HAs anyone found a solution to overstuffing/ cheek pouching of food?
DS9 is terrible at clearing his mouth. He will sit staring out the window mid-meal with his mouth totally overstuffed, and seemingly forget the food is there. If told to swallow/empty his mouth he will automatically take another spoonful and stuff more in. Then sit staring blankly out the window again. The food eventually gets eaten but it takes an hour of constant reminders, every mouthful.
He's been like this since he was 1. We've tried smaller mouthfuls, eating with a teaspoon, etc. Speech therapist when he was 2 just said he had to be talked through every mouthful and would learn, but 7 years on he hasn't.
It also means he can't eat anywhere he's going to either have no parent telling him what to do, or where he's going to get angry and embarrassed if a parent tells him how to eat.
At preschool he just put one lot of food in his mouth, and sat there with it until the end of the meal. I'd pick him up at 4pm and he'd still have morning tea's apple in his mouth. Teachers never bothered to check he was actually eating. At school he just didn't eat at all - he'd sit with his lunchbox open for the required 10 minutes, then put it away again.
Since school stopped at age 6 he's never eaten without a parent present, and refuses to eat anywhere where he doesn't want to get told to swallow his food.