Help, 8 year old won’t swallow food

[Oopsyouvedoneitagain]

I’m at my wits end. For the last 3 days my DS has just chewed food over and over, and then spat it out. He suddenly seems unable to swallow. He is drinking fine.

He doesn’t have a sore throat, it seems to be a mental problem. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m sitting here in tears after a breakfast where it took over an hour for him to eat a small yogurt. He’s always been a fussy eater but never any problem swallowing.

Yes my (then) 7yo DS developed a phobia of swallowing. We went to CAHMS in the end (not in the U.K.) because he lost so much weight he dropped off the growth chart.

We got through with a lot of smoothies and soups to help put weight on. He had therapy to discuss his phobia and we talked a lot.

It happened when his top two teeth came out and he swallowed them.

First, calm.down.

My DS is only 3 but I've spent far to many hours worrying on if he's eaten enough, If the food he's eating is nutritious enough. Then I realised - as long as he is having a poo every day/every other day and weeing plenty - He's fine.

Give your ds a multivit everyday. They're like sweets. You can get liquid forms of he will just spit the 'sweet' out and put the liquid into some squash.

But aside from that. Leave it. He's 8. Let him be incharge of his own body. Provide food and let him decide to eat it or not. Don't make a big deal out of it. Get him involved with making his own food but don't put pressure on him eating it.

Obviously all depending on if he dosn't have any disabilities or disorders which would be causing this. Then seek medical advice.

I went through this myself as a child. I developed a fear of food/ swallowing food immediately after I had a near choking experience
Has your child experienced something similar recently that could have triggered him
How old is he?

Sorry just saw that he is 8

Try for the best few days to serve food you know he likes and will eat

Don’t sit there pressuring him to eat. Let him eat as slow as he wants to. Put the tv on and let him eat in front of the tv if he has to.

If none of this works, please do seek medical advice

@Kathy2020

I went through this myself as a child. I developed a fear of food/ swallowing food immediately after I had a near choking experience Has your child experienced something similar recently that could have triggered him How old is he?

Same here. I remember choking on bacon and for months I would chew and chew my food then gag when I tried to swallow.

One day I just stopped and was fine since

I'd get a Dr to check him over, there maybe an issue with his throat that you're not aware of.

If it's psychological you'll probably have to start with a liquid diet and slowly increase the consistency. If it's anxiety related you need to make sure mealtimes are as relaxed as possible with lots of distractions such as having the telly on or watching something on the iPad.

Thanks so much for the advice. He hasn’t had a choking incident, it’s just started out of the blue. I’ll try making him soup for lunch and put the Tv on and see if that helps.

Soups a good call. You could give him the likes of tomato and cream of chicken type soups that have no lumps and gradually move into lumpier soups like vegetable if he’s forgotten about his swallowing phobia by then as he’s relaxed into the soup routine. A few days of soup and puddings like custard or yoghurt may help if he perhaps has a sore throat or his glands are up that he’s not mentioned. And smoothies are always good. I’d google how many calories an eight year old child needs in a day if you are concerned. It can’t be that much

I've had this really recently with DD (age 10). She could swallow only tiny mouthfuls with lots of milk. Picky eater so won't have smoothies or soup.
Lots of TV distraction, and letting her eat whatever she could got us through. Celebrated whenever she managed something she couldn't before. In the end she had a sore throat (I did too, not a horrible one) and when that finished she decided that had been the problem all along. (It hadn't, but I let her believe that.)
I did get Pediasure chocolate drink mix from Boots as she could have a glass every day for extra calories and vitamins. (Very £ but worth it for us.)

I had an eating disorder as a child which sprang from being force fed and pressured into eating. I'm not saying you're doing either - but you need to take your own anxiety about this down several notches or you will end up with a much bigger problem on your hands. The more pressure or perceived pressure there is to eat - the less your son will feel he is able to relax and swallow his food.
A story is told by my mother (who still doesn't get the damage she did...but my parents were actually abusive) about how I went to bed one night with peas in my mouth, woke up with it - went to school the next day and came home with the peas still in my mouth. Don't end up there.
I recommend a book called How to Get Your Kid to Eat - but not too much (Ellen Satter).

This is an old thread but just wondering if the eating situation resolved for your son? My DD is 9 years old and has just started with exactly the same issue around swallowing food. It seems to have come out of nowhere.