Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

Original poster

8mth old clamps mouth shut at mealtimes!! help!!

12 replies

alibo · 15/10/2004 14:20

ds is 8 months, and is teething, most days his cheeks are flushed. his appetite seems non existent. takes his bottles ok, but as soon as it comes to solids he clamps up, especially lunchtime. have waited till he seems hungry, as he hardly eats breakfast, and the whole time i have to give him something to gum on or make him laugh just to get him to open his mouth!! but he's even getting wise to this, so it can take about 45 minutes just to shovel a bit in. should i just leave the solids and give him some extra milk instead?, every lunchtime is a battle now.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Original poster

alibo · 15/10/2004 14:22

btw, he dropped his lunchtime bottle a few weeks ago.

OP posts:

codswallop · 15/10/2004 14:23

too many bottles Imo

pixiefish · 15/10/2004 14:23

My dd does this and what I've done is get some toast, cut into smallish manageable pieces, put on the high chair table and while dd is fiddling and trying to get that in I manage to get some food in slyly- timing is crucial . I also lift the bowl to eye level and she seems to open her mouth every time.
I do think that my dd sensed that I was tense because of it though as she's eat for my mum or dh- in the end i decided not to make an issue of it and just put the food away when she refused. my hv and friend told me that i shouldn't worry unless she's doing it at 12 months. HTH

codswallop · 15/10/2004 14:23

give him somehting to hold - like some toast

Papillon · 15/10/2004 14:25

he might be interested in finger food by now. give him some bread to chew on although as he is teething probably is off his food. you could try giving him some porridge in his milk. like a milkshake, with banana.

hth

Original poster

alibo · 15/10/2004 20:36

thanks for replies, have been trying to keep him interested with rice cakes , which he likes to gum on, and shovel bit in whilst mouth is open, but he has sussed me out!! most finger food offered just ends up on the floor once he's played with it!

OP posts:

Heathcliffscathy · 15/10/2004 20:39

agree re finger food, but also...and it took me a long time to learn this: they will not starve themselves...so if they don't want stuff, instead of offering alternatives, just say: 'ok, we've finished'...i found as soon as i had the guts to do this (rather than offering 7 diffrent alternatives all of which ended up spat out etc) we were cooking on gas...ds eats one big meal, and then one small meal, and i now have faith that he knows how hungry he is, and that last thing he has a bottle anyway so he isn't going to wake up hungry (always my dread)...

hth

TriciaP · 25/10/2004 11:10

My 10 month old twins seem to choke whenever I give them some finger food. I've tried bannana, cooked brocolli 'trees' and rice cakes. I'm terrified but feel I need to keep trying - has anyone got any advice on what I should try next, or how best to go about it?

colditzmum · 25/10/2004 11:46

triciap, your babies might be doing it for effect. Mine did it at about the same age, but when i stopped reacting, he stopped doing it. Lumpy mashed potato with cheese can be helpful......it is hard to force yourself to not react though.

JiminyCricket · 25/10/2004 12:27

TriciaP, I think toast is good to start with, in small squares to suck on and lots of butter/spread..it might seem like they would choke on it but IME it works really well. Will they suck on biscuits? Starts to give them the feel for lumps.

Alibo, agree with others, don't increase milk, just leave it if he refuses and he'll probably come around...my dd and me used to have this problem a bit too...with her she seemed to want to feed herself so we had to swiftly move on to finger foods, now she'll eat off a fork or a spoon, though she still likes to hold them herself sometimes (she's 13 months) I think it was a power struggle because at her nursery they feed her every day off a spoon and have no problems! Also, what I try to do is get a few things ready each mealtime (protein, carbohydrate + veg, or a main meal like cottage pie, plus a healthy pudding e.g. wholemilk yoghurt or stewed fruit) and she eats what she eats..its all healthy so it doesn't matter what she chooses...over the day she gets a little of everything. Even if she only eats a few spoons of b'fast that's quite filling if its weetabix and IMO babies need to eat little and often, so healthy snacks are a must too when they drop down their milk more. Sorry for waffling

captainCOD · 25/10/2004 12:32

Hold its nose?
i once knew someone who did htat

clary · 25/10/2004 12:36

triciaP i know it's scary but they do need to learn about choking IYSWIM. Obviously you should be there to deal with any emergencies but they need to learn how the unfamiliar food feels in their mouth. So the fact that they are choking is a good thing...within reason!

Have they are teeth? Do they like putting things into their mouths? Try anything they like, halved cherry toms, halved grapes, soft cooked pasta shapes, slices of peach, melon, kiwi fruit, slivers of cheese, slices of pitta bread, maybe a finger of cooked chicken or similar.

I should steer clear of raw carrot and apple etc; ability to deal with these is certainly a later thing. HTH

Flip