DD aged 8 keeps choking. Any advice?

[Jumppera]

DD is 8 years old. Over the last 12 months she's choked on food around 6-7 separate times.

Food she's choked on are: breakfast cereal, a cake, ice cube, a strawberry, sushi and a biscuit.

It happened again yesterday

She's a sensible girl and never messes around with food. She cuts it small and takes her time to chew. She always sits tidy at the table (not laughing/messing around).

It's causing my anxiety to rocket. I've booked for her to see the GP in a month's time just to see if they can say or do something (no idea what).

Anyone else had a similar situation? I'm not really sure what to do

Does she have a tongue tie?

How scary. When you say she "chokes" what do you mean ?

Just a little cough and a retch or full on Heimlich required ?

DS has the occasional choking episode - he is now 6. In his case, it is silent and we have had to hit him between the shoulder blades. He also gags and clears his throat a lot.

We saw the GP who referred him to a specialist SALT.

She asked us to prepare a variety of different textured snacks, came round to the house, watched him eat and listened to him swallow using a stethoscope.

No tongue tie, and prior to the last 12 months or so, she's never choked before.

With her choking, she'll suddenly go quiet and a look of horror comes to her face. She'll dislodge the item herself through retching and (thankfully) that's how it passed. She's always incredibly distressed afterwards.

With the ice cube though that did get stuck and she managed to forcibly swallow it down as it melted in her throat.

Xpost brown thanks for sharing your experience. It's so frightening.

What was the outcome if you don't mind me asking?

I’m not saying this is what is happening with your DD, but seeing the GP is definitely the best idea, as some disorders affecting muscle can interfere with swallowing.

I'm sure this is scary for you both. I'm sure you've thought about this already but I'm wondering how she chews her food and if she takes big mouthfuls. Or talks when eating?

What's her diet like? I read that iron deficiency can cause difficulty swallowing.

In our case, there was not one definitive answer. The throat clearing and gagging seems to be most likely related to his tonsils, which are on the large side. The SALT thought perhaps when he was ill and they were enlarged, it was causing him to gag.

The choking, however, she felt was a result of the way he managed the food in his mouth.

She said that instead of chewing on one side or another, he was moving the food all over his mouth, and not managing to control it well.

After taking a history, she also noticed something I hadn’t. He mostly choked on food that he didn’t use cutlery for - cake, fruit, biscuit, sandwiches, carrots. She thought that maybe he wasn’t as careful about how much he put in his mouth when he wasn’t using a knife and fork.

I can’t help but notice your food list contains a lot of finger foods too.

I’d definitely check with the GP though.

build She always cuts her food to small pieces and takes small bites.

Mixed diet, I always veg up her plate but she can be a bit fussy at times. She's good with fruit mind.

brown Interesting with regards to the knife and fork issue. It hadn't even occurred to me.