16 mo swallows food whole

jonesie2010 · July 2014

DD tends to swallow food whole without chewing at all. At first I wasn't too concerned because I figured she'd learn, but she doesn't seem to be getting much better. She sometimes chews fruit a few times, but most pastas, veggies, and meats go straight down. I'm terrified that she'll choke, and I'm still feeding her a bite or two at a time. If I put a whole plate in front of her, she inhales it in just a couple of minutes.

I've tried demonstrating chewing and I make really exaggerated chewing motions to her for every meal. I tell her to "chew chew chew" but she just swallows whole and then fake chews. She is constipated all the time and I'm guessing this must be why. It's to the point that I'm worried about her nutrition. She can't be getting proper nutrients if her food isn't getting digested, right? (I often see chunks of food in her dirty diapers.)

Any advice? Am I over reacting? Is this a phase?

=Lee=B · July 2014

My 16 month old does the same. We did BLW weaning from 6months on and figured she'd figure it out...but she just shovels it in with a big slurpppppp. It's astonishing what she can swallow down with a big gulp.

My daughter isn't constipated, what I'd do for a solid poop around here (cloth diapering). Most food is fairly digested but we still get chunks.

My daughter eats non-stop and is all about speed. You'd think every meal is her first, and her last meal the way she shovels it in. We try to encourage her slowing down and she starts off trying...she is skilled with the spoon and fork but soon gives it up to go faster.

She has 12 teeth including 4 molars and at times she does chew so I know she could/can do it...she's just not there yet.

I'm not worried at all. Unless your daughter is quite under weight or losing weight and unless the constipation is painful I don't think you have anything to worry about. Push high fibre foods. My daughter eats way to much fibre (hence the looser poops). She LOVES beans of all sorts etc.

valeriegp · July 2014

At about that age my son was shoveling as much food in his mouth as possible and often barely chewing it. He also had chunks of solid food in his diaper a lot. The eating part has gotten better and at his 18 mo appt about 3 weeks ago the pedi said the chunks of food were normal at this age, especially the ones we were seeing -- whole beans and corn kernels, parts of carrots were especially common. I worried a lot about all the food he was shoveling in his mouth and watched him closely, but like I mentioned it has gotten better. Have you introduced a spoon? I think my son's trying to master the fork and spoon are one of the thinks that slowed him down. He still eats with his hands about 50 percent of the time, but we give him a spoon and/or fork for every meal (except sandwiches, etc)

jonesie2010 · July 2014

Thanks, these responses help ease my mind. She is fairly good with both a spoon and fork, when she chooses to use them. Most of the time she just holds the fork in one hand and shovels the food in with the other. It's faster that way.

valeriegp · July 2014

That's exactly what my son does. He was especially bad about it when he first started. We said that he was all about efficiency.

steelerbaby29 · July 2014

I would consider trying smaller portions than what you have been giving her.Then when she is done with that give her more. Even though my son has a lot of teeth, I still cut the food up in smaller pieces. I figure that way when he is chowing down, the pieces will at least be easier to digest.

earlyspring1 · July 2014

Hi, I'm a speech pathologist that works with feeding issues. Not that what you're describing sounds too much out of the ordinary but I do have a suggestion. One way to get kids to get better at biting/chewing is to take food that comes in long strips/can be cut into long strips (those tiny pretzel sticks, strips of toast, a stick of string cheese cut lengthwise, etc) and place it in the child's molars and encourage them to bite off pieces with their molars while you hold it. This helps them learn how to both bite off pieces of food and also how it feels to use their molars. It's good for improving jaw strength if that is an issue. You can make a game out of it by pretending to be a dinosaur and really exaggerating the chomping. You can let them feed you first if they are hesitant.

That being said I have a stuffer myself. We are working on it! Good luck.

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