Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

Nikolas is 16 months old. He is not eating regular food. I have tried and tried but he refuses. He only eats jarred baby food. Hey, at least he's eating something right?
Anyway, for the past 2 months, he's been having texture issues. He easily chokes on the carrot pieces that are in the stage 3 foods and winds up throwing up his whole dinner. It doesn't happen all the time, once in a while but more often than he should be vomiting. For the past week or so, when he throws up, his milk comes up all curdled.
I'm taking him to the doctor today but I was just wondering if any moms had any experience with this as well.

Thanks.

Ok, so we're back. The doctor says he's in the 75th % for weight so he doesn't think the vomiting is affecting his weight. Gee thanks doc.
He says that if his vomiting continues, he will have to be evaluated for speech at 18 months.
This may be a dumb question but what does this have to do with his speech?
He also says that I'm giving him too much milk in a day and that is why is refusing all other foods. I have to get him off of the baby food and give him milk in a sippy.

What do I do if he refuses all regular foods and will not eat? I'm not going to let him go hungry.

I'm a little frustrated.

Message edited 2/8/2010 12:39:13 PM.

Re: Feeding issues

I know Mason is much younger, but he has this issue too. He's only 8.5 months, but he's has texture issues. He's on stage 2, but I have a feeling he'll be on it for a while. If anything is too chunky he makes the "I'm going to gag" face. I freak out b/c it gets to a point where he can't breathe.

I spoke with my Ped about it b/c she said she normally suggests parents putting their DC on Stage 3 soon, but not with Mason. He won't even try puffs! I'll take food and he has no interest in it. Tried the fruit in that net and he hated it.

She also said that it's kind of a muscle thing. Some kids are just late eaters. Mason wouldn't try oatmeal till 5.5 months when we first tried at 4 mons. She said not to be surprised if he's a late talker b/c some kids with texture and food issues are. He's a huge babbler and speaks a bit the da da da and ba ba.
Not too concerned, but hoping he'll get it eventually

Re: Feeding issues

DD is 1 year and also having texture issues. She is on stage 3 foods and some table foods but occassionally she will get a large chunk and gag or try to scrape the food off her tongue. She seems to be making progress with the types and textures of food but I feel like it is soooooo slow going.

She also vomits on ocassion a little more than she should. When she vomits, like your DS, the milk is curdled as well. She will also vomit ALOT!

I am curious about what your ped. says so please let us know. TIA.

Re: Feeding issues

We had this problem, and I am sorry to say we still have lots of problems with eating. My DS would throw up things he didn't want to eat and gagged on every stage 3 food I tried to give him.

I would talk to the ped about it. My DS get speech therapy and one of the things they work on is feeding. He has sensory issues, and had problems with table foods immediately following a bad stomach virus shortly after he started table foods. In our case, I think some of the problem is sensory, but I think some of it is behavioral too. I was told to avoid the things he is throwing up and just keep offering him new foods, even if he refuses them.

Re: Feeding issues

Thanks everyone. I'm going at 11am today. I'll let you know what the pediatrician says.

Re: Feeding issues

this is/was both of my boys but they have sensory issues and get feeding therapy.
he may just need more time to get it together but it's good that you are talking to your ped..
if you have feeding/vomitting questions or need to talk i'm unfortunitely a pro at this. fm me any time.

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

bump for update

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

Speech and feeding are related. I am sure the speech therapists on here can answer better than me, but the way it was explained to me is that the muscles in the tongue and face assist with both their eating and their speech. Our speech therapist told me that DS has low muscle tone in his face, which is probably part of the reason he has a speech delay and feeding issues.

I also noticed with my DS that while he wasn't accepting a lot of table foods at your son's age, he also was starting to refuse some of the baby food (stage 2) that he had been eating enthusiastically for months. He started gagging more on them and did throw up with a few foods. We also had a very tough time getting rid of the bottle and he will still only drink out of one type of sippy cup.

My DS usually doesn't have more than 24 oz of milk in a day and still refuses most foods. I don't think it is just because of the milk, but if you are giving him more than that, try cutting back and see if it helps.

I know it's frustrating, believe me!

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

im sure if he is starving he will eat whatever you put in front of him.

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

Saw your update... My Ped said the same thing about the way they eat effects their speech. She said it's their muscles in their mouth (something like that. I can't remember exactly what she said).
I know Mason is younger, but he is so bad with food too. He's gaining weight, but will only eat certain baby food. I hope he'll get it or I'm going to be serving baby food at his HS grad party

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

I would get another opinion. If you don't need a referral I would see an OT that is a feeding specialist. IMO your doctor seemed to have brushed off what could be a major issue and the earlier you deal with it the better.
My son has no weigh issues but has tongue and some feeding issues we've been working on since he was 6 months old.

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

Peds speech therapists are the go to people for feeding issues so if it's something the kid can't do this is who go to for therapy.

Bottom line it's either behavioral (i.e. kid can eat but doesn't want to because he's over fed from milk or just being stubborn) or it's something where he genuinely can't eat (for now) and needs therapy to work on his oromotor skills.

For the most part no normal kid will starve themselves into malnutrition. If you cut back on the milk and still refuses the real people food then he probably needs the speech therapy. Parenting is often a battle of wills. Kids are pretty strong willed (hence the need for things like CIO) and if your will is stronger you can win. Also, you can try to ease him into real people food. Give him things like stew (with the pieces really cut up) that's close to baby food and work up from there. If all that doesn't work, see the speech folks.

I'm not a Mom, but that's my advice for what it's worth.

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

Does he eat any table food at all?

DD is a SUPER, SUPER picky eater. Even when she turned 2 years old, she was still getting jar food every day b/c she refused to eat ANY fresh fruits or veggies...literally refused, and I wanted her to have the nourishment from them and to *hopefully* find a love for the taste of them (didn't work, but that's b/c she's stubborn )

EVERYONE told me to take her off jar food, she'd eat and wouldn't starve. YES, she'd eat (she was eating mostly table foods, but the same stuff over and over...meats, bread, cheese, etc), but she wasn't getting the nourishment of fruits & veggies.

I didn't listen...I kept with the jarred fruits & veggies until right after she turned 2. There was NO harm in me doing that...it's not like she said "well, I'm getting blueberries from a jar, I'm not going to eat fresh ones".

Now, she's 2.5 and still STUBBORN and not into any fruit except a banana a day and a thing of applesauce (which is sometimes a fight)...and veggies she's got a little bigger variety but not much. But I am THRILLED that she got the nutrients of all the fruits & veggies until she was 2...I wouldn't change what I did at all.

I will say, the she did horribly on the Stage 3 foods as well, and I couldn't really blame her. Soup, but with chunks...very confusing for their palates...she did much better with just chunky food, not smooth food with chunks in it.

Hope that helps you feel a little better

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

How much milk is he getting a day?

Re: Feeding issues (Updated-we're back from the doctor)

Stage 3 foods are VERY confusing for infants/toddlers. Think about it, the child is eating what appears to be a puree, and then wham - a chunk of food. It amazes me that ANY child can actually eat stage 3 jarred foods.

I skipped over them for this reason and went to soft table foods, like scrambled eggs, meatballs, and pancakes. After DD mastered that I gave her some Stage 3 jarred food when we were out and about and cooking was not an option.