Hi IMs, I'm worried about my 2 year olds eating skills. He's almost 2 and half, and he can't self feed without causing himself to choke. It's like he doesn't understand when to stop putting food in his mouth, he will force as much in as he can until he can't even close his mouth to chew, and then gags until someone scoops it all out with a finger. Then he'll do the same thing again straightaway. If I give him something 'whole' (age appropriate, like a sandwich quarter) he forces the whole thing in in one piece. If I give him something cut into pieces, he will just shove in piece after piece until his mouth is full. He chews, but then tries to swallow such a huge mass that he gags or chokes. I can't give him anything 'sharp' like rice crackers as he doesn't chew enough before swallowing that it causes him pain to swallow large sharp pieces. I've tried everything I could think of to teach him about taking bites, chewing, and portion sizes but nothing works. I've been reduced to either feeding him myself with a fork, or cutting his food into tiny baby sized pieces and only placing 3 of those pieces on his plate at a time so that he physically can't put too much in his mouth. This is for every meal and snack throughout the day. He eats a good amount, (definitely not hunger causing him to eat like this), has a healthy diet, sleeps well, and is developmentally fine otherwise. I'm worried that by this age, he should have mastered the self feeding skill well (as my older child did).
Has anyone else had this? Any tips? Should we be seeing a dr or therapist? Please help :)
2yo can't self feed
2yo can't self feed
Posted in:
Baby & Toddler, Kids
5 Replies
I speech therapist who specialises in eating in children can help you with this. But basically you have to teach him what to do and how to break the cycle. It requires hand over hand prompts. And holding the food in a way that he can't put too much in his mouth, teaching him to bite and chew. In the mean time cut the food up really tiny and only allow him access to one piece at a time so he can't practice it incorrectly. I used to do a lot of work around this as a speech therapists assistant.
Definitely see a speech pathologist :)
Have you checked he is not tongue tied ???
Have you checked he is not tongue tied ???
My son has a genetic condition that causes among other things, a high palate. He also eats like this and has to be fed piece by piece at almost 2yrs old. Perhaps have his palate checked as it causes them to not realise there is too much food in there until it's too late.