not believe some back issues DD had were a problem. I had her evaluated and she now received PT twice a week for back and trunk issues. Go with your gut.

 

[sahmoftwo]

just wanted to second what deegack said....you can contact early intervention through your school district and request the services yourself. I had to do this with my ds and early intervention works wonders! Good luck!

 

[Kriii]

Speech Pathologist here: I'd recommend a feeding/swallowing eval. Try contacting a children's hospital. If you go the early intervention route, make sure the SLP who does the eval is trained in PEDIATRIC swallowing issues. If there turns out to be a sensory component, an OT would be involved. Best of luck

 

[clairemolly]

I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say "Hi Lori".

If you feel in your heart that something is not right, you need to be an advocate for Miss K and push your ped to look into it further, even if it means trying 10 new peds before someone will listen.

You'll figure it out...you are an awesome mom!

 

[drinkme]

My ds had problems like that when he was a toddler. I kept on bringing it up to the ped, who brushed it off saying that some kids have problems with textures and he will eventually grow out of it.

Well, he never did. A couple of years later I switched peds, and the new one immediately sent ds for a swallow study. They found my ds' esophagus to be almost totally blocked. It was about 2 years of surgeries and he was placed with a feeding tube.

Ds is now turning 10, his tube is gone, and he can swallow everything. He still has feeding issues, which I think he'll have to deal with the rest of his life.

Anyway, I think you need to definitely get this checked out by a feeding team.

Good luck!

 

[sdoll]

Wow are you sure you aren't talking about my son. He had the exact same issues. Our ped recommended a Speech Therapist. She did a food evaluation to see what he could eat with out gaging. It was one session and we gradually worked our way up to more textured food. As soon as he hit the food with Rice pieces he gaged. So she said it was a texture thing. She had a real diagnosis but I am a mom dumbing it down. We had to use something that resembled a tooth brush and rub his tongue before we fed him a texture again starting with smooth and moving texture. We went through a ton of apple sauce we mixed it with just about everything to add texture.

It only took a few weeks and we saw a difference.
He is now 3 and eating just fine. His speech is now delayed and we are going back to the speech therapist. Our Ped said it could all be related but who knows.

I would talk to your Ped though. I think we 1st talked about it at his 12 month check up so you are right on track.

 

[Mommy2Abby]

I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say "Hi Lori".

If you feel in your heart that something is not right, you need to be an advocate for Miss K and push your ped to look into it further, even if it means trying 10 new peds before someone will listen.

You'll figure it out...you are an awesome mom!

Hi Jen! I knew you were on here but I didn't know what your username was Thanks for the words of encouragement. I go back and forth on our current ped. Sometimes I really like him, and other times I get frustrated. He tends to take a very laid back "wait and see" approach, which can be good, but on stuff like this, I'm not always sure it's for the best. She has an appointment coming up in early September, so I'm going to wait and see what he says then.

In the meantime, I'm glad you "found" me!

 

[MScott1851]

We have the opposite problem at our house! My DD (11 months) wants to eat everything we eat, and is starting to reject her purees. The only problem is, she still doesn't have any teeth, and will cram her mouth FULL of puffs/crunchies/yogurt melts/fruit/ANYTHING I put in front of her, then invariably will get choked and vomit.

 

[crisi]

There is another worry. My son is adopted as I've been active in the adoption community. One of the women I know adopted a young girl from India who'd never been given solid foods - she was about two or three when she came home. At four, they'd been working with her since arrival to get her to learn to swallow solids. Normal little girl in every other way, but the specialist said that there is a developmental time for learning to swallow solids, and if you miss it, it can be an uphill battle. So I wouldn't delay too much on getting into a specialist - if there is an issue, it will get harder to resolve over time.

Her issues weren't sensory, it was that at the orphanage, they just gave kids bottles - they never learned anything else.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Call Early Intervention. Your daughter is a priority because she has feeding issues. My younger one has reflux and sensory issues and doesn't eat solids regularly at 22 months-old (except for yogurt, which isn't exactly "solid"). She still nurses exclusively and believe me we're both ready to be DONE with that. Anyways, she gets 2X weekly speech therapy and 1X weekly occupational therapy paid for through Early Steps due to her feeding issues. We're making slow progress. She can swallow yogurt w/o gagging now, and can eat puffs and cheerios sometimes too.

Honestly, I'm jealous that your 14 month-old can eat stage 2 baby foods. Mine never made it off purees before she started gagging on those and couldn't eat them anymore. Stage 2 seems like an impossible dream to me right now. Anyways, call EI directly or ask your ped. for a referral today.

 

[mjkacmom]

We have the opposite problem at our house! My DD (11 months) wants to eat everything we eat, and is starting to reject her purees. The only problem is, she still doesn't have any teeth, and will cram her mouth FULL of puffs/crunchies/yogurt melts/fruit/ANYTHING I put in front of her, then invariably will get choked and vomit.

Just put less in front of her - teeth have nothing to do with babies and toddlers eating solid food. Even the early teethers don't have molars, and all babies and toddlers chew food with their back gums, which are very hard, because the teeth are right below.

All of my kids got their first tooth around the 1 year mark, and were 100% on solids.

 

[brergnat]

Ignore the Pediatrician. Call your state's (or county) Early Intervention line.

Does your daughter have limited speech?

She needs a developmental evaluation. It's never too early. Feeding issues are MAJOR. Don't "wait and see" with that. It's not normal.

My older son had the same issues. He was later diagnosed with Autism, but some of our first clues were his utter lack of desire to eat as a baby. He would not nurse, would only halfheartedly drink from a bottle, and never acted hungry. When it was time to do solids, he was okay with baby cereals and stage 1 and 2 foods, but he NEVER wanted to eat. We had to LITERALY sing and dance in front of him every mealtime to make him laugh and open his mouth, and we would stick the spoon in. EVERY bite, we had to do that. He ate stage 3 purees until he was almost 3. He could not handle any textures other than pureed, or dry and crispy (like dry cereal, pretzels, etc.) He would not even eat bread, no "slimy" fruits (only would eat granny smith apples, no skin).

In order to put some weight on him (he was UNDER the curve, weight wise...), our doctor had us mix up pureed avocado, full fat vanilla yogurt, and honey. He used to LOVE this, and ate it up...really helped put some weight on him too. This sounds crazy, but I used to make him macaroni and cheese and PUREE it with some milk and he would eat it like that. Macaroni and cheese (in its regular form) is now his favorite thing to eat, still.

He is 6 now. He still has some issues with SOME textures ("powdery" stuff like potatoes, large lumps like oatmeal, and "slimy" foods like canned fruits he cannot handle). But, he has gotten much better with a lot of therapy.

But, at 6, I admit that he is STILL eating "baby" food. He still eats baby oatmeal made with milk and a stage 2 fruit puree mixed in on occasion. It's because he likes "oatmeal", but not the texture of oatmeal. But, he also eats regular boxed cereal with milk and other things too. He asks for the baby oatmeal when he is not feeling well. Probably more of a comfort thing.

 

[cindermomma]

My DS (now 10) could not eat any bit of a solid food until he was 18 months old. He also would not take a bottle. He would vomit every time he was fed the puree food. It was a long, rough road. We took him to a gastro-specialist and they said all was good. I wish I would have known about eating therapy. He would gag on a piece of bread the size of my small finger nail. He still has some issues with textures today. He won't eat spaghetti (says it is like rubber bands), ect. He has told me that he has learned to control it. He does still choke very easy. Please don't let anyone tell you to put the food out for her and she will eat when she is hungry enough. I had people tell me that also. Until they are in this position of seeing your child not ABLE to eat, they have no clue. Stay strong momma. My thoughts and prayers are with you both.

 

[TxRabbit]

Speech Pathologist here: I'd recommend a feeding/swallowing eval. Try contacting a children's hospital. If you go the early intervention route, make sure the SLP who does the eval is trained in PEDIATRIC swallowing issues. If there turns out to be a sensory component, an OT would be involved. Best of luck

Wow are you sure you aren't talking about my son. He had the exact same issues. Our ped recommended a Speech Therapist. She did a food evaluation to see what he could eat with out gaging.

Yes. See a Speech Therapist. They are NOT only for speech. Do not take this as an indication that there is something wrong with your DD's speech development.

My MIL is a Speech Therapist. She works with stroke recovery, so more on the geriatrics side. I learned from her that she deals tremendously with diet restrictions for her patients, she has labels for all the different food textures from totally smooth to solid. Swallowing muscles are studied by speech therapists and part of speech therapy for the geriatric side involves learning how to swallow again. You have to work those muscles. She evaluates her patients ability to swallow and makes the recommendations for what they are able to do and works with the patients to get them back to solid foods. I think the right Speech Therapist would be able to do an excellent evaluation to help you understand your DD's level of development and if there might be other influencing factors.

 

[Mommy2Abby]

We have the opposite problem at our house! My DD (11 months) wants to eat everything we eat, and is starting to reject her purees. The only problem is, she still doesn't have any teeth, and will cram her mouth FULL of puffs/crunchies/yogurt melts/fruit/ANYTHING I put in front of her, then invariably will get choked and vomit.

While this isn't the "problem of the moment" at our house, we did go through this to some extent with older DD. She was an early teether, so I don't necessarily think it matters if they have teeth or not. We would only put a few pieces of whatever she was eating on her tray at a time. That way, I had some control over how much she was cramming in her mouth at one time It didn't take her long to grow out of that particular phase, as I remember it.

Thanks for all the replies on my current problem everyone! DD's 15 month checkup is the first week of September and I will definitely get the ped to refer me to a speech therapist for an evaluation at that time.

Last night, I put Cheerios on her tray to "eat" while we were having dinner because they keep her busy and quiet and she picked up each one individually, put it in her mouth, bit it in half with her front teeth, and then pushed both halves back out with her tongue. It wasn't that she didn't "like" them, because she kept going back for more, it's just that she can't figure out how to get them to the back of her mouth to swallow them!

I have tried putting rice puffs on a spoon before and feeding them to her that way, but then she gags on them I think it's definitely time for some professional help!

Mommy2Abby

 

[wmharley]

I'm hoping someone out there has some advice for me on this topic. My DD is going to be 14 months old next week and she is still exclusively eating the stage 2 baby food. Any time I try to give her anything "solid" or that has any kind of texture to it, like some of the stage 3 baby foods or things like mashed potatoes or mashed bananas, she gags until she throws up.

I started giving her different foods with different kinds of textures at about 7 months, and she has always done this. I've talked to my pediatrician several times about it and he says to just keep trying, that it takes longer for some kids to outgrow the natural gag reflex that babies are born with.

Does this seem normal to you? I know my older DD was eating table food almost exclusively by this age.

Younger DD has always had some food "issues". I had a terrible time getting her to take a bottle when she was younger. I nursed her and she did just fine but wanted NOTHING to do with a bottle. She would often gag when we put the nipple in her mouth and it took me forever (and a ton of $) to finally find a bottle that she would reluctantly take when I weaned her at 8 months.

When I started her on cereal and baby food, she would often gag towards the end of a feeding, and then refuse to go back for any more. She has outgrown that now and doesn't gag any more on the baby food. She eats very little, and is on the very low end of the growth curves for both height and weight for her age.

I don't believe in making food a big issue at our house, so I never "force" her to eat more, even when she only eats a few bites at each meal. She doesn't seem to be hungry between meals, and she is growing, so I'm not so worried about the quantity she eats. I am, however, worried about the fact that she can't seem to get the hang of solid foods. She will put small solids in her mouth, like Cheerios or those little rice puff things, but she never ever swallows them...just swishes them around and pushes them back out with her tongue.

Has anyone ever dealt with anything like this, and do you have any advice on how I can get her to be more comfortable with eating sold food? Since this is a Disney forum, we do have a trip planned for the end of September and I REALLY don't want to drag baby food all over the place with us. I thought we'd be finished with all that by then!

Thanks!

Mommy2Abby

Our son was about 1.5yrs and still wanting baby food. He rarely liked anything with texture at all, and this from a kid who was on the upper scale of h/w (100% of height for his age), so he was getting enough. In fact, it was almost at 2 that he finally gave up his bottle for his milk (we tried earlier).

There were only 2 Earth's Best that he liked with any texture, that was it. Then one day, he refused to eat some baby food, so we tried again our food. He weaned himself off the baby food. Now he almost eats anything. Except large chunks of meat like chicken and ham. He can eat a sandwhich with ham, or smaller cut up chicken mixed with his food, but not alone.

but he will eat nuggets at McDonalds and Chikfila, go figure. Our Pediatrician said as long as he's gaining weight, eating, then he was ok.

 

[brergnat]

Thanks for all the replies on my current problem everyone! DD's 15 month checkup is the first week of September and I will definitely get the ped to refer me to a speech therapist for an evaluation at that time.

FYI, you don't need a doctor's referral for this. EVERY state (funded by the federal government) has an Early Intervention program to evaluate children from birth-3 years of age for developmental delays. In fact, your pediatrician has NOTHING to do with this. YOU have to call, and when you do, you are not even asked about your child's doctor. This is independent of health insurance. Totally separate. Your daughter will be evaluated (for free) by a team of specialists. If she qualifies for services, they will be provided for FREE through the EI program. If you start by getting a referral from your doctor, you will have to then go through insurance, and most of them will NOT cover services for children under 3 years old, due to the Early Intervention program.

If your child begins to receive services, they are provided for free until 3 years old, at which point the local School District will take over providing services (still free) through the Special Education department, if your child still qualifies for them.

Both my kids got EI services beginning at about 16 months of age. They are now 4 and 6 and are STILL getting services through the school district. I have paid $0 for the services they have gotten all these years...

 

[mom2aredhead]

Please don't let anyone tell you to put the food out for her and she will eat when she is hungry enough. I had people tell me that also. Until they are in this position of seeing your child not ABLE to eat, they have no clue. Stay strong momma. My thoughts and prayers are with you both.

If I had a dime for everyone that said "just make him eat" I'd be rich. They had no idea.