7 Month Old Baby That Can't Swallow Baby Food Yet

"He loves to gum a toast or biter bisquits."

Maybe separate some bananas into thirds and have hem gnaw on those, or avocados. If that doesn't work, try juicy freezy pops.

Then take him in, because he definitely needs the nutrition, and maybe he has something wrong anatomically in the back of his mouth.

I had a cousin that fed her baby using a medicine-type syringe... the kind with no needle but the wide opening. Worth a shot!

My son choked on everything when he was first introduced him to food. What we were unaware of was that the mucsles in his mouth and tongue had not developed properly and he could not chew and swallow food, he also could not take a bottle. A speech therapist was the person who was able to determine this. She showed us how he could only chew up and down, not side to side and could only stick his tongue straight out not back and forth. We had to do excersizes with him to stimulate the muscles so he could learn how to use them. You might want to have him looked at to determine if he is unable to chew and swallow properly.

Hi - have you taked with your doctor about this - I have heard that some babies have a gag reflex problem and can't swallow food because of it. I would talk with your doctor and maybe do some research on the internet. Good luck

I would ask your family doc for a physical therapist referal who specializes in babies with oral problems. I don't think your baby has a serious problem (though I'm not an expert) but maybe just needs help developing and stretching of basic muscles in the mouth. Don't wait, and if this doc says no, get a second opinion. It' time for your baby to start on solids. You might also see about adding a sippy cup with water to her daily routine/play. Good luck

Sounds like you need to take him to an ENT specialist and check to see if there is some blockage in his esophagus or something....this is NOT normal and especially if he is wanting the food...and then choking on it.

Hey! One thing that I read in Parents magazine a while back was that babies sometimes don't like the texture of the spoon (or the taste of it). They suggested flipping it over.

I worked at a daycare for a while and had the same problem with a baby girl the same age as yours. Every bite she would push the food back out with her tongue. I found that having her food a little thicker (mixed with rice, oatmeal, or mix grain) helped. Another trick that worked well for her was to put the food in the cheek instead of on the tongue. For some reason, she couldn't push the food back while it was on her tongue, but when it was in her cheek, she did great! We didn't have a problem after catching on to that little trick.

Also, a friend of mine found that making her own baby food with a baby food processor worked for her daughter.

Best of luck!

My son had this same issue. I kept trying to feed him, and he kept gagging and throwing up. Everyone kept saying "try again in a week", but after a few weeks, I realized it was more than a developmental thing. So I finally took him (at 8 months) to see a feeding therapist. She did a lot of desensitizing to his mouth and gums, with vibrating teethers, and something called a Nuk that looks sort of tooth brush-ish, like a little rubber pinecone on a stick. She also gave him the Arrowhead cookies from Gerber (they look like a flower with a hole in the center), because he was able to gum those and they melted in his mouth. That was the first food that he actually swallowed. He continued to see the therapist until he could eat properly, which was about 11 months old. It took a while, and they fed him "meltable" food-- all kinds of weird stuff I never would have given him at that young an age (like Pringles), but he has been fine. And he finally started eating solids, and table food. He never ate the purees. He pretty much skipped baby food all together, and went straight to toddler finger foods (like the Gerber graduates Wagon Wheels, Gerber Graduates Puffs, and those cheetos type things they make). He's 18 months old now, and he eats pretty much everything, though he does occasionally gag on things that have a weird texture. Not often, maybe twice a month. Anyway, the feeding therapy was GREAT. I highly recommend it. Our feeding therapist was also a speech pathologist, but I don't know if they all are. I am sure you can find one in the phone book...your doctor might need to give you a referal. Good luck! It really does get easier!

Maybe you need to have his tonsils checked, my little girl is almost 2 and we had a similar problem with her when she was about that age and kept wondering why. we went on thinking she was being stubborn but she wasnt.when she would eat any type of solids she would gag. we took her to a specialist and sure enough she had to have her tonsils and adnoids removed, at about 18 mths though. she is better now. still isnt the best of eaters but she doesnt have trouble gagging ot choking anymore..

hope that helps a little

S.

Mention this to your doctor, and see if he thinks a referral to a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) is in order. Given your baby's age, desire to eat, and the result of gagging and choking, he might have some issues (like shallow gag reflex on sensitivity) that needs to be addressed by a professional. I have four kids also, girl then 3 boys. My last boy had very similar issues and has been seeing a SLP for feeding therapy--extremely helpful! You can call a SLP yourself, and possibly get a free screening or make an appointment directly if you'd rather. If you choose not to seek help yet, at least ask your doctor of when it is time to intervene. Bon apetite.

Hi P. - I am a mother of 17 month old twin girls. I STILL have the same problem with one of my kids. Sometime she eats great, sometimes she just refuses (actually most of the time)...but, she LOVES the bottle....still. At about 9 months, I was at my wits end with the spoon feeding and decided to pour the baby food in the bottle with milk/formula.

To this day, I still add baby food, yogurt and/or cereal to every bottle...and try to spoon feed or finger feed once per day as practice. She is still getting all the food she needs....but in a smoothie. My other child does great with the spoon and other solids. My philosophy is all I can do is keep introducing it to her and hopefully some day she will get it. I don't want to force her because I don't want her to associate eating with a negative experience.

Hope this helps. Drill bigger holes in your bottles if you decide to try this. Start slow, so they don't overeat. Now, I can add an entire jar to an 8-ounce bottle. Give extra water since the bottles are so thick. My girls have sippy cups with water they carry around all day.

My email address is ____@____.com me know if anyone else has any better ideas! :) Good luck!

Hi, read your request for some insight, and thought maybe I could help. I am the mother of 7, all breastfed. None of my babies, including a set of indentical twins, was ever interested in food until at least 9-10 months, and then several of them completely skipped baby food, and went straight to table food. I think your baby is very normal, and I think that you are doing a great job, and I think that you should not worry about this, because he/she obviously is thriving, and very interested in adult food, appropriate to his age of course, which only shows a normal progression on babys part. I don't think all children are required to eat baby food, and a completely breat fed child is usually well beyond the baby food thing and ready to start eating some easy to deal with table food. I think you should be very proud of what you are doing, and he/she is growing and changing with your nurturing mothering. Good job!!

Hi P., either this is a medical issue, or it's perfectly normal. My third child didn't swallow solids until the day before her first birthday. The next day she was eating chocolate cake with icing, and everything else I offered her! She was always very healthy. I didn't worry about it -- mostly because she was my third and I had seen a huge range of development in so many areas by then. I just viewed this as a variety in development, which is exactly what it turned out to be.

We knew there was something different about my daughter really early on because she drooled A LOT more than other babies. At six months we started to try to feed her baby food. At first she was not interested and we backed down until she seemed interested in food. Then when she was interested in food she could not keep the food in her mouth. She would just push it out of her mouth with her tongue. We saw her doctor who ordered an eating evaluation and she was diagnosed with an over active tongue reflex. All kids are born with this and it should wear off by six months of age, but with her it didn't. We started feeding therapy, but progress was slow. She just turned one and she is finally eating almost normal. She still does better with solid food and purees still fall out at times. I was worried she would never eat normal. It may just be that the reflex has not worn off yet. If you are worried see your doctor.

Our son had difficulty swallowing and greatly benfitted from seeing a feeding therapist. If your son's not having weight issues, though, it may just be a developmental thing. Try a chunkier type of food (like Gerber Graduates). If he does well with those, then he does have a swallowing problem according to our therapist. GL I hope that's not the answer.

Hi P.,

It sounds like you are a busy lady. I am a graduate student at ISU working toward my masters in speech-language pathology-a long name for a speech therapist. Anyway, speech therapist deal with swallowing issues in older individuals as well as kids. So, my first suggestion is that maybe you should talk to you doctor about a referral to a speech language pathologist. Next, since your baby seems to be doing fine with breast milk, the next step maybe a thickened liquid like rice cereal or something to that texture. If he starts choking, stop feeding it to him. Anyway, I hope that helps.

I would take him to a pediatrician to find out if he has a swallowing problem. My friends baby boy had the same problem it sounds like as yours does. I don't know all that they had to do with him to remedy the problem, I just know that they were able to get him to swallow finally without gagging. Good luck to you!
I am a working mom with 5 children (only 1 at home now) and 5 grandchildren.

I had the same problem with my 9 month old son. He was a preemie though so the doctor told me he would develop slower then other babies his age. I just kept trying a teaspoon at a time. I fed him 8 or 9 times a day. He slowly learned how to eat and now is up to 5 jars of baby food a day. I know it can be frustrating and scary just try to be calm or he will catch onto your feelings. You will get through this.

My baby is now 8 1/2 months old and one thing that helped with her was slowly upping the number of holes in the nipples of her bottles, so she learns how to control the food intake when it is coming faster. To do this I had to pump of course, but you can get hand pumps for a decent price these days. Or If you don't want to pump you could get some formula and mix in a little rice cereal or baby oatmeal to thicken it a bit (this is what my baby loves). Always rising the 'flow' level of the nipple little by little until you get to the point where you can use a nipple with a slit in the top(making sure the food is thickened by this point). My baby still sometimes chokes when she gets too excited when I am feeding her baby food but overall, she is much better,..and when she does, I just reduce the amount of food on the spoon to just a 'lick'.

Hi, he isn't that old yet so this isn't completely uncommon. As long as he is not losing weight or not gaining any I wouldn't worry that much. My suggestion would be to stop trying for about a week to do a formal feeding (sitting down, and feeding him), and then retry it and he may just pick it up. It sounds like he just isn't ready for the spoon feeding part of eating. Can he feed himself with finger foods? Like avocado chunks or really soft steamed carrot chunks? will he chew those things so it is safe to try? Good luck, I hope this helps!

Dear P.,
Think about his age and that he doesn't need to eat yet. Breastmilk is plenty of nourishment for him at this point in time. I introduced foods when my babies became demanding- I would shave down a large carrot and round the ends and let them gum in and play with it. I would give them a firm banana, peel an apple and let them just taste it and gum it. That was very satisfying for them. You know he can swallow, so just wait until he is ready to eat. We think that if we hurry them, that it will be good for them, but he needs to grow more until he is ready- he will get there, just be patient.
Then if he has problems later consult with a specialist. I remember feeding my 6 month old because he was 30% on the growth chart. I regretting pushing food on him, it caused him to learn to eat too fast. My other children i just followed their lead and they did just fine.
Best to you!
H. B. MOM (mother of many-9)

Dear P.,
I hope this makes you feel better. The World Health Organization states that you can EXCLUSIVELY breastfeed your baby for an entire year - that means no solids. My breastfed baby woudln't eat food until 15 months and then went crazy for food. I have a friend who's baby would not take solids at all - at 9 months they found out that he had diabetes and that her exclusively breastfeeding may have saved his life.
Good luck - breastfeeding is easier and more nutritious than anything else you can give him anyway.
When you do start, again, start with bananas and avocados - sweet like breastmilk.
Advise from an API leader and a LLL Leader.
S.

I went to a feeding therapist with both my boys and now it's as if the problem never existed. Toomey and Associates are excellent in teaching kids how to eat! I can't recommend anyone better. I hope they can help you.Their phone # is ###-###-####.

My son didn't care for it until he was a year old. You could just wait a month and try again!

he's probably just not ready. there are signs of readiness for babies and one is the tongue reflex, if he's still pushing it out, he may just need a little more time. try back in a week, and another week, and another until he finally will have the appropriate tongue thrust reflex down and he'll eat it up. . . good luck!