Gagging and vomiting.

[Tortu]

My little boy is almost a year old and we are having problems with his eating. We have adopted fairly relaxed, mixed methods of feeding, with him preferring mush if he is hungry as it can be eaten faster. However, often when he is feeding himself, he will gag and vomit. It is terrifying to watch and I'm a little bit worried about him.

Essentially, he gags on things that other babies don't seem to gag on e.g. leaves (yes, yes, I know he shouldn't have been eating them), rusks, small bits of apple.

Can anybody give me any idea how normal this is, or suggestions for what I can feed him so that this problem doesn't occur (soft items that are neither slippery or hard)

It's obviously important to pop him to the gp to get it checked out.

But my DS is 14mo and still does the same. He was also a very sicky baby. If he's eating something stodgy, or crams it in too fast and it gets stuck; up the bloody lot comes. No advice I'm afraid, perhaps give things you know he finds difficult a rest for a month, and then give him chunks of cut up peeled apple and see how he gets on.

I find the best thing for us is to carry on as normal (as advised by doc as there are no allergies), keep plenty of water to hand and supervise when eating. If it comes back up, let it. Don't make a fuss, clean it up and carry on with a different food. As mentioned earlier, give that food a wide berth for a few weeks and then try again with it fully prepared; chopped, peeled, whatever. Anything that is an obvious blocking hazard when chewed (stodgy like cheese, white bread, chips etc) I just tend to avoid tbh.

I understand the frustration though!

my almost one yr old dd (one on 5th dec) does this as well, she is gradually getting better tho and now eats mashed up lumpy food and a wide range of finger foods. its a bit hit and miss tbh but i just let her try what she wants and deal wiht the mess. i dont remember my boys being as bad as she is but they are all different and tend to get there eventually.

i have to say dd has got lots better in the last few weeks but now has a cold and cough so is gagging and being sick more.

a check up to rule any problems out and to put your mind at ease might be worthwhile, if not just carry on offering and he will grow out of it :)

As for suggestions, here are some stuff my ds eats happily 80% of the time:

I halve or quarter grapes, banana (weirdly one stodgy food he won't choke on often, no idea why!), raisins, those crunchy Organix carrot sticks, soup, spaghetti shapes (sponge on or whatever), small pasta shapes specifically for children with a thin sauce, homemade burgers (as they tend to flake in the mouth), flat bread, cheerios, rice krispies, yoghurt, muller rice, soft boiled eggs.

Every so often I give him a 'difficult' food like mashed potato, just a mouthful to see how he gets on.

spongebob not sponge on sorry

re cheese, my dd can eat it fine if i grate it but not chunks of it, then she chokes but a pile of grated cheese is fine for some reason.

if i think mashed potato is too stodgy for her, or any food tbh i mix a bit of milk in with it so that its not so stodgy and she also has a cup of water with her meals and if she looks like she may be about to gag i give her a little drink that seems to help :)

Ooooh good idea 4madboys

Also I use a fast flow beaker so DS can get a big drink quickly if he's a bit clogged up. Water goes everywhere sometimes, but it doesn't matter it's easily mopped up!

Phew! Thanks so much. Am loving the advice on what to feed him. I shall try all your tips.