Keeping food in mouth

[suzi2]

Lately DS keeps chewing food and then just holdin it in hismouth - sort of under his tongue. He eats normally to start with then does this with the last thing he eats. And it sits there fir ages - this morning there was a piece of toast in his mouth for over an hour and we couldn't convince him to give it upor eat it. Eventually DH had to lean him forward and try to pull it out - which made DS gag and cough it up.

This afternoon we were at the park and at one point he went down the slide and I caught a flash of something in his mouth... a mushed up carrot from his lunch half an hour before. DH had to rake it out!

Any ideas? He's 19 months.

[NorksBride]

We had a child at pre-sch who did this but I don't know how they handled it.

So, bumping for the late night shift...

[AitchTwoOh]

why are you fishing it out? genuine question.

[suzi2]

We're fishing it out when he is going to bed/nap or is on a slide at the park or something where there is a possibility of him choking. We're quite happy to leave it in there otherwise - saves a battle with him.

[suzi2]

anyone|?

[suzi2]

bump

[sunnysideup]

wow, not heard of this one before! kids can always throw a curve, can't they?

Do you allow him any sweet treats? I was wondering if a chocolate button (or whatever) might be offered as a bribe to get that last mouthful swallowed?

[CristinaTheAstonishing]

DD went through this last autumn (I posted here about it). It lasted 2-3 weeks I think. We'd try and get her distracted with singing, talking etc to get her to open her mouth and spit it out, but nothing worked. She was 18 months old. It will pass but very irritating, I was getting a bit stressed by it. DS hadn't done this.

[suzi2]

Thanks for the suggestions. Nice to know that there are other toddlers out there who have done this!

Slight breakthrough yesterday as he now spits things out when you ask him. And so far today he hasn't hoarded anything. I guess it's another 'phase'.

[SofiaAmes]

ds did this. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but he is now 6 years old and still does it. He used to fall asleep sucking the food in his mouth (I have photos of him falling forward asleep into his plate of spaghetti). At least now he just gets a faraway look.
I generally used to rake the food out if he was asleep, but didn't worry about it otherwise.

[mainlymayday]

my nephew did this - can't remember what age he stopped but he would keep loads of food in his mouth for ages - not just a bit of carrot but entire mouthfuls. He'd keep it there for hours if his parents let him. They actively fished it out every time because they feared the impact on his teeth of constant contact with food. Also it was revolting!

Just so you know you're not alone.

[fishie]

yes ds (23m) does this lots, he has currently got a mouthful of fizzy water. he usually does it with 'melty' things like camembert or chocolate. i don't worry about choking, sometimes he falls over and it all comes out yuck. different with toast i suppose though.

[suzi2]

He's stopped doing it... and is now spitting out every third mouthful or so! Aren't toddlers weird? We suspect he's getting molars and its sometimes hurting to chew so he spits. Might be the same reason he held onto it. Who knows...

[Smithagain]

DD2 (also 19mo) did have one scary choking incident with a lump of banana that she had kept in her mouth and then fallen asleep. I had to doa lot of back slapping when she woke up and did lots of strangulated noises .

But she's pretty good at spitting things out if I say "what's in your mouth?" So I would keep working out on the spitting things out if asked.