How do I get my toddler to eat food with texture

kelleymel

E will not eat food other than stage 2 baby food, avocado, and on rare occasion refried black beans. Every time we try to introduce new foods to her she acts like she is choking and shoves her fingers down her throat. She's our first, so I am not sure if this is normal behavior for a 14 month old or not.

K&H

Stop spoon feeding. That'd do it.
No, but really. Does she pick up food at all? Will she gnaw on big things for the flavor? I would let her play with food more and worry less about the intake.
Try one time a day to just offer something big, stick with what you know works other times, and just think of this winter as a time to play with food together. Smell it, taste it, smear it, bounce it, smash it.. It's all just fun and something will go in her mouth eventually.

blkbrd3

What kind of gagging is she doing? Does she think you're trying to poison her or does she want to do it again? Gagging so bad that it makes you catch your breath but she wants to do it again and again is totally normal right now. She's figuring out the boundaries of her mouth.

If she suspects you might be wishing her harm by offering solid foods, then she may need a more gradual introduction to solids.

I'm another vote for taking the spoon away if she's still breastfeeding. If she's trying to get most of her nutrition from solids, then I'd pick a meal every day to ditch the spoon in favor of food play.

palegreen

G did this even with purees. He would gag to the point of vomiting nearly every time he ate. It was to the point where I had to buy waterproof bibs with the pocket at the bottom so I didn't have to change his clothes several times a day. It was really troubling. He was very sensitive to anything with the slightest amount of texture to it, even thicker smooth purees. I recommend bringing it up to your pediatrician just to get their take on it. We had G evaluated around 9 months old (we did it independently even though the ped wasn't worried) and they recommended occupational therapy to desensitize his mouth. We never did pursue OT because we made an agreement with each other that we would wait until his first birthday to see if he made any improvement. He did make some improvement, so we dropped it. To this day, at 4 years old, he is still very sensitive to different textures, but he hasn't thrown up his food since he was 1! He's even adventureous enough most days to smell, lick and then taste most foods we present him (even if he decides that most of them are "yucky").

I understand how stressful that situation can be, so hoping that sharing our experience helps you in some way.

palegreen

Wanted to add that we went through a lot of those puff snacks at that age because they were really good practice for moving food around in his mouth. Will she eat those?

babybaby

i'm starting to see a pattern emerge from my years on this forum. toddlers this age often (though not always) have issues with learning to eat solid food. my oldest had those issues. it makes sense, when you think about it. they go from eating nothing but liquid from a boob or bottle to drinking from a cup and eating pureed textures then to solids in a very short period of time. not much time to process all the changes. i would give it a little time. my oldest daughter did the same thing and her weight stayed the same from 9 months to 19 months--very disconcerting. then, suddenly, she decided eating was alright, and now she's a relatively normal eater. hang in there. i know how scary it is.

old mama

Learning to eat is really a complicated process. Seems like it should be natural. You are doing great introducing these foods. I agree about taking it slow and letting your little one explore food on their own...a messy business for sure. I have a child who is 17 and was extremely premature who still struggles to be able to swallow purees and hasn't learned to chew. She was so sensitive to texture and temperature of the food getting enough food in her has been a challenge.

kdb2q15

Although I know it's not the avenue many choose (and OP this won't help you), we decided to do Baby Led Weaning for this exact reason. Our daughter will be 8 months in 5 days, is breastfed, and will eat just about anything you give her. We never did the purées or traditional baby food at all. With BLW they learn to chew before swallowing, which is the exact opposite of traditional weaning, where they learn to swallow before they chew. When following a traditional weaning path, it's a big adjustment when you start offering more solids b/c they basically have to re-learn how to eat, they can't just swallow like they learned previously. It's not for everyone, but if you're interested, check it out.

kelleymel

Since I last posted, I read everyone's comments and we tried a few things. We have been able to get her to start eating tiny torn up pieces of lunch meat turkey and (since she is growing out of her dairy allergy - thankfully) string cheese torn into tiny bits. She LOVES the cheese. I am so glad we finally found something she loves to eat. Hopefully these will get her used to having things in her mouth. She still sticks her fingers down her throat, but mainly after she is getting full - so I am wondering if that is just an attention seeking behavior? Taking away the spoon has really helped! She does tolerate the puffs - although her new favorite pastime is feeding the dog what she is supposed to be eating.

ahk00

My adopted son had eating/swallowing issues from being tube fed. OT recommended giving him a toothbrush to put in his mouth (supervised) to increase sensation in his mouth. We then moved on to an electric toothbrush. It helped greatly. He does still gag if he has too much food in his mouth and feels like he is going to choke or food gets stuck. Good luck!

syoung0204

Our E doesn't eat that much eaither, if it makes you feel better. Mostly her pouches (Plum brand puree pouch), avacado, puffs, string cheese and freeze dried fruits. She still breastfeeds a lot, too. And feeds most of her food to the dog, too...we're just "eh, whatever" at this point.

I figure as long as we make it available, one day she'll eat. Maybe, ha.

kelleymel

That is exactly what our E does. Every meal, she's feeding the dog her food. It's really cute.

syoung0204

kelleymel wrote:

That is exactly what our E does. Every meal, she's feeding the dog her food. It's really cute.

My favorite is when she tries to the feed the cat. Cat is totally uninterested and Ev is determined. Haha.

kelleymel

syoung0204 wrote:

kelleymel wrote:

That is exactly what our E does. Every meal, she's feeding the dog her food. It's really cute.

My favorite is when she tries to the feed the cat. Cat is totally uninterested and Ev is determined. Haha.

My E is always trying to chase the cat, who is 16 and not interested in her at all!
Is your E talking much? Mine is saying dog, cat, uh-oh, mommy, momma, thank you, take-take, and alright.

syoung0204

kelleymel wrote:

My E is always trying to chase the cat, who is 16 and not interested in her at all!
Is your E talking much? Mine is saying dog, cat, uh-oh, mommy, momma, thank you, take-take, and alright.

Wow! Those are a lot of words, that's awesome!

Ours isn't saying anything, not with words. She has her own cute language when she reads her books and says "ma ma ma ma" when she wants our attention, but other than that she communicates by pointing and making sounds, "mmm" and shakes her head no until we land on the thing she's pointing to. She plays with sounds, like "paa paaa", kinda popping her lips, I don't how to describe it.

She definitely communicates with us...but I guess since her gestures and sounds get her what she's wanting, she doesn't care about the words.....I get it. I'd rather grunt and point, too. Haha.