2.5 year old sucking food all the time!

[jesshunt3r]

So my little boy is nearly 2 and a half, and for the last six months or so hes developed a terrible habit of sucking his food. I think it stemmed from when his back molar teeth started to break through so it was uncomfortable to eat, but now its a constant bad habit. I find bread and chicken are the worst, but he will generally suck each mouthful for ages. We have tried ignoring it, distractions, making him spit it out. Each meal takes forever to eat, often ends up in us insisting he spits it out. Im also concerned about him chocking one day.

Does anyone have any experience of this or advice. Its driving us mad