Chewing? - Covina,CA

Just some thoughts...

My son is now 32 months old and if I recall correctly, by that age he was chewing a variety of sized foods but, not with consistency. I made sure to teach by example, kids mimic what we do and that's how they learn. Even if you have to get funny about it and go overboard. If you already eat with your child all the time, then make it a big deal...say things like 'let's take a bite and chew our food'. I think being silly just goes with the territory.

I'm not sure how or what happens that clicks with a child that teaches them to chew, but I think it's a lot of trial and error and learning from watching. Don't make it a huge deal or stress about it, if he was in serious trouble he would have choked and since the vomit was from the food at the salad bar, I think you are okay.

If you have questions about his chewing or how to help him, you might want to ask his Pedi. I googled it and had a hard time finding anything.

good Luck!

I used to know a woman who, when her baby was about the same age yours, would sit in front of her child face level. Her face about 8" in front of his. She would eat slowly and deliberately, and with her mouth closed. She would chew and chew (about a good 15-20 chews). And then swallow. She would sometimes put her finger over her lips so he could really notice her mouth was closed and mimic her. It was pretty amazing to watch such a little one actually eating so deliberately and with his mouth closed. I think she did this partially to teach him about chewing with him mouth closed, but this could work for you also, especially for his saftety.

This doesn't sound that unusual to me. He's still learning to chew. If it's not causing his digestive system any harm (sounds like this vomiting episode was not typical), then I wouldn't worry about it.

My 17-month old daughter regularly has identifiable chunks of food coming out the OTHER end!

(But, as always, if it seems strange to you, then there is no harm in running it past your pediatrician.)

Hi J.
At 14 months old your son is still learning the correct way to eat, including chewing. You should still be cutting the food in small pieces and making sure he is not putting too much in his mouth at once. You said a salad bar - not usre if you were giving lettuce but if you were, is very difficult to chew up, especially for little ones without a full mouth of teeth. My son just turned 2 and he will still occasionally choke on (and gag up) salad if I do not cut the lettuce up small enough and monitor the amount he is eating. That seems to be the only food he still has a problem with. He tends to get so excited some times that he puts way more in his mouth than he can handle. So I would say that would be normal that your son responded that way, I would just cut pieces up smaller and maybe put a smaller amount on his plate at a time.
Good luck!

Take into consideration on how many teeth he has and that he is just learning to eat. Serve him easy to chew, softer foods. Our pediatrician (Mayo Clinic) suggested keeping the kids on baby food until they were able to eat a well balanced adult food diet - I think some of the best advice I ever received. At five, my daughter still likes to eat Gerber sweetpotatos and the garden vegies, which comes in so handy when she isn't crazy about a vegetable I might be serving. It's a great back-up. Maybe reintroduce a few baby foods and see how it goes. It will give you the peace of mind that he is getting proper nutrition. Also, when serving him chicken make sure it is cut up into very small bites and give him the moistest parts. Baby cooked carrots, small cubes of cheese or skinny strips, pasta, grilled cheese cut up very small, cauliflower cooked until soft with a little salt & butter, Make homemade vegetable lentil soup and blend with some cheese. These are just a few things you can try that worked well for my children when they were young.

Hope this helps!

Hi J.,
yes, this is very common. Does he have any molars in yet? First thing is to make him aware of his teeth. I always told my little girl (now 23 months) to chew with her teeth. I would always show her (exaggerating in a silly way) how to chew. Or you could say "bite your food".
My nephew swallowed food for a while. He would put it in is mouth and literally 1 second later his mouth would be empty.
I think if you could just make him aware of his teeth and how they are used, he will start chewing.
If you have been giving him regular food for a while and haven't noticed him not chewing before, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you are really concerned, then you could talk to your pediatrician.
Good luck!

Hi J.,

I think he should be chewing a bit by this point. Do you remind him to chew his food? Are his portions small enough that he is not indulging too quickly? My daughter is 3 YO, but I don't ever remember seeing any vomit that I could ID. I would discuss with the PED during the next visit and until then, I would keep talking to him to remind him to chew. My PED always has wonderful tips how to deal with the little mishaps.

When my son was learning to eat I made up a little song called chew chew chew your food. I know it sounds silly but it seemed to work. I would sing chew chew chew your food like this... and then I would chew some food and show him how it was done and then he would do it. Even now he is 20 months and I'm always telling him he needs to chew his food good. As far as that buffet, I will tell you that I never eat off of them because you just don,t know how long that food has been sitting there, So you might be better off ordering something you can share with your child off the menu.

Remember they only have 1 set of molars at 15 months and he may not have been able to chew it all up so his stomach could break it down, lettace and most vegetables are really hard to digest, it may have been easier for his little tummy to purge it that to digest it. I stay away from certain food like lettace because my system "over digests' and caused other issues.