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Original poster

2 year old holding food in his mouth - driving me mad! Is this normal??

17 replies

Tallgirl · 19/03/2004 17:03

My DS has recently started holding small amounts of food in his mouth - wont swallow or spit it out and he can hold it in for ages. At lunchtime today i refused to let him get down or have his pudding until he swallowed or spat out and we sat there for a good 20 mins. I could see he was having a problem swalling his own saliva (IYKWIM) and was getting really annoyed. If i had let him get down then he would have just wondered around dribbling everwhere. He has done this quite a few times this week and has also been putting his fingers in his mouth alot so maybe a teething thing?? Eventually today i lost the plot and managed to get my fingers in his mouth and remove the offending and very soggy pasta. After that he was fine and ate his yoghurt as normal.

Any ideas/tips?

Thanks

OP posts:

coppertop · 19/03/2004 17:18

This is something my ds used to do a lot if the food was of a particular texture or if it had to be chewed - especially meat. He used to store it in his cheeks like a little hamster. We would often have to scoop it out at night so that he didn't choke on it while he was asleep (he wouldn't let us near his mouth while he was awake). His problem was a sensory thing but your ds is probably just teething. Don't the molars start coming in at around 2 years old? That might be why he has no problem eating things like yoghurt. If it's any consolation, it does seem to get better.

twiglett · 19/03/2004 18:42

message withdrawn

Evita · 20/03/2004 20:10

I agree with twiglett, ignore it as much as you can. Though I can imagine it's v. annoying. Apparently my dp did it as a child and drove his mom crazy. Someone told us recently they used to store food in their ear when they were v. little!

stupidgirl · 20/03/2004 20:22

My dd used to do this, although not so seriously. She used to swallow it eventually, but it seemed like she just couldn't be bothered.

She's nearly 3 now, and rarely does it.

Demented · 21/03/2004 10:33

Funny should read this thread. My DS2 has started doing this. Last night he ate all his pasta and left all the bacon bits that were in it, a few mins later all the bacon bits were gone and about half an hour later I realised they were all still in his mouth.

He is 21 months and I did wonder if his back teeth were coming through, that may explain it but last night I was leaning more to stupidgirl's explanation, he just couldn't be bothered.

Original poster

Tallgirl · 22/03/2004 09:16

Thanks for your advice - did try all the above including giving drinks and ignoring which didnt really seem to make any difference. Anyway - he was sick yesterday (24 hour bug that seems to be going round) and seems back to normal today so dont know if that was anything to do with it??

Hopefully he will get back to normal now. LIke the sound of storing food in the ear sounds interesting!

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Kayleigh · 22/03/2004 10:48

Tallgirl, that's a really strange coincidence. My ds2 (2yrs 9mth) stored part of his lunch in his mouth yesterday at the childminders. He's never done this before and apparently it was well over an hour before he would let her take it out.
That night and all the next day he was sick, with what i assume is the bug that's going round.

It's always nice to know you're not the only one

Kayleigh · 22/03/2004 10:49

I didn't mean "yesterday" - it happened on Thursday. Really should preview !

Original poster

Tallgirl · 22/03/2004 12:32

Maybe we live in the same area? I'm in Wokingham, Berks but guess these things go on everywhere. Hope he is OK now.

OP posts:

Kayleigh · 22/03/2004 12:45

I'm in Barnet, Tallgirl. He was ok all day yesterday but had a bad night last night tossing and turning and now has a high temperature. He is sitting in front of CBeebies with his dummy and his "shnuggy" (duvet)at the moment looking very forlorn

Glad your ds is better today.

Demented · 22/03/2004 13:13

Weird, we've all had a bug as well. Maybe that's why DS2 was doing it?

Original poster

Tallgirl · 22/03/2004 13:36

Oh dear - hope everyone is better soon! We had a day of watching Thomas/Noddy/CBeebies yesterday briefly interupted by play dough session and playing with train set so we had a fun mothers day!

Lets hope that they eat normally for the timebeing!

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Original poster

Tallgirl · 23/03/2004 08:48

He is still doing it - driving me mad and DH completely lost the plot this morning. Will start to dread mealtimes soon if doesnt get any better. He seems to get really upset (genuinely) rather than just mucking about - although hard to tell at this age (2). I know it sounds trivial but at my wits end - have tried all the ignoring and not giving attention etc tried offering different foods but this doesnt help. Take them away and then he gets really upset but doesnt actually get rid of the food.

Any advice please!!!

OP posts:

Original poster

Tallgirl · 23/03/2004 08:49

Just want to add DH went upstairs and lay on our bed - didnt really show DS that he was cross just left the room.

OP posts:

littlerach · 23/03/2004 10:20

Probably is teething.
Also read somewhere that they do this if they have a sore throat or ear, not sure why. They let the food disolve in their mouth.
We have children at nursery who do this if they don't like the food.
Sure it is a phase!! But it does get frustrating.
Am intrigued about the ear and food!!!!!

Original poster

Tallgirl · 23/03/2004 10:40

Thanks for your reply - hope it is a phase as very difficult to deal with without making it into a big deal. Also worried about how my parents will deal with it tomorrow. Will check out the sore throat/ear thing as well. A friend has said to just give him soft stuff for a while (i.e. mashed potato etc) that he doesnt have to chew and see if that makes a difference. Forgot to mention that yesterday the childminder caught him literally gnawing the corner of one of her tables to probably teeth is a factor.

Thanks again

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Keekee1234 · 25/01/2016 21:55

I have noticed for about 3 months that my 2 yr old son holds certain foods n his mouth if he has to chew..i thought may be ear infection..but now i dont really know..also he touches his ears when food is n his mouth...hummm?? His grandmother on dads side is death..but he can hear..u was told that he may need tubes n his ears..i dont no...jus a mothers thing about her baby..dr.appt tomorrow

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