9 month old- sick on all finger foods

[goldie12]

I know this is really a 'food' board question but I thought I'd also try here too in desperation of some ideas/reassurance!

My DS is nearly 9 months and seems to have an awful gag reflex. He is sick every time I try to give him finger foods (various kinds) and even on things like weetabix sometimes. I am feeling really demoralised by this and don't really know what to do. At the moment I'm trying finger foods every day but I don't
think it's good for either of us for him to be sick 98% of the time with them. He's keen to try every time and I also don't want to put him off if he starts associating it with being sick

Any ideas? I'm desperate! Getting lots of pressure from HV and dietician (who we were seeing due to a milk allergy). I know it's important for speech etc. etc. I'm thinking about finding a private paediatrician- what do you think? Or am I overeacting!! I really doubt there is a miracle answer to this but just wondered if any has been through similar.

Many thanks xx

[auntymandy]

I would just ease off for a while then re introduse later. is his food generally lumpy or does he gag on that too?
Just work at his pace. Does he babble etc?

[goldie12]

His food is not really lumpy as it has the same effect! His food is blended but quite thickly, in an attempt to try and move things on a bit. The texture in Weetabix is about the limit for lumps. He babbles fine.

[auntymandy]

wouldnt worry too much then, just go at his pace.

[Jimjams]

Does he mouth things? DS3 is really crap at mouthing (age 8 months) and he gags a lot as well- and will not finger feed. Apparently the gag reflex starts forwards in the mouth and moves back as baby's mouth objects. Before its moved back they will gag easily. I spend a lot of time shoving things in his mouth.

I wouldn't worry about speech. IME they don't chew until they have enough teeth to chew. DS1 teether early and was a great eater, ds2 ands ds3 have been later teethers and both gaggy.

You can get a thing from Jojomaman bebe which is like a little bag you put food into and the baby chews the food through the bag- they can't choke. Pricey but I've just started ds3 on it.

[goldie12]

Yep he mouths things all the time though if he pushes something too far in, e.g. a spoon, he will vomit on that too!! He will pick up bits of food and get it to his mouth and appear to chew well. It's the swallowing bit that he seemingly cannot do.

Does this get better? DS is no better than 2 months ago.

Jimjams- the bag sounds good. I will try and get hold of one. Nice if he could be a little independent with food vomiting everywhere.

[LIZS]

dd had reflux and was similar at that age. I just continued to puree/mash until at a year she helped herself to wafers off my dessert when we were eating out one night ! I took that as a cue to try other lumps and finger foods. In fact Weetabix was one of the first foods she fed herself with a spoon soon after. She has eaten "normal" textured food since about 15 months, although can still gag a bit at 4 if she doesn't chew well. Noone suggested to us that waiting would harm her speech and it certainly hasn't. She spoke very clearly from the off.

Personally I'd give it a rest and try again in a month or so. If you persist you could aggravate the problem and put him off trying new foods and textures.

hth

[Jimjams]

Ah lizs- thanks for that- ds3 had/has reflux as well. I haven't been pushing it so pleased it seems to be the right thing to do.

[goldie12]

Nice if he could be a little independent with food without vomiting everywhere!

[goldie12]

Thanks Lizs- good to hear a success story! I HAD been going along the 'he isn't ready for lumps yet if he's being sick every time' theory. Then I saw the dietician who said how important chewing is for speech which stressed me out a bit! It's a shame he's so keen to shove food in his mouth though! I agree with you though- best not to push things incase he gets put off for good.

[ghosty]

Both my two were late with lumps and finger food.
I was told by my HV that we would 'miss the boat' if we didn't get DS to take finger food when he was 8 months old. That sent me into a bit of a panic and I got demoralised too.
I can't really remember what I did but he is a very talkative and articulate healthy 5 year old now who eats anything and everything.
My DD was very similar and even now (at 19 months) gags on lumpy stuff. She really doesn't like the texture of lumps in mushy food. She only really tolerated finger food from about 12 months and even now she has either smooth puree OR proper food cut up that she can chew. She still gags on weetabix ... but loves porridge that is made quite smooth.
Don't worry too much, he is trying to tell you that he isn't ready yet. Stick to what he will eat ... at the end of the day it is the nutrition that is important at the moment isn't it? Rather than the form in which it comes ... IYSWIM?
With DD I carried on with the puree and just gave her biscuits that melted from a bit of gumming to get her used to it.

[yawningmonster]

I had a thread a while ago when my ds was a similar age (called tips for managing a gagger I think) ds had a very sensitive gag reflex and has only really started to manage food well over the last few weeks, he is now 1. We were told to offer a variety of textures at each meal, eg pureed vege, mash and very ripe pear for finger food, put blobs onto highchair tray and allow him to play in it and feel it so that he starts to get an idea of the texture and shapes with his hands. DS literally just clicked one day, I was sure he would never get it as there seemed to be no improvement but then one day the pear went in and he finally figured out how to use his tongue to reposition it until it was swallowable, since then we have not looked back and he can now manage rice crackers and the works. He sometimes will still gag on a new food but we go back to the old let him play and experiment and just keep offering. Although he sometimes got a little stressed by the gagging he continued to try and eventually got it.

[goldie12]

yawning monster- was your DS just a gagger or did he vomit too? Just wondered because I think if DS just gagged I would be more tempted to try lumps/ finger foods at more mealtimes. With DS at the moment, I only try finger foods when he has an emptyish stomach so that he can't vomit up too much of his previous meal.

[yawningmonster]

he vomited initially but we removed ALL dairy products from his diet and then it was just gagging. With the pear that we started with it was so ripe that it often fell apart in his fingers before he could even get it to his mouth, the hand play experience really does seem to help.

[foxinsocks]

we had much the same situation as LIZS - I can't remember exactly when they had 'proper' finger foods but it certainly was well after 9 months and they both talk fine. I really think children need to develop the ability to eat these foods at their own pace - both mine had reflux and if I'd forced the issue it would just have resulted in more vomit!

Similarly to LIZS, even now at age 5 and nearly 4, both dd and ds will vomit if they get food stuck or take too big a mouthful. Unfortunately, some children just seem to be able to vomit easier than others - last thing you want to do is put him off food altogether so I'd give those finger foods a back seat for a bit!

[highlander]

DS has just turned 1 year. He only started to tolerate lumpy food (apple, sultanas, toast etc) when his bottom molars appeared a couple of weeks ago.

I think chewing and swallowing is an art - takes a while for the penny to drop!

[yorkshirelass]

Goldie 12 you're not alone!

My DS is one next week and we're still not there with finger foods and it's only in the last couple of months he's tolerated finger foods at all. Now on a good day he'll cope quite well with a small sandwich/biscuit/fruit etc. On a bad day he'll revert to biting off a big bit and then try to swallow it whole - the result is gagging!!!

I just laugh it off so he doesn't pick up on my anxiety and keep trying but if he's off colour or really tired I don't either bother as I know what the outcome will be! I think we need to relax as much as possible as all babies get there eventually - after all you don't see any adults living on pureed food do you? (this is my way of reassuring myself on a bad day!)