14 Month Old Boy with Swallowing Problems

Hi T.,
It's sounds like your friend is possibly taking her son to an Occupational Therapist who works with feeding issues. Occupational Therapist also work closely with Speech Therapist as they work on oral motor strenght. Sounds very much like he is what is called "pocketing" his food and she is right, it is progress from gagging. You might want to ask your friend if she has had a swallow study done yet. from the sounds of it, she may already have. Hope this info helps.

One of my twins has had motor/oral problems (extream premmies). He has a feeding tube and didnt orally eat until he was about 10months. Needless to say he struggled. The problems with gaging and throwing up sound very similar to my son. I would suggest having her look into OT through Reginal Center or another program in her area, even if they arnt concerned its better to get an eval. then have the little guy struggle. One thing that did help my son is trying anything everything and find somthing that he likes more then others. And constant reminders while eatting that its yummy, and if he starts gagging that he's ok, throwing up is ok. Throwing up dosent mean STOP trying, let him relax a few mins and try again. It helps to keep them focused on somthing besides on what hes eatting. Over the past several months my son has gone from eatting NOTHING to munching on crackers, and eatting some baby food jars. Texture could have alot to do with it, try everything! Good Luck :-)

It sounds like you are very well-meaning, but if they are working on the problem, you need to leave it alone...it's their family to deal with.

-M

I have the same problem with my grandson I would like to see some of these respnses also.

I have never experienced this problem with my own children, but I have seen children who have the same problem. This can become an issue if enough is not done to help the child, because he can be underweight, and a myriad of health problems can arise from malnutrition. Generally, this condition can be taken in stride and dealt with as a young child with no lasting effects. In some cases, as with the particular case I am remembering, the child has disabilities and health problems that last throughout her life, as well as an inability to eat most foods properly even as she grows older. I worked with a particular child who had this problem, she is now 11 years old, but my own 6 year old is much larger than she is and she has many disabilities (physical and mental).
The only thing that your friend can do is to work with her doctors, do her research, and pray for her son. As a friend, all you can do is offer support and love when she needs you.

My second son had a similar problem. I was told that his body was "starving" and wasn't getting the nourishment he needed. He would gag on a lot of food and throw up frequently at meal time. We thought he was just a picky eater. We ended up finding out that his adenoids and tonsils needed to be taken out. His tonsils and adenoids were both too big and ended up keeping him from being able to swallow food very well. He also ended up with tubes in his ears. I think it would hurt to chew because he needed tubes, but that was just an additional problem. He was a tiny little guy for years. We didn't find out any of these things, even after lots of tests, until he was 6 years old. He has finally started to put on weight and he eats great now! He is now almost 8 years old. Hope your friend finds out what the problem is and gets it resolved. It can be really stressful and painful to watch your child struggle and not what's wrong or how to help them. Good luck!!