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View Full Version : Advice.... food storage... in cheeks



Pipsqueak
05-12-2011, 08:33 PM
I have started caring for a 2yr old (not long turned 2)... she is via the 2yr old scheme and with me for the reason that she is stifled with love and care by her parents - she has had mum and dad with her every single second of the day every day for all her life.

anyway she is settling in nicely..... I have a couple of concerns that I am keeping a close eye on though, one being....

meal/eating times.... she waits to be fed... (can deal with this and she is slowly starting to feed her self, she is learning to handle a knife and fork) she only opens her lips a fraction and is obviously only used to being fed tiny tiny tiny bits as if she was a weaning baby. We have moved on very slightly with lots of encouragment but what she has started doing now is storing food in her cheeks - so much so that she bulges and it starts to spill out her mouth.



So what do you do about a child that stores food in their mouth? This is a new one on me.

kindredspirits
05-12-2011, 08:37 PM
i had a child do this frequently - in the end i would only put enough for a mouthful at a time in front of them, and ensure that it was swallowed before they got the next bit. if they were just sitting there not chewing or anything then i would make sure their cup was in front of them (no food) and busy myself in the same room but making quite sure i was not looking at them/giving them attention. it did the trick but it did take quite a bit of persevereance and I did have several occassions where the child would have litereally only eaten one mouthful for lunch because they refused to even attempt to swallow anymore.

miffy
05-12-2011, 08:43 PM
I'd agree with kindred - cut down the amount of food in front of her and make sure it's swallowed before you give more. I'd also talk to mum and dad about their meal time rituals with her.

Miffy xx

Helen79
05-12-2011, 09:25 PM
I had a child who did this aswell, would cram all the food into his mouth as he thought that he'd be allowed down to play once his plate was clear but wouldn't swallow the food. I did the same as kindred and just put one piece of food on his plate at a time and wait til he'd swallowed it and he wasn't allowed down to play until he'd swallow it. 9/10 I would end up having to ask him to spit it out as he'd sit with his 1st mouthful in his mouth for hours if I let him.
In the end I decided that he just had a tiny appetite and just wasn't hungry. I know that he had a big breakfast and a good dinner so I just gave him tiny portions of fruit that would eventually mush up as he wouldn't store them as much, he was worse with things like bread.

loocyloo
05-12-2011, 09:30 PM
good luck pip! small meals is the way to go and hopefully getting mum & dad on side. how about giving her a set of cutlery for christmas? !!!

i have a just 2 yr old mindee who chews & chews food and puts more & more in his mouth, but stores it at the front, under his tongue.

it tends to be any food that requires chewing ... so basically anything other than yogurt! and he can't have a 'big' mouthful, only a weaning spoon full size. i only put a small amount in his bowl/plate and sometimes he has seconds for which i get a 'bit excited' about!

i tend to ignore it and say have a drink, i find that after a while having his pudding 'on view' helps, but sometimes he eats very little during a mealtime, but does eventually swallow it!

i know mum tells him to spit it out, which he does for her, but i'm not sure thats a good idea, so we don't do that! butr he is getting much better ( been with me since september ) he used to put some in his mouth and then push the bowl/plate away saying 'no thank you' ! i ignored that and put it back in front of him, and now he does attempt more, but its hard work, as don't want to set up any issues with food.

The Juggler
05-12-2011, 09:40 PM
oh bless her heart she clearly is just learning to eat hon, how sad. maybe she also has a teeny appetite. I agree with advice given though. good luck x

Pipsqueak
05-12-2011, 09:44 PM
so I take it that is not an uncommon thing then? how do you mean give her one thing at a time....do I load up her fork and give it to her (that is what I have been doing) I already give her miniscule portions as well - I am talking 2/3 teaspoons of food on a plate. She is sipping down a drink between forkfuls - again we are talking half a little fingernail size of food on a fork.... she just doesn't open her mouth wide enough to get anything in - she parts her lips not even like a small baby suckling..... She just stares at me if I say to her that she needs to swallow her food so she can have the next bit....when I check she is obviously storing it under her tongue or by her teeth so I can't see it (dad said she stored a lump of chicken for 6 hrs - not chewing it or anything)....

this LO is very very very much loved, you've all head the killing with kindness.. well that is almost what mum and dad are verging on. Mum is also extremely frightened of everything and anything..... ie/the LO rarely walks because she might trip or get tired - consequently I have concerns about her walking - she trips over everything and seems to have difficulty in putting one foot in front of the other, one foot turns significantly inwards as well.

The blooming referrer on this has dropped of the face of the earth in terms of support for both me and the parent.

the parents are lovely, really lovely and mum is trying so hard and I think it would really knock her if I was to say anything remotely negative or even leaning towards that way... so I have to pick my moments and words VERY sensitively.

VeggieSausage
05-12-2011, 09:51 PM
hard to know which way round it may go, if the lo is behaving as she does because of the way the parents have been with her or maybe they are behaving as they are with her because she has trouble eating, walking, balance, co-ordination.....i had a lo who was being totally stifled by kindness by the parents and they still are very overprotective but he has been diagnosed with a physical disability so there is a reason behind their behaviour....

Pipsqueak
05-12-2011, 09:59 PM
good points Veggie however I am pretty sure given what i have been told via the referrer and parents that there is nothing else going on... mum just doesn't have any confidence at all and has transferred all this to her LO. Mum is VERY frightened of being judged badly by other people. She has only just started having contact with her family, mum/dad/twin sister because they critiscised her when LO was born. So I have to take baby steps.

think I might get in contact with the inclusion team for advice as well....

Helen79
05-12-2011, 10:05 PM
what kind of foods are you giving her? I found that anything that involved a lot of chewing would end up not being swallowed, bread, meat, pasta, fruit with skin on. I would always have to check his mouth before a nap just incase he choked on something he'd stored in his cheeks.
Try really soft fruits without skin like pear or plum that will eventually mush up if she keeps it in her mouth. Rice pudding/sago is good as it's a different texture to yogurt but still easy to eat and can't be stored but will still help her to learn to eat different textures.
Does she any finger food at all? If parents are anxious about her eating she might do better if she has control over eating instead of being spoon fed.
Does she maybe have a bottle before she comes to you that is filling her up so she's not hungry?

Pipsqueak
06-12-2011, 08:12 AM
we are slowly going through a range of foods Helen, fruits - with or without skin are chokers.
Soups are impossible as she just dribbles the out of her mouth
We have tried pastas and sauces, cooked meals (ie last night was a melt in the mouth stew - mainly veggies for her), sandwiches/tortillas, pizza, going to try scrambled egg next time
Finger foods - she just sits and waits for you to feed her, she makes NO attempt to help herself.

Its very early days with this LO here - she has made some wonderful leaps and bounds in separating from the parents and is painfully slowly learning to accept other people near her, so I know its a lot of change for her and expectations.
Thankfully its not a big deal if she eats here or not, parents are happy to feed her (and lavish love and do everything for her) when they get her home but I would like to encourage some indpendence - I guess its just going to be a VERY slow process eh!

NExt question - do I ask her to spit the stored food out or not? If she stars storing do I remove the food, encourage her to swallow etc.

kindredspirits
06-12-2011, 08:58 AM
aww bless, poor little thing isn't doing it for attention or laziness by the sounds of it.
Can you get her to take a sip of her drink whilst she is storing a mouthful? this might help encourage the swallowing technique.
Failing that I'm guessing back to stage 1 weaning - sounds like you're doing a great job with this one Pip, LO is lucky to have you xx

The Juggler
06-12-2011, 01:31 PM
we are slowly going through a range of foods Helen, fruits - with or without skin are chokers.
Soups are impossible as she just dribbles the out of her mouth
We have tried pastas and sauces, cooked meals (ie last night was a melt in the mouth stew - mainly veggies for her), sandwiches/tortillas, pizza, going to try scrambled egg next time
Finger foods - she just sits and waits for you to feed her, she makes NO attempt to help herself.

Its very early days with this LO here - she has made some wonderful leaps and bounds in separating from the parents and is painfully slowly learning to accept other people near her, so I know its a lot of change for her and expectations.
Thankfully its not a big deal if she eats here or not, parents are happy to feed her (and lavish love and do everything for her) when they get her home but I would like to encourage some indpendence - I guess its just going to be a VERY slow process eh!

NExt question - do I ask her to spit the stored food out or not? If she stars storing do I remove the food, encourage her to swallow etc.

would it be worth seeing if you could get some advice from a child nutrionist or psychologist on this one hon?

Pipsqueak
06-12-2011, 01:38 PM
would it be worth seeing if you could get some advice from a child nutrionist or psychologist on this one hon?

good thinking.. will be ringing the EY team laters anyway so will ask them for someone's number methinks

its totally a new one on me this... so totally stumped!

Gherkin
06-12-2011, 01:42 PM
I have had children who are like little squirrels stuffing nuts into their cheeks with food.

Consistency, perseverence and eating with the child were what I did. I wiould sit there (looking like a right idiot) chewing in an exaggerated fashion and would point out that I was chewing and look all gone. Then I would encourage the child to do the same. Took a while but we got there in the end however there were no other issues or concerns with this child.

I think in the end it depends on the child and family. Maybe if you explain how she is in the setting with food and say that your worried that you may be not feeding her in a way she is used to it might allow mum to open up a bit more.

sarah707
06-12-2011, 06:38 PM
I do the same as Gherkin - lots of exaggerated 'open wide' and 'chew' and 'swallow' and 'do you want some more now?' kind of conversations while eating my own food at the same time.

I have a little one who keeps taking food out of his mouth so we do a lot of 'chew' and 'swallow' with him too.

It sounds as if this little one has a lot of issues including food, so go at her pace and it will hopefully get easier for her over time.

Hth xx