Eating Issues - Chebanse,IL

My two year old daughter did the same thing. I have started not putting as much food on her plate. I usually only put enough for one or two bites, but when she asks for more I make her open her mouth to show me that the food was all gone. If the food is not all gone I tell her to chew it up and then she can have more. Yes, it takes a while to get through meals, but it is better than her gagging and throwing up. For nutrition is use Carnation Instant Breakfast. My kids love it and it is good for them:-)
Best of Luck

Toddlers can be like squirrels and store food in their mouth... they also do not know how much to put in their mouth... and over stuff them.
But they can choke on it all, and its not safe.
Teach him how to spit out his food, or to just take it out of his mouth. That is what I taught both my kids at that age. I also explained that it is "danger"... that they can choke.
AND teach him how to put smaller amounts of food in his mouth... then to CHEW It, and swallow. And you need to supervise as a toddler eats. They are not experts yet at portioning.

also, feed him healthy foods. Not junk. And a toddler also needs snacks in between the 3 regular meals. Even preschools do this. Breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, maybe a little snack after that. Some kids just have high metabolisms too and are very active... so they may "appear" skinny but may be totally healthy.
Does your Pediatrician say his weight is a problem? If not then dont' worry. Being "skinny" is not necessarily a sign of malnutrition... unless the child is not eating or only eating junk.
And you can give him vitamins. Kid vitamins.....

all the best,
Susan

What are you offering him? Are there any symptoms that what he eats doesn't agree with him (allergies) or that he has reflux? I would try an elimination diet - One that perhaps includes the temporary suspension of milk/dairy. Start with the healthiest food that you know he loves best. Offer him only that. If he eats it, introduce one new (but still healthy food at a time). This will help you determine if it is a food allergy causing this. The toughest issue might be a gluten allergy and for that you might just want to have a pediatrician do an assessment. Gluten is EVERYWHERE.

BUT..I also searched this site and found at least one similar question...Check out some of those responses:

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/11385942556949938177

At the ripe old age of two, toddlers are now trying to assert their independence to control something in their world (after all, everything else is controlled by the parents!). It's up to you, to reign that in to a managable level for both of you. The best trick I ever learned was that my boy would get one piece of something at a time. If he wanted more, he'd have to show me it was swallowed. Then he would get more. And this way, I could make sure he didn't have enough in his mouth to cause gagging or throwing up. Yes, it took a long time to get through a meal, but it was a phase that he eventually grew out of. Going back to baby food is almost like a punishment for a child who desperately wants to control his environment more like a big boy and may cause him to regress even farther and more negatively than you want.

As for quantity and variety of foods, my niece is currently also two and all she's willing to eat is mandarin oranges and Gerber meat sticks. But it gets her to eat! This is how these kids assert themselves at this age. Perhaps all he'll eat is macaroni and cheese. Then for a little while anyway, you're stuck making mac n cheese for 3 meals a day. If it gets him to eat and eat properly, a limited-time phase won't hurt him as long as he gets his vitamins from supplements or a Pediasure (or one of those other kids' vitamin drinks). GOOD LUCK!!

I thought my daughter was the only one. She's 7 now, but she did it for several months after I started letting her feed herself. It was like she was storing nuts for winter.

I had to untrain her. It was a bit of a paint, but it worked.

One I cut her food into small bite sizes and kept them by me. I handed her one bite at a time on her plate...she liked to feed herself...so I put one bite at a time on her plate. I wouldn't let her have another bite until she chewed the first and swallowed it. And I would not let her get down from the table unless she opened her mouth and showed me that she had swallowed her food. She complained at first and even had a few fits, but I wouldn't relent. And she was NEVER allowed to eat and run around. I handed her her food little by little and she had to sit still and eat it. It took a few weeks, but she learned to eat small bites and to swallow her food.

To this day she will on occasion show me that her mouth is empty before she leaves the table.

i also have a 2 yr old who has always been tall and skinny 70% for height and 20% for weight her fav is pedia sure banana still small but it has tons of vitamins but do what you think is best i say what ever will work we recently gave her baby food and she ate it all and asked for more keep trying also you can try teaching some sign language that was what we used to communicate for a while as she was behind in her speech

Get him evaluated for OT/SPEECH. Sounds like he has sensory problems.
The storing,gagging, and stuffing are all signs.
My daughter has high sensory and did the same thing..with alot of help from OT we are making progress. She no longer gags, and stores.

I rotate breakfasts like scrambled eggs, then oatmeal, then smoothy day, on this day it is yogurt, frozen fruit and some cottage cheese for protein, of course milk to thin it out. Kids need a routine, so they know what to expect, my instinct tells me that your kid, has something that has changed and is controlling what he can and that is food consumption. So, Yeah I would thin out the food, make a few smoothy's. Even try the boost nutritional supplement! I also offer my son options, maybe it's as simple as allowing him some say so in what he consumes? I offer a choice at lunchtime, a sandwich either lunchmeat, cheese and mayo (he likes mayo) or peanut butter and jelly? So you are controlling the healthy option, and he "feels" like a big boy and has selected what is going to be served. This is a tough age to get thru and they are testing how you will respond to their needs, while exerting their own independence. Best of luck to ya!

hi -
I work with kids who have feeding issues. There are numerous reasons why a child may "pocket" food. e.g. not liking a food, not having enough endurance to chew the food (mouth gets tired). At his age he should be able to manage most table foods without difficulty

Does he only pocket one type of food (e.g. soft foods)? Does he chew any foods or just "suck" on his food? when taking a bite does he move the food from one side of his mouth the other? does he have low muscle tone? Children with lower muscle tone will stuff their mouth because they don’t “feel” the food in their mouth until there is a lot with it.

As far as what can be done to help depends on what the underlying issue is. If it is an issue of not “feeling” (or registering) the food in his mouth I typically “warm” the mouth up (like you would warm up your muscles before a run) using firm (but GENTLE) pressure to the cheeks (moving hands along his face from ears to lips and making lips pucker) – usually making a silly noise while doing this – this should not bother the child. Another way to help is by mixing crunchy foods with softer foods to provided more feedback to where the food is in the mouth (e.g. adding crushed crunchy crackers to the top of mac and cheese).

If this has always been a problem and nothing you do seems to help you may want to consider getting an evaluation by a pediatric therapist that specializes in feeding (either speech or occupational therapy (depends on the area you live in as to which discipline works on feeding).

Good luck!

My daughter stores food in her cheeks...it is called "pouching" or "chipmunk cheeks". She just turned 5. She was adopted from Siberia and brought home when she was almost 2 (22 months). She is the youngest of 4 children...the only one adopted.
It has gotten much better than it used to be when she first arrived. I was very upset, like you, because of her weight and the amount of time it takes her to eat. I read several articles, spoke to my Pediatrician, other Doctors, etc. to learn about it. Frankly, the opinions were all over the map....some said it was a texture thing, many said it was a "control" issue, some thought an orphanage behavior. I cut up the food, gave her only one thing at a time...
We felt that she was aware of what she was doing. My intuition told me it was a 'control" issue. She would, and still does if not prompted, store mostly meat. She chews a few times-then stops-it ends up in her cheeks and she eventually sucks all the moisture out of the meat..it becomes harder to swallow then because it is so dry and packed into a ball. She also gags.
We began with simple steps. She would have to chew something 5 times..(I would count) and swallow. She could not take another bite until the food was gone. When she was younger, I would let her take a bite of chicken-then a bite of her favorite (fruit). She would swallow the fruit very quickly. There were lots of frustrating meals.
As she got older, we incorporated more rules. I have learned that she would love to live her life with everything in a "drink" form. So we make her eat her lunch...the only meal she is by herself (all of the other kids are at school)first-before she gets any drink. Just recently, I have told her that I am going to put a timer on the table-she needs to have eaten what is on her plate by the end of the timer. She is going to be at school for lunch next year...and they have 20 minutes to eat. When she doesn't follow the rules by either sitting at the table and not chewing or she has even tried to "pretend" to chew...with nothing in her mouth..she goes to the steps for 3-5 minutes. It has worked with her. She LOVES sugar...so at dinner, if she finishes her plate at when the rest of the family finishes-she gets to have dessert. We held back on the 1 piece of candy after lunch and dessert-if she didn't swallow in the past. She would cry and holler like we were tearing of a limb...but it worked.
I hope this helped...I'm sorry you are going through this. I know your child is younger and doing slightly different behavior...Best of Luck!

I would try giving him one or two bites at a time. With my littlest bro, we would make him 2 plates, and put an empty one in front of him and spoon food on bite by bite so that he couldnt put too much in his mouth at a time. It was annoying, but it didnt last too long.