help..kind of urgent

[Blackhorse]

mindee is sitting at table after having stuffed his face with food...he tried to eat himself which I encourage..he is nearly 17 months

he has it all in his mouth though and is not swollowing it. He has done this before and I had to take food out of his mouth as he couldnt get to sleep that way.

I left him at the table. ..in the same room as we all are...while other kids got up and are playing now...he continued to put more food into his mouth so I took the food away as he has not swallowed any of it yet...

what do I do now? How long do I leave him there pretending I am not bothered...(in case he does it for attention)
If I ask him to chew the food and swallow it...he wont.
If I ask him to spit it out he wont..

I left the yoghurt there as this was desert but told him he cannot have it right now as his mouth is full....and he loves joghurt!!

WHAT DO I DO???

[Tatjana]

Oh dear.

I'm not sure what i'd do at this point.....i think in future if i saw he was going to put more food in his mouth without eating what was already in there i'd move the plate away until he did, encouraging him to do so.

Good luck!

xx

[Blackhorse]

the thing is that he has such chubby cheeks it is hard to tell when he starts storing the stuff.....and he doesnt always keep it in his mouth either...

need to pay more attention to catch it earlier next time I guess...but having to feed 2 other LOs it isnt all that easy sometimes...

[Gizmo]

thats a tricky one, I think I would try and get the food out of his mouth but I wouldnt give him the yoghurt

[Blackhorse]

thats a tricky one, I think I would try and get the food out of his mouth but I wouldnt give him the yoghurt

yeah he wont get it unless he swallows the food HE TOOK!!!

will try and get it out but he will be rather upset if I do...he doesnt like having it taken away...

[LittleAcorns]

Ive known quite a few kiddies store food like a hamster!! he is quite young so I would just give small amounts of food at a time :rolleyes:

[FizzysFriends]

I would leave him at the table as long as possible and hope that he gets bored and wants to join in with the others. Obviously if he doesn't at it comes to the time of school run or something else you will need to get it off him and hope he doesn't bite you.

[Helen79]

ds does this too, he gets carried away & just keeps stuffing food into his mouth until he can't even chew. I ask him to spit it out or if I think he might choke I fish it out myself.
he's only little & still learning that he can't fit a whole sandwich & 1/2 a banana in at the same time :rolleyes:

[Blackhorse]

I would leave him at the table as long as possible and hope that he gets bored and wants to join in with the others. Obviously if he doesn't at it comes to the time of school run or something else you will need to get it off him and hope he doesn't bite you.

yeah he is still there...but he doesnt seem bothered..

just googled it and seemingly a lot of kids do this...they some store the food for hours..even when they are a lot older already

But I havent found anything that would let you know how to deal with it..unless to just wait until it passes on its own...

what worries me about the food storing is the choking aspect...as he will need his lunch time nap soon...

[cuffleygirl]

My nephew used to do this - up until the age of about 3 - once its in its in! he little bits of food at time but then thought he'd grown out of it and he did it again. Does he get snacks between meals? could he be saving some for later?

My nephew would hide his in his cheeks and then after a nap would start chewing (yuck) he's 18 now he didn't choke and he doesn't do it anymore! Is it a control thing? We encouraged the 'grown up behaviour' of finishing a mouthful before starting another.

[little chickee]

i definatley would not put him down for a nap with food still in his mouth - ashe goes to sleep his muscles will relax and he might indeed stsrt to choke - you would have to sit in the room with him and not take your eyes off him which obviously is not practical.

if he is still there now i would calmly take the food out of his mouth with my finger and say " ok lunch is over" and take him down from the table without mentioning the stored food.

he gets no attention for the behaviour so hopefully he will stop doing it.

[Blackhorse]

well dp was joking he only does it in my house...but he wont eat much with mum at all...he said he wants to keep some for later..

will offer a snack once he wakes up but they dont usually get another one as he leaves before 3pm.

he ate all his breakfast and lunch yesterday without doing it..so when today he for the FIRST TIME..tried to eat food himself I let him do it....I thought it was a one off that when he stored food before...but obviously need to keep a close eye on him ....

I scooped the food out and he is now sound asleep. and he didnt get his joghurt....

[TheBTeam]

Just be careful, a mindee of mine did this with carrot sticks, pushed so many in that it blocked his windpipe and he started to pass out, his mouth became frozen shut and his eyes rolled in his head, we couldn't open his mouth, we had to pat/slap him hard on his back and this took a few goes before he jerked back to life and we then were able to release his mouth and pat it out.

Don't want to worry you, but just a warning that sometimes they can wedge show much in that they can not do anything to move in and then can not breath.

[mabel]

I agree scoop the food ot of his mouth don't leave him at the table just give him a tiny bit of food at at a timewill he eat little bits, tend to say just feed him a yogurt or some sloppy meals.

[Winnie]

Just put a few bits on his plate at a time. Cut everything up because some children havent a clue how to bite into food and will just cram a whole apple or sandwich in. Wait until he has swallowed before reloading the plate, encourage him to drink water with his meals.
I think it is just a bad habit that he has to 'unlearn', also there is a balance between eating too fast and being a slow eater that needs to be addressed but he will learn that by watching other sitting at the table :)

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I would only put small amounts of food in front of him so that he cannot cram it all in and eventually add more.

Has he learnt to chew and swallow?