Not chewing/Eating too fast
LollyBug18
member
Has anyone else started having troubles with LO not chewing their food before swallowing? It doesn't seem to matter what it is, carrots or peaches or cheerios, I watch DD eat and it almost always seems like she takes maybe one bite and then down the hatch it goes. I guess the softer foods aren't too big of a problem but I don't want this to become a habit. You can tell she's in discomfort when swallowing a whole cheerio and will sometimes even gag on it. How do I get her to actually chew up her food before swallowing? Do I need to give her bigger pieces? I'm afraid she'll end up choking!
And then, on top of that, it seems like she is eating way too fast. Part of it may be because she's not chewing. I've always heard that we need to eat slow to give our minds time to realize we're full so I assume that's true for a baby as well. But she just inhales it all. And she needs to learn to pace herself, I can't just place one piece of food at a time on her tray for the rest of her life! So any ideas on how to get her to slow down?
Re: Not chewing/Eating too fast
I have this problem with DD. I noticed it about 2 months ago because it seemed as if she was going for food too quickly after just having put some in her mouth. Although, she only does this with soft small foods; she seems to chew hard and bigger chunks of food (but chews as little as possible to be able to swallow).
There isn't much that I can do to get her to stop, but I have been "telling" her to chew when she eats and I've been doing slow chewing motions with my mouth. I even pop some of her food in my mouth and again do the slow chewing motions. I'm not sure there's much more I can do.