1 year old choking when drinks

[Preferpetstopeople]

So pretty much what the subject line says.

I nanny for a 14 month old or 12 month old age corrected baby who is developmentally spot on in every other way and is truly magical!

I have noticed that she almost waterboards herself when she drinks regardless of what type of sippy cup, teat or bottle she drinks from and coughs until she's red in the face. I'd say 1 in every 3 or 4 sips she chokes on and spits water out. She has weaned normally and eats very well with no more gagging or choking than any other baby her age. She does however always walk around with her mouth open so I am unsure if maybe she struggles to breathe and if that could be related to her difficulty drinking or if she is just a little slower to get the hang of drinking? Similarly she is always quite congested when she lays on her back and if she has a cold it's awful listening to her snuffle and breathe.

Has anyone else gone through this with their little ones and did they outgrow it? We have booked a GP appointment for her but I was just wondering what to expect? Cheers!

@Preferpetstopeople my little boy who is just a few months older still seems to choke on water.

He seems to really take the water back and then choke, it’s been on my mind that maybe something isn’t quite right so would be interested to hear what comes of your doctors appointment if you don’t mind updating?

My boy had reflux when he was younger and so was difficult to wean but is fine with most foods.

@Luckyme30 so a little update for you! The GP said it could be something called dysphagia which means difficulty swallowing and is common in preemie babies. We were told to double check her dummies were the right size, that her teats and sippy cups are the right size, to encourage her to talk if possible and that they’ll review it when she’s 15 months age corrected 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Preferpetstopeople thank you so much for coming back to me!

That’s interesting, he doesn’t use a dummy but that’s because when he was little he could never keep the dummy in.. wondering If that’s related to what you mentioned above.

My boy was just under 3 weeks early, so not classed as preemie but was on the early side, I’ll speak to my GP.

Thanks so much for the update.

My granddaughter was like this, always choking when drinking. She was looked at and had an x-ray while drinking, they found nothing wrong and said it would go away on its own which it did. She would cough and choke in shops and people would be alarmed.
You say she breathes through her mouth, does she snore loudly? Ours is being referred for her adenoids, her sleep is also bad as she wakes up constantly.

@deste my son mouth breathes and also when really tired he snores!

My brother had issues with his adenoids, I think I may speak to the GP as sounds familiar, my son is also a terrible sleeper!

@deste yes she snores pretty loudly! And if she has a cold then you can hear her snoring from a couple of rooms away! And she wakes up frequently in the night which could well be her adenoids too!

Exactly the same here. You can hear her other side of the house especially when she has a cold but not necessarily. She also had dairy allergies but that is also clear.

I thought I would update this thread. DGD had an hospital appointment this morning. They asked a few things about her and my daughter mentioned the choking while drinking. They looked at her tonsils and said they were very enlarged and mentioned that would possibly mean the Adenoids would be enlarged also. She has been told she will be a priority to have them removed. They also mentioned her sleeping will improve as will the sleep apnea. They were also surprised this wasn't picked up when she had the X-ray previously.

@deste thank you for the update that’s so interesting!

My little one has actually stopped choking on water and still snores a lot but we’re chasing up with the ear, nose and throat clinic! I’d imagine we have a similar problem!

hey @Preferpetstopeople any update on this? I feel like my 15mo is doing the same!

@Chloesophia93 Hi! So a month or so after I initially posted she suddenly stopped choking on water! Literally overnight! Everything from her drinking cup to her dummy was totally age and stage appropriate so I don’t know if her muscles simple developed further and it all suddenly clicked for her? Truly no idea but she’s the model child in her nursery now that the staff encourage the children to copy because she drinks so safely!
Her blocked nose and congestion was put down to simply being a preemie and we were told snuffly kids are even more common if they were C-section babies! We have no clue or even evidence of the science to back it up but it does seem correlate. And her adenoids and tonsils are fine and no longer need watching! If you are concerned I’d say follow up with your GP. They were super helpful for us but she managed to fix herself!

@Preferpetstopeople ah amazing! Thanks so much for the reply! Glad she’s doing so well! My DS wasn’t a preemie but did have a tongue tie I’m thinking it could be similar in terms of weak muscles in the mouth not working properly yet so hopefully it fixes itself!