Reassurance and advice needed please!

[Bumblebee1988]

Hiya,

My son is 16 months. He eats everything we put in front of him and is not fussy at all. He took to weaning amazingly - its me that is struggling big time. I struggle with anxiety and one of my main worries (ever since weaning) has been him choking. Whenever he gags (which I know is fine) my anxiety goes into overdrive and I have all sorts of scenarios play out in my head. So please PLEASE no horror stories on this thread as my anxiety can not take it!!

Basically my son often doesn't chew his food properly and tries to swallow big mouthfuls. He doesn't always do this. Sometimes he will do it with his sandwich or croissant and he will look like he's struggling and it's got stuck and either keep trying to swallow it or gag it up. Is this normal for his age or should he be chewing properly and not gagging now? I cut most things up quite small for him unless it's really soft. When he was younger we gave him a breadstick and because he didn't chew it properly he tried to swallow it and the sharp bits got caught in his throat which resulted in a coughing fit. Will he learn in time or am I doing something wrong?

Show him how you chew. Let him touch your jaw while you chew so that he can feel your mouth move up and down. When you have completed a bite, open your mouth to show him that the food is no longer in your mouth.
Give him food one mouthful at a time. Emphasize swallowing slowly in addition to chewing slowly. Get him to completely chew and swallow food before he gets to take his next bite. The next bite can serve as his "reward" for doing a good job when chewing.
Make chewing into a game. For example, you can sing a short song or a few letters of the alphabet while he chews so that he can understand how long he should chew. When you stop singing, he can start swallowing the food.
Keep calm and keep trying. Maybe not now but 3–4 months later he may do it. If he doesn’t, I would start take him to your GP, if he can't find anything wrong, take him to a dentist. If he is suffering from TMD, it would make his jaw very sensitive.