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Eating food

8 replies

Flyingwombat · 18/10/2021 15:36

Could anyone advise me on some food issues I’m having with my three year old AS. He takes massive mouthfuls of food at a time so at times he gags. He has actually vomited once as he couldn’t breathe. The same with drink, he gulps and gulps so he is out of breath and coughing. I have tried over many months lots of different things, including reassurance, empathise, reminding him to eat slowly, cut food really small (otherwise he doesn’t bite a piece off and shoves the whole thing in). I realise It is likely related to past experiences. I want to help him but I don’t know best how to. Any help appreciated.

OP posts:
UKABC · 18/10/2021 18:38

One of my sons did the same thing at that age. It turned out that he used to breathe through his mouth, rather than his nose, due to enlarged adenoids and tonsils which led to him gaging sometimes. We only realised this once he was 4-5 years old and also had a speech/pronunciation problem. He breathes through his mouth and sleeps with his mouth open. He used due to have his tonsils/adenoids removed in a few months, which according to doctors will sort out this issue.

UKABC · 18/10/2021 18:39

(He is due…)

Chocapple · 18/10/2021 20:11

Hi OP,

I wonder whether your AS has been for some reason more anxious over the last few months e.g due to recent Placement, any changes at home, anniversary of something relating to birth family. And is regressing to his in uetero and/or early life experiences of not being fed enough and is using the food and drink to subconciously replicate his previous experiences/try to control his feelings of feeling unsafe ?

At times of anxiety ONE of the things my AS will do is eat loads of food (but not stuffing it in his mouth) and/or find anything sugary/savory he can and horde it. He has very vivid memories of his experiences in birth family which has really helped to explain his food and other behaviours.

His food issues become more pronounced with new school year, xmas, birthday, anniversary of Removal from birth family etc etc.

@UKABC has identified something which may be worth looking into. And it could be a typical developmental thing related to fast growing 3 year olds ?

Hopefully more people with experience of your specific food issue will be along and able to give advice.

Noimaginationforaun · 18/10/2021 21:35

Our 2.5 year old has similar issues! They would shovel everything in! Still do sometimes but it has got much better. We stripped it right back in the beginning. Cut everything up and helped feed them one bit at a time, did a lot of modelling and talking about how we eat (like ‘ooo I’m going to eat this piece of broccoli! Now it’s all gone! I’ll eat this bit of mash now!). It seems to have worked and they’ve started saying ‘all gone!’ before their next bite. Lots of praise ‘that’s a good mouthful, well done that’s a lovely bite!’. We do still notice when they’re feeling a little unsure that they ask for food a lot more and will revert back to wanting to have huge mouthfuls but it is getting easier to get back on track with the praise/support/modelling. Sometimes they’ll be really emotionally tired and just ask to be fed so we do that too.

Jellycatspyjamas · 18/10/2021 21:48

It’s worth asking for a referral to Speech & Language, they can really help with eating, swallowing etc.

Chocapple · 18/10/2021 21:59

Some children simply haven't been taught adequately about eating and drinking, so yeah going back to basics and modelling is really good.

I have done that and still do often with my AS. Giving milk in a baby bottle. Chopping food up and feeding him complete with 'here comes the aeroplane' !! He clearly missed out on that Sad

I think asking for a referral to SALT is a really good idea.

reallives · 20/10/2021 13:07

Similar to noimagination I would sit with him and playfully supervise each mouthful - so, talk about how much goes on and get him to tip some off if necessary, talk about sloooowly going to the mouth, maybe saying "pretend this is the slowest train you ever saw going into the tunnel", and then do some big chews with him, and then say swallow.

Playful but not funny as laughing wouldn't be good either!

I would also explain about it in words, about how much to put in and why and about chewing and also explain that otherwise he will cough a lot and that might hurt his chest.

If he is not ready for the above, though, I would be painstakingly giving him cups of drink with just a mouthful in at a time, and the same for food, rather than risk choking or vomiting, and to help give him the right feeling of taking in small amounts at a time.

2bazookas · 12/11/2021 16:07

How does he get food into his mouth? (daft question but vital info!) and does he chew it?

I suggest, Create delay/ slow-down tactics. Less eating with hands.

Teach him to handle / eat with very small child sized cutlery, one implement in each hand "like a grownup" and teach him how to hold down a potato , carrot, brocolli etc with the fork and cut it up with his knife, use fork or small spoon to transfer it to mouth. This will naturally slow down his eating.

If he would like a slice of cake, let him cut it from the cake, transfer to his own plate, cut it up and eat with his knife and fork..

Let him butter his own slice of toast/butter and fill his own sandwich/, then decide how many little sandwiches you can help him cut it into.

Cereal; offer shreddies or some other small- bite sized cereal .

Let him slice up a banana/apple and eat one slice at a time.

Eat together at the table and encourage conversation while eating, to slow down the mouthfuls.

Although cutting everything up tiny tiny is tempting, giving him larger pieces of food which then have to be chewed, might work better.

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