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Posted by playinginmud on 09-May-2011 21:47 Report
Gagging and vomiting on solids @ 10 months
I am needing some advice. I will be asking my maternal health nurse, but wanting some mum to mum advice tonight.

My son has been on solids (purees) since 4.5 months, and did great... still does great with purees when he has them. Since starting slightly chunkier solids, or fingers foods, he just CANNOT eat them (well, rarely) with gagging and then vomiting it all up - plus any thing elser he has had recently like liquids, projectile style. I actually dont even offer finger foods or anything other than bottle or purees when we are out as you can be pretty sure if you offer them, he will vomit, and not just a little vomit.

Did anyone else ahve this problem? I have to say, its not ALL the time. If I break toast with butter and vegemite into little bits for him and feed it to him for breakfast, he can keep that down, but if he does it himself, or tries anything else, even just a chunky style puree, after 5 or 6 mouth fulls, he will gag suddenly then vomit.

He loves his milk, and has no issues with drinking his milk... His weight and weight are fine, there are no worries there, Im not worried he is ill at all, I would just like to help him with his eating and managing the chunkier foods, or should I be sticking to purees?
 
Replied by missybbeauty on 09-May-2011 22:10 (Ref 2290796) Report
Don't you just love projectile vomits - NOT! He's not hoovering the food down is he? Maybe he just needs a little more time between mouthfuls or to "chew" the food more before it goes down? I know my daughter when transitioning to chunkier foods would occasionally bring it back up but not to the extent you're talking.

Good luck with it. Hopefully someone will be more helpful than I...
Replied by playinginmud on 09-May-2011 22:25 (Ref 2290804) Report
Honestly I think it is that he is taking too much in, milk wise....
Replied by issabella10 on 09-May-2011 22:28 (Ref 2290806) Report
I wonder if he is swallowing properly ? Maybe food is building up in his throat making an uncomfortable feeling. Perhaps offer a mouthful of liquid with each bit of solids to wash it down.

My son went through a stage at about 18 months when just about every meal would come up again , it stopped after a while but it was a worry , no cause found either and now he's 6ft5 so certainly didn't do any harm.

I would stick to mashed foods for now , just a few weeks longer might make a big difference and in the meantime you can seek medical advise .
Replied by bitsnbobs on 09-May-2011 22:30 (Ref 2290807) Report
I  had this problem with one of my little ones when transitioning from purees to chopped food and finger food. I was told to feed her well 'mashed' food using a fork that would give a consistency of a puree with very small lumps, and to keep her on that for a while to get used to the texture change. Then later she moved on to more rougher chopped foods and  finger foods (she didnt really take to chunkier solids and finger food until after 12mths) . Best of luck!  The clinic will have lots more ideas as well.
Replied by playinginmud on 09-May-2011 22:32 (Ref 2290809) Report
That is exactly what it seems like! It SEEMS as though each mouthfull goes down, I check his mouth before offering the next, to make sure im not overloading him, but after 5 or 6 spoonfulls - gag - vomit - projectile. It is as if they are building up somewhere.

I KNOW he is taking in too much milk each day, I've been told...  and maybe its a vicious cycle, too much milk, then solids then vomit because its all too much, but after vomit, wants milk, offer milk, and it starts again. He has been known to have 4 or 5 400ml bottles a day, 400mls in one sitting.
Replied by missybbeauty on 09-May-2011 22:50 (Ref 2290820) Report
 Wow and I thought my daughter liked her milk! You're going to have to cut back his milk, 1.5-2lts of milk is ridiculous, even at his young age. I'd be sick drinking that much. Oh what my maternal health nurse would have to say...(been there done that). I think the guidelines is about 600mls a day???  My daughter LOVED her milk and was drinking anything up to a litre till she was about 15mths but she wouldn't eat much in the way of solids so I was told to cut it right back to 600ml of dairy in total (milk/cheese/yoghurt). At 10mths your son still is meant to be getting his nutrition predominently from milk but he's definately having too much.
Is he on formula or cows milk? Have you changed brands??
Replied by playinginmud on 09-May-2011 22:56 (Ref 2290825) Report
Yeah I know.... Haha. He is a milk lover. He is only formula, no cows milk yet, haven't changed the brand. I do think that the milk is a big issue with his solids staying down... His eyes are bigger than his tummy, he can eat his little bowl of solids then will demand milk and suck down a bottle, even just a 200ml bottle, occasionaly he will gag and vomit, so I try to not let him drink too much close to his solids. Even after gagging and vomiting he would be quite willing to down another 2 or 300ml, if you let him, which I dont and have had to get others out of the habit of doing also!

He will often push his solids aside or push me away and signal he wants his bottle, or if he can see the bottle he will charge cross country and high speed to get to it.
I am going to try and reduce his bottles from tomorrow, you are right, I've also been advised 600ml a day on average, I just feel as though I am depriving him, as he loves his milk so much.
Replied by prim-n-raggedy on 10-May-2011 00:38 (Ref 2290842) Report
I sure did, it was my son and he gagged for a while, i kinda made the puree just slightly chunkier, but not too much, i think it wasnt until he started eating more finger foods did he out grow it.

just to add he use to projectile vomit too, not sure if it is related. I also work in child care and we have a few that seem to gag on the lumpier veg.
Danni
Replied by chloecat on 10-May-2011 06:32 (Ref 2290857) Report
 Yep - I've had both - eldest would drink that much milk and the same in juice and eat solids as well - anything and everything - never vomited - unless my silly mother tickled him until he did.

The next boy gagged on purees until he was about 10 months - it was a texture thing I think, because until he was much older - well even now at almost 20 years old he would say something tasted nice but he didn't like the feel of it in his mouth - mashed potatoes would make him gag until he was about 14!!   He was never a big eater anyway. At a visit to the doctors for something else, she commented on his low weight (10kgs at 10 months) and gave me a list of what to feed him and  when - pmsl - I said 'well that's one weeks worth of food' - could tell she didn't have kids at the time lol

He might not be swallowing properly - might just be an under developed swallowing reflex, if it was something like you said above - that it was collecting somewhere, then it would have been a problem before now - milk would have been a problem too.
Replied by cintra on 10-May-2011 10:53 (Ref 2290945) Report
Just a thought, but have you had his tonsils checked?  I used to gag on my food, even found it hard swallowing a tablet because my tonsils were too big.  Finally had them out when I was 16.
Replied by missybbeauty on 10-May-2011 10:55 (Ref 2290946) Report
 You know something a (not my regular) clinic nurse said to me which I didn't appreciate when she first said it but after mulling on it overnight I came around to was "you are the parent they are the child. You decide what you're going to give them not the other way around". From the next day I stopped all except her night bottle (she was about 14mths at this stage) and she ate regular amounts of food. Surprisingly it worked easily at the time (luck?). Now just need to extend it to the dummy!! Goodluck, well meaning family members are a pain when you're trying to get stuff working right for you.
Replied by changjin on 10-May-2011 14:40 (Ref 2290992) Report
He is still only little and the gag reflex is there to protect babies from choking so maybe stick to mashy food awhile longer.
My hippy girlfriend used to feed her baby the 'natural' way, chewing food first then passing it on to baby. Worked very well because years up the track she has children that eat anything from camembert cheese to curries.
Me on the other hand, my son used to drink a lot of that milk they make for toddlers and it created a full kid that turned into a fussy eater and even now I have problems getting him to eat a variety of foods.
My youngest, never fed her toast until she was about 2, she used to have it dunked and liked it that way (in my cup of not too hot tea), She is a great eater and after the toddler milk gold experience with middle child I avoided the too much milk thing.
So no advice there.... just some other experiences, good luck, babies are so cute at this age!
:-)
Replied by playinginmud on 10-May-2011 15:57 (Ref 2291014) Report
Thank you all so far for your opinions, there are definately some things to think about... I have cut back his milk today, but even so, he didn't keep his lunch down (vomiting projectile style in the food court at our local shops, sigh..).
But that WAS quite solid finger food, bread with butter. I think we need to go back to purees for now and still reduce the milk...

I must be a slightly hippy-ish mum, I have to admit every now and then I have chewed some food with my front teeth for him and given it to him! It does always seem to stay down that way, but I've always thought it must be frowned upon feeding that way, I would hate to hear what my MCH nurse would have to say!
Replied by meshe1969 on 10-May-2011 20:10 (Ref 2291075) Report
One of my sons used to gag on the breast and then foods as he grew up, can still have problems at he the age of 23.
He was found to have oral (and physical) dyspraxia. He has to be careful to only have small mouthfuls, chew a lot and make sure he swallows everything before drinking or eating more.

On the milk issue my middle son ended up at a sleep centre and the first thing they did was cut back the milk. He didn't eat very well so I compensated with the milk. Within a couple of days of cutting back the milk he was eating a whole lot better.
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