Food sticking to roof of mouth

[cerealspiller]

My DS is 8 months old and took to weaning very happily. We've been doing BLW since 6 months and he has done really well tackling anything I put down on his tray, however he seems to have quite a high palate and often food gets stuck up there. He then struggles to get it away, even with sips of water, and gets very upset. Often I have to scoop it out with my pinky which I hate doing because I feel it could result in accidentally pushing food toward his throat. My older child did not have this issue and I'm not sure if there's anything I can do about it. Had anybody else had this problem and can offer some advice?

Do you sometimes offer pouches (yoghurt or whatever)?
The pushing the food towards the palate is the typical motion of sucking vs chewing.
Try switching to soups for a while and see if it helps.

@LiliesAndChocolate that's really interesting, I'd never have thought of the connection between that and the sucking motion! Makes a lot of sense. He doesn't get any pouches of yoghurt/purée but he does still drink a fair amount of formula from a bottle so I guess could be to do with that?

I am not sure to be honest. I once translated a paper on drooling in toddlers and it was linked to poor jaw muscles due to pouches and soft food. The authors were very much against pouches as sucking on food wasn't the natural way of eating and the paper went into details on the neurologic mechanisms of chewing.

The paper, however, was referred to foods not drinks and it is quite natural to drink as a baby/toddler. This is why I was suggesting trying a soup (pumpkin-carrot is quite nice) and a spoon to see if it is a matter of texture or a problem of coordination with his tongue.

Keep in mind that 8 months is still very young and learning to eat solids take time.

How often does the food get stuck? Once a week, once a day, every meal? You say he has a high palate. Have you seen a dentist who diagnosed it or is it your impression?

Are you giving him a spoon to play with? I'd read somewhere that can help them dislodge the food themselves.

@cerealspiller how did you go today?

@LiliesAndChocolate thanks very much for your help with this! Probably once a day he gets the food stuck, happened today with a bit of savoury pancake. Not given the soup a try yet as we do our food shop tomorrow so will get some ingredients in then! The high palate is just an observation of mine in comparison to myself and my older child's as his is much higher than both of ours. He's due to go to the dentist for the first time so can always bring it up with her to see if she thinks so!
It is also a good point you've made that he is still young and learning, I guess it's just thrown me off because we never experienced this with our older child

@Chippychipsforme good idea thank you!