Spitting... please help!

[Taysh1109]

Anyone got any ideas on how I can stop my DD (16months, DS) from spitting her food at me! The only advice I've been given is 'just ignore it' and 'it's just a phase'. Well this phase has been going on for months now, and it's driving me up the wall.

She'll eat the first couple of mouthfuls, then spit the rest at me, but she cries if I take it away. She IS hungry, and she DOES like what she's eating. I do think it's a sensory issue but I don't know how to fix it. It may sound trivial but it's driving me up the wall. My carpet is beyond filthy and I have to change her clothes, and my clothes, after every meal time. If we're out, people look at me as if to say "Teach your child some table manners!" :(

I've tried everything. I've tried ignoring her, I've tried shouting at her, I've tried singing songs and playing games while she's eating to distract her, I've tried LETTING her make the mess and play in it... I don't know what else to do!
She does it with her juice as well, so unless its milk (which I still have to give her in a bottle) she doesn't get any fluids.

Advice very VERY welcome! PLEASE!

Have you experimented with different textures? Are there any foods she will eat? How old is your DD? What is her dx? Does she sit at the table?

Sorry for the questions but Id like to help if I can. :)

She is 16 months and has Downs Syndrome. She sits in a high chair as I still have to feed her. She's not AS bad with finger foods, like rice cakes and grapes and stuff... she doesn't spit them QUITE as much. Tried different textures but she's pretty much the same with all of them. She's moving onto more grown up food now (mushed up, as opposed to pureed!) and when we first started giving it to her, she didn't spit it as much, but now it's crept back and she just spits all of it!
As far as fussiness goes, she pretty much likes everything, apart from sweet things, which is why it's so frustrating because I know she likes it, but she still spits it out?!

:(

I assume that DS is Downs Syndrome?

DD has Cerebral Palsy and at 4 she still spits her food at me.

In all seriousness, for my DD its a SALT issue in that she doesnt have adequate control over her tongue.

Does your DD receive SALT at all? If so it might be worth mentioning it (maybe ask physio too) and they should be able to give you some exercises to do.

Hi my daughter used to spit food she still does occasionally.I give her a toy to play with while she is eating.She concentrates so hard on playing she forgets to spit-well most of the time.

Sorry I misread your origional post..

As suggested above talk to your SALT and distraction is a good idea too. Other than that could you try more finger foods, a picnic on a messy mat maybe?

My DS is the same age and is also spitting food and juice...and throwing everything on the floor when finished! So let me know if you find anything that works! :)

Good luck.....and look down your nose at snotty people they shouldnt be so rude! Along glare normally works.

It sounds behaviourable to me. DS children can be low toned and this can affect swallowing making it just that bit harder to control their chewing and swallowing. But if she can drink milk without gagging and choking I dont think low tone is an issue.

I think it will just be distraction until she is older and sitting with other family members and cottons on its not appropriate.

DGS has CP and low tone, but drinks water with no difficulty, but he is just not interested in food which is good for him (fine with buttons!). DD puts on night garden or chuggington, especially one he likes from the planner, sits round the side of the high chair (almost out of sight) and pops the food in. It might work but I can imagine the nightmare mealtimes are!

Thank you everyone for your advice so far. She has been referred to SALT, and the only time they saw her, of course, she was as good as gold and didn't spit once (too busy staring at the lady and pulling faces at her instead)

zzzzz - She's definitely worse with slurpy and porridgey food. She does spit everything else as well, but those two are by far the worst. Probably the only thing she NEVER spits is rice cakes, she absolutely devours them!
I have worried that she's not eating enough, but her weight gain is fine (probably because I fill her up on milk/rice cakes when I know she's not eaten much else for dinner) and it's not that she's not hungry because she cries if I take it away!

It's not a physical issue I don't think, she does suffer from reflux but she has no problems swallowing. She does very occasionally wolf her entire meal down, almost as if she forgets about the spitting... that's a rare occasion though lol

I do think it's behavioural because also she's so much worse with me that she is with anyone else. She does sometimes spit for DP or my mum or MIL, but she ALWAYS spits for me :( and if I do lose it and tell her off... she laughs!!

Sneeze, I did once try something very similar to that... she just kept trying to find me and then just thought it was a game of peekaboo!

And growly, that's great advice, and funnily enough I actually had tried that just this evening! She just threw the toy on the floor though!

Thanks, will try all those things. I agree with you that these skills are of great value to my DD and myself, so am willing to invest time and effort into it, but so far, no luck! I am firm with her, but she just cries because she's hungry and doesn't understand that she's not getting fed (she doesn't understand verbal communication properly yet and certainly doesn't understand that sort of complex cause and effect i.e spitting = no dinner.)

Not sure about taking her milk away from her just yet though... I don't give it to her INSTEAD of her dinner, it's her morning and bedtime routine (I just add more at night if she's not eaten much dinner) so I think her day/night would be very unsettled without it.

Thanks for all the advice though, you've been really helpful.

I too would remove the food but then again I'm a tough love mum and confident that no child will deliberately starve themselves if offered three meals a day. So if she spits you say no spitting, if she spits the next mouthful you take the food away and take her out of the highchair. You don't need to be angry just matter of fact and she will learn very quickly the cause and effect.

What would happen if you offered lots more meals but each one was just 2 spoonfuls long? Anything to take away the stress and put the fun back into meal times together.

You did say any ideas!!

ZZZZZ your post made me laugh about the child who burps |(he doesn't have fragile x by any chance does he?). My elder son is the worlds champion burper. He thinks it's great. School review actually stated that one of their targets for him was to stop the burping or at least minimalise it.
Other son, also FXS, can't do it thank heavens (although he tries). Apparently it's a common FXS thing. That n farting.

As for your other advice to Taysh regarding behaviour with food, I would only agree to try those things.
If the child is getting a reaction (negative or positive) it could reinforce that behaviour.