Gag reflex

[Anonymous]

Do reflux babies have a bad gag reflex or is it just my boys? I have just barely started feeding Justice solids, but with my first anytime he got too much food he would puke on himself. My oldest gave my baby cheerios yesterday and Justice puked on himself. I don’t know how normal that is. Now I remember why I don’t like doing solids. We are going to go very slow this time.

[Anonymous]

Colt couldn’t eat anything solid until he was around 16 months. I thought we would never be able to do solids but just one day he could eat them. I think its just trial and error with every baby.

[Anonymous]

This is one reason that Bryce still isn’t eating solids. He just gags and then spits everything back up. It started when his reflux was really bad before he was on good medicine. We’re working with a therapist and his gag reflex has gotten a LOT better, and we’re progressing (slowly) with teaching him to eat, but he still gags.

[Anonymous]

Myles had an absolutely horrendous gag reflex for a long, long time. At 12 months he still couldn’t even eat a cheerio without gagging and throwing up. I was so worried about it but he gradually outgrew it between 12 and 13 months. He almost never gags now and he can eat table foods (if he chooses to).

[Anonymous]

Alexis was the same way, at 12 months too wasn’t able to eat a cheerio without gagging throwing everything up. Gagged all the time on baby food too a very sensitive gag reflex she did much better at 15 months but to this day still a very sensitive gag reflex.

[Anonymous]

Ditto, the last two comments, Brodie was still eating purees at 12 months. I even took him for feeding therapy and he had no oral problems, they said just to practice more, and give him soft pieces of soup carrots, noodles, puffs – meltable type stuff like that. By 13 months he was doing so much better I had him eating the Gerber graduates. He never did well with Stage 3 baby foods, too much going on with half puree and half chunks of stuff. I was told that it is very common for reflux babies to have a very sensitive gag reflex, but they do outgrow it. I never thought Brodie would, but he can eat anything now!!!

[Anonymous]

How interesting. I was starting to think it was just my boys. I had actually forgotten my first gagging and throwing up all the time until Justice did it the other day. I remember putting a receiving blanket in Luke’s lap so when he threw up we could just wash that and not have to worry about washing his clothes.

Heather, so is Bryce still only drinking his food. Justice at this point is doing only mashed stuff and I think I am going to keep it that way for a while after hearing from all of you. I don’t see any reason in feeding him something that he will just throw back up.

thank you all for your responses. I had a feeling it might be reflux related, but wasn’t sure.

[Anonymous]

Shelby,
Bryce’s situation is a little different because of all his issues. He still gets most of his food by feeding tube. Between surgeries & hospital stays and his horrible reflux & spitting up, he’s just never been able to learn to eat yet. He’ll usually take about 2 oz. by mouth, and then we’ll give him the rest by tube. (Although lately it’s even less because he’s teething, I think).

Anyway, we’ve started practicing with solids, and he’s definitely interested. He’ll lean in toward the spoon, etc. But he still doesn’t know what to do with it once it’s in his mouth, and most of the time he ends up gagging & spitting up. So we’re just taking it really slow for now.

I think if the food with more texture is causing Justice to gag & spit up, then it might be worth waiting. I think it’s good to practice and get them used to new textures, but you have to be careful too, because you don’t want a feeding aversion to develop.

Bryce’sMom2006-12-6 11:55:19

[Anonymous]

I agree with Heather. Myles’ doc was mortifiied at his one year check up that he was still on purees and was not eating any table food. She wanted him evaluated immediately but said she’d wait until 15 months. My gut told me that he’d outgrow it if I didn’t force the issue, and thank God I was right. He’s still a picky eater but he can eat anything he wants to. He eats crackers, cheerious, grilled cheese sandwiches, almond butter and jam sandwiches, and his new favorite…veggie chicken patties. So, I think his gag reflex is normal now…he seems to only gag when he doesn’t like something but he can fight it and not throw up.

[Anonymous]

shane will puke out of no where as well! we are always like, what just happened?! sometimes he gags and chokes on his own drool…. i have to keep an eye on him a lot!

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