milk allergy-eating-gagging issue

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone,

I have many issues about eating. Owen just turned 1 yrs old two weeks ago

and he just received his first tooth on Easter! Anyway, my issue is that he

tends to gag on many foods that I am trying to give him. Owen is also

allergic to milk products so coming up with ideas of food that he can eat is

difficult. I am still feeding Owen baby jar food in stage 2, because he

seems to be unable to handle food with chunks. He just tends to swallow

things without chewing them or the food will just get stuck on his tongue and

just stay there. I sometimes still have difficulty with cheerios (which I

have to break in half). Can any of you give any suggestions on types of food

to give him, or any ideas to help him from gagging. Is this typical for

children with DS? I don't have any other children -- so it's hard to

compare.

Please help!

Tonya, Mom to Owen 1 yr.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/25/03 7:50:44 PM Pacific Daylight Time, prple00@...

writes:

> Hello everyone,

> I have many issues about eating. Owen just turned 1 yrs old two weeks ago

> and he just received his first tooth on Easter! Anyway, my issue is that

> he

> tends to gag on many foods that I am trying to give him. Owen is also

> allergic to milk products so coming up with ideas of food that he can eat

> is

> difficult. I am still feeding Owen baby jar food in stage 2, because he

> seems to be unable to handle food with chunks. He just tends to swallow

> things without chewing them or the food will just get stuck on his tongue

> and

> just stay there. I sometimes still have difficulty with cheerios (which I

> have to break in half). Can any of you give any suggestions on types of

> food

> to give him, or any ideas to help him from gagging. Is this typical for

> children with DS? I don't have any other children -- so it's hard to

> compare.

> Please help!

> Tonya, Mom to Owen 1 yr.

>

What kind of therapy is he getting for this? You should be seeing a feeding

specialist, or at very least working on oral motor skills with a SLP (speech &

language pathologist).

Hang it there!

-Becky

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/25/2003 10:50:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

prple00@... writes:

> ). Can any of you give any suggestions on types of food

> to give him, or any ideas to help him from gagging. Is this typical for

> children with DS? I don't have any other children -- so it's hard to

> compare.

> Please help!

> Tonya, Mom to Owen 1 yr.

>

Tonya,

There's an article in Disability Solutions that I lived by trying to get my

son to eat different textures. Check out the following...

http://www.disabilitysolutions.org/3-3.htm

It explains how you have to master some textures before moving onto others.

Mixed textures of smooth and chunky are problematic for a lot of kids. To

this day Liam won't eat Cheerios because someone tried too often to feed them

to him. Don't be horrified but sucking on a cheese doodle until it softened

helped.

Try not to get fustrated because this is important. I know some parents who

gave up and let their kids stick with smooth textures and faced even more

trouble down the line. Hang in there!

Kathy, Liam's mom( 5)

[Guest guest]

Not only are they not ready physically, if you force the issue to much you

are setting yourself up for HUGE food issues in the future. Eating is one

thing a child does have control over and they don't have to have DS for it to

become a major issue in everyday life simply because they do have that

control!!!

Loree

[Guest guest]

Tonya, You should see about getting a feeding specialist or a speech teacher

that is skilled in oral-motor issue. This will also affect his speech

possibly. My Micah has the same issues and is just Now at 2 and a half

starting to eat cheerios so Owen is not doing that poorly. Micah still

won't eat stage two foods allthough he does eat some tablefoods. He is

getting better SLOWLY but that is with the help of his feeding specialist.

Hope this helps.

Loree

milk allergy-eating-gagging issue

> Hello everyone,

> I have many issues about eating. Owen just turned 1 yrs old two weeks ago

> and he just received his first tooth on Easter! Anyway, my issue is that

he

> tends to gag on many foods that I am trying to give him. Owen is also

> allergic to milk products so coming up with ideas of food that he can eat

is

> difficult. I am still feeding Owen baby jar food in stage 2, because he

> seems to be unable to handle food with chunks. He just tends to swallow

> things without chewing them or the food will just get stuck on his tongue

and

> just stay there. I sometimes still have difficulty with cheerios (which I

> have to break in half). Can any of you give any suggestions on types of

food

> to give him, or any ideas to help him from gagging. Is this typical for

> children with DS? I don't have any other children -- so it's hard to

> compare.

> Please help!

> Tonya, Mom to Owen 1 yr.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/26/2003 3:40:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

_Schulte@... writes:

> Perhaps " pushing " him to eat solid foods was innacurate. Blake would love

> to eat a cracker. He would choke and gag it down all the way and then grab

> another one.

This brought a bad flashback. Be very careful with oyster crackers. Liam

got a bunch in his mouth once when someone else was feeding him and we had a

major choking episode.

Kathy, Liam's mom( 5)

[Guest guest]

Tonya-

I haven't been able to keep up on my e-mail lately, so I just saw your post.

My son is 2 and has many of these issues as well. You might go to this

website. There are 3 articles on this site specifically dealing with

swallowing and chewing in kids with ds.

http://www.feeding.com/educational.htm

We pushed Blake to move to solids to quickly. Because we felt pressure from

people who thought a kid his age should be eating table foods. We have

switched him back to only purees and feed him only mushy foods he can

handle. Even though he is 2 1/2 he still doesn't eat crackers or crunchy

foods because he doesn't always chew or hold them in his mouth long enough

for them to get mushy.

One thing I learned from the website above is that if you let your child eat

foods their mouth isn't ready for....digestive problems will follow.

Because not only is their mouth not ready....their stomach is not ready

either.

Schulte

milk allergy-eating-gagging issue

> Hello everyone,

> I have many issues about eating. Owen just turned 1 yrs old two weeks ago

> and he just received his first tooth on Easter! Anyway, my issue is that

he

> tends to gag on many foods that I am trying to give him. Owen is also

> allergic to milk products so coming up with ideas of food that he can eat

is

> difficult. I am still feeding Owen baby jar food in stage 2, because he

> seems to be unable to handle food with chunks. He just tends to swallow

> things without chewing them or the food will just get stuck on his tongue

and

> just stay there. I sometimes still have difficulty with cheerios (which I

> have to break in half). Can any of you give any suggestions on types of

food

> to give him, or any ideas to help him from gagging. Is this typical for

> children with DS? I don't have any other children -- so it's hard to

> compare.

> Please help!

> Tonya, Mom to Owen 1 yr.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hello Tonya. My son, non DS, never liked the older stage baby foods. The

dinner or the ones with the Chunk meat he wouldn't eat. He would gag and

just not eat it. I guess he didn't like the taste. We couldn't even get it

in his mouth good enough. So I just stuck with the first two stages and went

to cream of wheat with baby formula and then to table food. Now, my son

with DS, didn't chew his food good. I had to say " chew chew " everytime he

ate to make sure he was chewing and not just swallowing. To think of it, I

said this to all my kids. It could become a habit if they continue eating

without chewing well first. Try to incourage the " chew, chew " while Owen is

eating so he won't forget. I hope this helps. I guess babies are use to the

nice smooth food that just slips down the throat and when they get to

texture foods they have to learn they have to chew first. Good luck.

>From: prple00@...

> , downinmichigan

>Subject: milk allergy-eating-gagging issue

>Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 22:48:32 EDT

>

>Hello everyone,

>I have many issues about eating. Owen just turned 1 yrs old two weeks ago

>and he just received his first tooth on Easter! Anyway, my issue is that

>he

>tends to gag on many foods that I am trying to give him. Owen is also

>allergic to milk products so coming up with ideas of food that he can eat

>is

>difficult. I am still feeding Owen baby jar food in stage 2, because he

>seems to be unable to handle food with chunks. He just tends to swallow

>things without chewing them or the food will just get stuck on his tongue

>and

>just stay there. I sometimes still have difficulty with cheerios (which I

>have to break in half). Can any of you give any suggestions on types of

>food

>to give him, or any ideas to help him from gagging. Is this typical for

>children with DS? I don't have any other children -- so it's hard to

>compare.

>Please help!

>Tonya, Mom to Owen 1 yr.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

You could also let Owen eat plain oatmeal. I also like the post about the

specialist. It never hurts to make sure everything is okay.

>From: " Davina Abraham " <DeeVee2073@...>

>prple00@..., ,

>downinmichigan

>Subject: Re: milk allergy-eating-gagging issue

>Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 17:10:20 +0000

>

>

>

>

>Hello Tonya. My son, non DS, never liked the older stage baby foods. The

>dinner or the ones with the Chunk meat he wouldn't eat. He would gag and

>just not eat it. I guess he didn't like the taste. We couldn't even get it

>in his mouth good enough. So I just stuck with the first two stages and

>went

>to cream of wheat with baby formula and then to table food. Now, my son

>with DS, didn't chew his food good. I had to say " chew chew " everytime he

>ate to make sure he was chewing and not just swallowing. To think of it, I

>said this to all my kids. It could become a habit if they continue eating

>without chewing well first. Try to incourage the " chew, chew " while Owen is

>eating so he won't forget. I hope this helps. I guess babies are use to the

>nice smooth food that just slips down the throat and when they get to

>texture foods they have to learn they have to chew first. Good luck.

>

>

>

> >From: prple00@...

> > , downinmichigan

> >Subject: milk allergy-eating-gagging issue

> >Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 22:48:32 EDT

> >

> >Hello everyone,

> >I have many issues about eating. Owen just turned 1 yrs old two weeks

>ago

> >and he just received his first tooth on Easter! Anyway, my issue is that

> >he

> >tends to gag on many foods that I am trying to give him. Owen is also

> >allergic to milk products so coming up with ideas of food that he can eat

> >is

> >difficult. I am still feeding Owen baby jar food in stage 2, because he

> >seems to be unable to handle food with chunks. He just tends to swallow

> >things without chewing them or the food will just get stuck on his tongue

> >and

> >just stay there. I sometimes still have difficulty with cheerios (which

>I

> >have to break in half). Can any of you give any suggestions on types of

> >food

> >to give him, or any ideas to help him from gagging. Is this typical for

> >children with DS? I don't have any other children -- so it's hard to

> >compare.

> >Please help!

> >Tonya, Mom to Owen 1 yr.

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Perhaps " pushing " him to eat solid foods was innacurate. Blake would love

to eat a cracker. He would choke and gag it down all the way and then grab

another one. He doesn't really seem to mind when foods choke him. It does,

however, bother me and we should have been more in tune with this when he

was younger.

Schulte

[Guest guest]

Oh, and about chewing. Sometimes he does....sometimes he doesn't. Telling

him to chew does not always ensure that he will, so we just limit hard to

chew for now. Puree's are much easier for children to digest that solids.

Schulte