Gagging

I want to talk more about it because this one scared me shitless.

Now you see me teach other people about it but I promise I wasn’t born like this.

My child started teething VERY early. So all the extra saliva would also cause excessive gagging. Come along solid introduction she would gag so hard I would jump six feet.

What helped me?

Science.

An infant’s gag reflex is located in the front of her mouth. By 8-12 months of age this reflex begins to move to the back of the mouth like us adults. So most babies WILL gag (and even vomit. Which is good) but always remember this is the reflex that SAVES from choking.

Gagging is loud. Choking is silently. Your child will silently start struggling to breathe and go blue.

Which is why it is super important for us to never leave eating children unattended. Ever.

At least not until they are 5 years old.

Chipmunking

Your little chipmunk may start hiding food in her mouth like actual chipmunks. So make sure after every meal you check their mouth for food hidden away. You can offer a few sips of water or brush teeth if that’s what your child enjoys. Or just simply sweep their mouth with your finger.

Mouth Stuffing

Try and offer few pieces of food at a time. Once stuffing of mouth happens, remove all food from her tray until she removes it or spits it out.

Don’t resort to giving her just one piece at a time. It takes away from such an important learning curve.

Suddenly a Picky Eater

Teething- as mentioned earlier teething can lead to extra saliva and so more gagging. So it can make baby reject food too. Sometimes teething also increases interest in food!

Sleep regression – there are plenty sleep regression states between birth and their first birthday. You’ll think they’ll now sleep well and the next night will be spent entertaining the infant.

It can cause crankiness and thus rejection of food. Super temporary. Nothing to worry about.

Developmental leaps- growing is overwhelming business. Plenty of Brain Developmental leaps (see Wonder Weeks) also cause irritability. Babies inevitably become picky about eating. Again. Temporary. Don’t fret about it.

Be confident. Cave men didn’t have blenders to makes smoothies, purées or food pouches. Babies eat everything and it’s alright.

We just have to be confident about this and guess what, you’ll never have to go through the ago y of converting your purée baby to normal food when she is toddler.

One less thing to go nuts about.

Also the fact that your child will pretty much feed herself. Since the beginning of solid food in her life. How cool is THAT?

 This is a series of three posts, this one being the third. The first and second can be found at their respective links here.