delayed solids question

[Anonymous]

ok another solids questions….sorry..i am just lost!

i know the other day Justices mom posted about the gag reflex. this is what is happening with Trace. he cant take any solids in because he gags on everything!
our ped told me the LATEST was 6 months to get him on solids.

i dont know what to do. the next time we go in to the ped i am going to tell her about his gagging, and she is going to look at me with a very confused look on her face. she doesnt deal with babies like Trace.
so what im thinking is, is she going to send us to some sort of speech pathologist or feeding clinic? i think she may….

i am also worried that if this continues that he wont accomplish oral skills like most babies at this age should.

whenever we see family they ask me in excitement what i feed him and i tell them he cant tolerate solids. they look at me kinda strange.
my FIL keeps saying “you need to give him some applesauce, he would love it”
i try to tell him that he will gag on it, and he just blows it off..

nataliachick72006-12-14 23:30:8

[Anonymous]

sounds like he just isn’t ready for solids yet—–don’t you just wish everyone didn’t feel like they had to be so involved in what he eats (or doesn’t eat!!) probably the best thing is to just keep trying small bites every so often and try different thicknesses. they always say to start with a very runny cereal, but my kids did much better with a thicker cereal. good luck—-wish i had some better advice than this!!

[Anonymous]

Myles was very gaggy like that too. At seven months he could not eat any solids but he had given up his bottle so I started spoon feeding him all of his breast milk. I think that helped him learn to accept food from a spoon (although that’s not the reason I was doing it) and eventually he began eating cereal and baby food from a spoon without gagging.

An evaluation wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I probably should have done it with Myles.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t worry to much just yet…I know several people who have babies that didn’t start solids until they were much older…my mom said I was one of them…she said I screamed bloody murder if you tried to put any solids in me…in fact, I didn’t eat them until I was almost 14 months old…and now you should see me, I am a human vacuum But if it would make you feel better, I would go for an evalutaion

[Anonymous]

My mom didnt give my youngest brother any solids till he was 8 months, I think she enjoyed BFing to much. I hope your little one does better soon. My daughters name is Natalia, I love that name

[Anonymous]

Colt had the same problem but we just tried each month and if he couldn’t handle it we would wait until the next month and try again. Colt could eat any texture when he was about 16 months old. He couldn’t handle anything before then. He is now starting to talk and seems fine. I think the biggest help we had was our doctor didn’t push us to take him off of formula. He is going to be on it until he is two. Don’t worry you still have time. I think he will grow into eating just fine.

[Anonymous]

We are having the same issues, not as much gagging, but basically refusing

solids at 9 months. I posted over in Feeding Issues/Aversions and got a

couple of reassuring posts. I then went to the library and checked out Child

of Mine, by Ellen Sattler, which also made me feel better. She discusses how

to start very slowly, and only with cereal, every couple of days. She talks

about gagging as well, and the skills they need to have to be able to swallow

food. She mentions something about how the gagging is ok for a while, so

long as we don’t scare them by our reaction to it.

I had the same worry about him missing some magical deadline for tastes

and textures, but now I feel differently.

[Anonymous]

Found this on http://www.kellymom.com

MYTH: If you don’t start solids by “x” months, then baby

will have problems with solid foods

This is another myth that is not supported by research for normally

developing, healthy babies. Keep reading for more on this…

Is there a “window of opportunity” for starting solids?

There is certainly a “window of opportunity” for starting solids, but this

varies widely from baby to baby. At some point (usually around 6-8

months) baby will become developmentally ready to eat solid foods (able

to sit up, chew, pick up food, etc.). At around the same age, the

gastrointestinal tract is physiologically mature enough to handle a

diversity of foods. At this point, most healthy babies will be ready and

willing to eat (even if it’s only occasionally and in tiny amounts).

Occasionally, parents will be told that baby must start solids by 6 months

(or 8 months, or 10 months) or baby will have problems learning to

accept and eat foods that require chewing. This “limited window of

opportunity” idea is widely believed, but unproven.

I’ve not been able to find any research data to support the idea that there

is a limited window of opportunity for introducing solids in normally

developing, healthy children. There does appear to be some limited

evidence that babies who have been tube-fed long-term or have serious

developmental delays may have problems learning to eat if they don’t get

a chance to practice eating solids between 6 & 10 months. A small study

involving case studies of several mentally retarded children was done

back in 1964 (Illingworth RS, Lister J. The critical or sensitive period, with

special reference to certain feeding problems in infants and children. J

Pediatr 1964;65(6) part 1:839-48.). This study suggested that there may

be a “critical and/or sensitive” period for introducing chewable textures to

these children, and if solids are not introduced during this time, an

important developmental milestone may be missed (possibly leading to

rejection of solids later on). This study is the only one I’ve found

referenced with regard to the “limited window of opportunity” claims

regarding the normal development of children.

I asked a speech & language pathologist I know about her experiences

with this. She has worked with many young children who have feeding

problems, including developmental delays and problems with chewing

and oral texture aversion. She said that she could not think of any reason

that delaying solids would cause feeding problems, and said that the the

problems in the children she had worked with had generally started at

birth or relatively soon after. None of these children had a feeding

problem caused by a delayed start to solid foods.

[Author]

Posts