Four-year-old Daughter Afraid of Food After Choking

Hi, I have a 4year old daughter who just went through the same issue..It was so hard on us...It took 7 months for us to finally get any answers...our pediatrician was of no help to us..and we saw more than one. Here is our Story:

My daughter was eating a pizza roll when she choked on it because it was too hot. She was fine, spit it out and said she could not eat anymore that day because her throat was too sore. She would not eat the next day either so I took her to her doctor to have her throat checked out. The Dr. stated that she was fine and no redness on her throat so she was more than able to eat. She started eating soft waffles, pudding and peanut butter. That was ALL. Months went by and she eventually only ate icecream. She was sooo thin...skin and bones, her hair was falling out, you could see her spine, ribs, and kneecaps! She had no enegry she was very moody..as soon as she ate her icecream she changed into a completly different person...but that was only brief, once the icecream wore off she was back to being moody again. We took things away from her, promised her things, would have bought or cooked anything she wanted. She did not want anything but icecream. Then one day she decided that she did not want to eat at all. I finally looked online for any answers that I could find and I was directed to this website. Another mom had the same issue and told me it was call "Selective Eating Disorder"
There are several stages to this "Selective Eating Disorder" Look that up online you will find lots of info on it. The worst part was that she was at the food refusal stage. We took her to an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat specialiast). He said that her tonsils were VERY enlarged and possibly it was painful for her to swallow. We decided to have her tonsils removed...very scared that she weighed on 27pounds at 4yrs old. Would her body handle the surgery ok since she had no nutrition in her system. It took two weeks for her to recover..eating nothing of course because she was in pain from surgery. When she was finally better enough to eat she was right back to square one..she wanted no parts of food at all. I finally had enough I called her pediatrician and said "I have had it...who would you send someone to with feeding issues" she recommeded "Chop" (Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia).
I called them to schedule an appt. I am lucky that I live 30 min. away from there. They could not schedule her until 2months away!! I cried begged and pleaded and there was nothing they could do, they said if needed we could take her to ER. So here we were waiting for another two months and I am going out of my mind. She never said she wanted to eat, but she would say that food smelled so good and she would hide in the corner and lick the salt off of gold fishes.

One day my mother in law was over and she brought peanut butter tastykakes and she showed my daughter how she ate them. My daughter tried a tiny piece swallowed, she was fine and ate another tiny piece. She ended up eating 6 tasty kakes!! Then she would eat anything and everything...it was a slow process though and took alot of work and coaxing, she would try a food and start to gag and I had to be right there to reassure her that she is fine.

Sadly to say she was just diagnosed with Strep throat and now she is slow at eating again, her throat is sore and she is starting to go back to her old ways. I will not let her though I am on her always to eat, even if it is alittle at each meal.

You need to see a feeding specialist, I am not sure what they would do about no insurance, but I am sure that there are payment plans or even programs...biggist thing is to keep a log of each time she eats how much and her daily weight. If you want you can e-mail me personally with any questions you may have I will answer you back right away. I know how scared you are and I felt so alone....It is nice to know that other people are there to help. Please get her some help...your pediatrician was so wrong about the age group...get experienced help with this from a feeding specialist.

Oh by the way my daughter still will not eat off of fork or spoon, she slways did but she developed the issue when she refused to eat...and brushing her teeth was a war also...she does better but she is still scared about putting a toothbrush in her mouth.

It is a mental thing now and she can not help it..if she could I believe she would.

God Bless you....I will pray for you both everyday.

Hi A.,

I hate to admit this but I went through this fear for a short period of time. I actually choked a a bread crumb while scolding a little one. (Foolish of me to be talking and eating at the same time but Moms scold...) I would cook a meal sit down to eat, got about a bite or two of each of what I had cooked and when everyone else went to bed I would indulge in ice cream....you can't choke on that! I actually lost 20 pounds eating ice cream. DONT try this...I could have thrown myself in a diabetic coma!

The fear is real and she has to understand that it probably will never happen again. You said she was little but not how old she is. I got over it because I believe that God is sovereign in all things and I had to talk myself through that. Your little one isn't able to do that. She definitely needs some sort of therapy. Wish I could help more but this is not irrational, simply something she has to get through.

God bless,

M.

Children's Hospital has occupational therapists who deal with eating problems in young children. You'd need a referral from a doc. They're very sweet and fun with the kids.
You could also just try a child therapist if you have insurance to cover one.

I have a friend that just had this happen to her little boy last year, and that is exactly what happened. He lost so much weight that he was hospitalized and tubes were put in and then extensive therapy. There has to be something in your area to deal with your daughter or at least close by. I don't know your area or where the nearest children's hospital is but it might help to make an appointment there. Talking with her about what could happen if she doesn't eat might help too. She might just get scared enough that she will eat again. Most kids don't like to have needles or go to the hospital so if she is facing that she might just eat.
Just so you know the boy is at my house today in fact and is doing just fine, he still sees a therapist every week, over a year later, and has put some weight back on. My son had a birthday party today with a chocolate fountain, strawberries, grapes, ju-jubes, etc.. and he ate all of it. He is doing really well. Best of luck, I know I didn't really give you any suggestions, but just wanted you to know that you aren't alone and that they do get better and get over it.

I have never had this experience, but this is what I would do if it were my child. I would tell her that I understand her fears and that I understand it may take a little while for her to regain her body's trust to be able to chew and swallow food the way a body is supposed to. I would remind her that her body is designed to help her when things like that occur and that is why she gagged. Although it does not feel good, the gagging helped her clear her airway. I would then tell her that the blender or food processor will help her chew her food while she is taking the time to regain her body's trust. Go slowly and give her very juicey veggie and fruit smoothies for a while. Then slowly make it chunkier and or feed her mashed foods. Honor her feelings and if she doesn't want something, don't force it. Once she realizes that you are on her side it will make things easier to slowly introduce solid foods to her. I would then make sure to offer her her favorite food/meal when you try to get her to eat solid food again. I hope this helps. Good luck!

You may be unemployed, but what about her dad's insurance? Does that not cover a clinic closer to you?

Or MDCH

http://michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-###-###-####_4845_4931-...

You might have all of that already, but I didn't see it posted.

Hope that helps, good luck!

I've had this syndrome myself. It's tough. I could chew food, but just couldn't make myself swallow solids. It was as though my whole body would clench shut in panic, and my throat would close. Had no medical insurance, so decided to experiment.

I stuck with a liquid diet for a week or two to take some of the anxiety out of the situation. If you want to try this, Pediasure would probably keep your daughter reasonably well nourished, since it sounds like she can swallow liquids. I also found things that captured my interest and attention while eating – for me, reading worked, but for your daughter, maybe favorite videos would work better. Probably not films that would make a child laugh, however, since this might only compound the choking dynamic. (I normally don't think reading or watching the tube during meals is healthy, but this is not a normal situation.)

As I gained confidence that the liquids were safe to swallow, I added smoothies, yogurt and soft fruit, very small bites of soft omelet, anything I could think of that would slide down easily. Over several weeks, I gradually worked up to food that needed chewing.

Very slowly, I stopped reading long enough to notice myself swallowing normally. I didn't push it – I gave myself permission to react. Because I had that "permission," I think, I didn't react. After maybe two months, I was back to eating normally.

If you want to try this with your daughter, I strongly recommend that you don't try to convince her eating is safe. And please DON'T try to scare her into eating. Whatever in her psyche is panicking may only have to hang on harder to its concerns. Instead, tell her that you are confident her body has all the information it needs to work this out at its own speed. Don't push, don't push, don't push, just gently support. Help her find an appropriate distraction. Don't act alarmed for her, just (appear to) be calm and happy during meals. Give it a couple of weeks – if she can swallow the pediasure, she'll probably be fine.

If there is no observable relaxing of her anxiety after two weeks or so, you could also try a very simple and non-invasive eye-movement therapy called EMDR that has proven helpful for trauma victims. There should be practitioners in your area, and some may have experience working with children. Here's one link that explains the process: http://www.emdr.com/

I haven't done this myself, but was prepared to try it if my own eating experiment didn't work. My best to you and your daughter. I know how challenging this problem is.

I saw something at the SE Grand Rapids, YMCA about health insurance plans for children without any. Maybe try giving them a call.

Oh my gosh! I am having the same issue with my 4 year old daughter. Ever since she choked on a peice of steak, she has not been eating properly. Meaning she chews her food and then spits out the rest in a napkin. She does drink liquids but I am so concerned for her. It had not crossed my mind to think that she was afraid of choking, now I get it and can get help! Good luck!

I know this response is many years late but it seems like the internet is full of concerned parents asking this question but not getting many answers. My now 9 year old son had this exact same experience one year ago and I was desperate for advice from someone who knew what they were talking about. I would like to help those parents. My son refused solids after almost choking on a mozzarella stick. The Kartini Clinic refers to this as "Food Phobia". They treat this in an inpatient setting for severe cases in which the kids will not even swallow liquids and need to be hospitalized. These children do need a feeding tube. My son however was not that severe. He lived on Pediasure (at least 6 a day) and Carnation instant breakfast which kept him going. I was afraid of the need for a feeding tube as well so I waited it out. He started doing a little better and then would get worse again. After 2 and a half months I finally called the Kartini Clinic and I am so glad I did. As per their advice I printed out their "Recipe for Success" and brought it to our pediatrician. I had to insist that she follow their "recipe" but it was worth it. We started a medication that helped ease his fear. We had to step up over several days to the "magic dose" but on the ninth morning he woke up and ate 4 waffles and 3 pieces of bacon! To a parent going through this you know what a miracle that is. After a few weeks we tried to wean him off the medication and he did take a step back again so we popped him back up to full dose and waited longer. I do want to make a note about the medication: while on it my son had an insatiable appetite. He was always hungry and he did gain weight. If you are a parent looking for answers I highly suggest calling the Kartini Clinic in Oregon. They understood exactly what we were going through and helped me more than I can say. I wish I had called them sooner. I hope this information helps someone because I understand what you are going through.

HI A.---How is your daughter doing? I know it is really tough to see your daughter have these problems. Hopefully, with some loving encouragement, she will start trying to swallow foods again. I agree with feeding her smoothies, then move towards increasing firmer foods as she 'graduates' from one form to another.

I am however, concerned with using too much ensure or pediasure like products. Have you ever read the ingredients labels on those bottles? The main ingredient in those is sugar, designed to help gain weight. While gaining weight is important, you want her to gain from nutritious foods, not just sugar.

If you are interested, please contact me for additional info on a whole food based meal replacement powder that contains dehydrated fruit and veggie powders, as well as sea veggies, and a ton of other, plant based powders. There is scientific research on the health impact of this meal replacement, currently being studied at MD Anderson cancer hospital. As you may know, cancer patients have trouble eating and intitial data shows good results by measuring nutrients in the blood stream.

Then, with this smoothie, you can add just about any fruit or veggie that you would like in order to increase the nutrition. We have these smoothies every day, changing the base liquid to match the fruits and veggies that we want to add. I have all sorts of great ideas to share. Feel free to contact me. We can just chat and see if what I've know will work for you. I wish you much luck...but let's not leave it to luck. BTW...I am taking a series of classes taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition. I also work with a number of well known doctors around the country. I feel that I am qualified to help with the nutrition piece.

With loving encouragement and gentle persistence, you will get you and your daughter through this. In health, D.

My wife and I are very worried about our 3 year old. She got choked on a life saver at a after hours clinic. She could still breath and the doctor said to just wait and if came out. Not 2 days later, all 3 of us got a stomach bug and she vomited 5 or 6 times during the process. She ate a little bit right after that but then started refusing eating or putting utensils in her mouth. Now the only think we can get her to eat is pudding but she will only lick it off a spoon. She refuses to put the spoon in her mouth. We do mix her pudding with pediasure. We are worried that she is developing an eating disorder and she is getting so thin. What do we do to help our little angel?

I have a 5 year old daughter who 3 weeks ago choked on a small piece of candy and went 9 days without eating a single piece of food, would only drink liquids. She would drink Pedi Sure, milk, and water, but no foods, no jello, no pudding, no soups, nothing for 9 days. We also begged, rewarded, we tried force feeding, ect.....we also had a barium swallow done to make sure there wasn't anything restricting her throat. Everything looked fine, but she still has a genuine fear of choking to death. It has been 2 weeks since the barium swallow and she is starting to eat soups, toast with jelly, fluffy scrambled eggs, and cereal with milk, but we still haven't convinced her to eat meats. I'm worried that the lack of nutritions is going to cause more health problems down the road. I'm also concerned that maybe she may have some food allergies, because she complains about itchy throat and mouth. So more test. I'm going to read more curious to see when and what it took to get your daughter to eat properly again.