Shoving Food down Throat

Sit with her and just give her one bite at a time and wait for her to chew and swallow. She will protest at first, but do not give in. After a while she will learn and you can slowly give her more at a time and she should just take one piece to put in her mouth. Good luck.

The only thing I can think of is to cut her food in small pieces, but you keep the plate by you. Then give her 1 to 2 pieces at a time. Once she has safely swallowed those, give her 1 to 2 more pieces so that you are controlling the speed of her taking bites. Maybe over time she will pick up on that she should be eating at the pace you are setting.

She will figure it out. I wouldn't worry.

My daughter is nearly 21 months and isn't nearly as bad about this as she used to be. She will still takes bites that are unattractive, but she can handle it and she will take out the extra (yes, gross) when she over does it.

If you are concerned, and you don't see her actively chewing, or moving tongue from side to side and up and down, I might have her sen by a speech therapist, see what your pediatrician says.

A.,
I ahve this same problem with the 17 month old that I provide care for, I have gotten to the point of sitting with him and giving him one thing at a time to help his realize what "1" means, I have a 16 month old of my own as well and I do not have these issues with her at all, she is very good about biting pieces off if I give her a cookie and when she has food in fron of her she is very good about taking only "1" bite at a time. I am not sure what the reasoning is behind the shoveling, my other 4 kids di not shovel either. b good luck.

My son will over stuff his mouth until he has to hold his hand over his mouth to keep the food in. If I make him use a fork it slows him down. I also have been known to put just a few bites on his plate (a bite or two of meat, carb, veggie/fruit), then when that is done, give him more. You could limit how much is on her plate or in her bowl and just keep re-filling. Make her show you that her mouth is empty before she moves on. Give her food that can only really be eaten with a fork or spoon (mashed potatoes), and take the fork/spoon away between bites (then you can move to making her put her fork down when she gains a little control). Maybe if she got more directions when chewing "chew on your big back teeth." Count while she chews. Praise her lots for proper chewing.

Good luck!
N.

My 20 month old boy does the same thing. I've never seen so much food go into such a small mouth. It always either makes it down or he spits it out... Just keep trying to get her to take smaller bites and chew it up... keep giving her visual cues - show her how you do it. She'll get better. I remember my 4 year old used to do this, too, mostly with banana, so it just squished out his mouth when he tried to chew it. If you are really concerned, check with your pediatrician... you should have an 18 month check pretty soon. (But I think this is pretty common for kids this age.) I do recommend (for everyone with little kids) a Red Cross infant and child CPR class. It is well worth the little amount of time it takes to get certified and gives you an amazing amount of peace of mind... you know what to do in an emergency. It's different for an infant or child than an adult.
Good luck. Keep smiling. :)

A.,

I would contact your local early intervention system (called Infants and Toddlers here in Baltimore Co., MD) and ask for an evaluation from an occupational therapist. If they will not see you based on your own observation, ask your pediatrician to give a referral. It is a free service, and the therapist will come to your home until a child turns three.

The reason I suggest the OT is that it sounds like your daughter might either be having trouble chewing, moving the food around in her mouth, or might have low-tone and need more food in her mouth in order to really feel it in there. If any of these is the case, she may need some therapy, all of which is kept pretty fun at their age; my own 27-month-old daughter has benefitted tremendously from the OT.

Best wishes in solving this problem. Though she may be doing it for attention, I would get her evaluated to rule out an oral-motor issue.

Take care.

My youngest was a bit similar, although I don't think to the extent of your daughter. She would just shove a bunch into her mouth, keep taking bites until her mouth was stuffed...then be gagging because she had too much in her mouth and couldn't do anything with it. She has spit out mouthfuls of food a lot. My daughter did choke a few times, however...and I think that scared her a bit (ending in tears). Experiencing the bad part about shoving it all into her mouth helped her to learn she needed to slow down her eating. The only thing I can think of, which is not a very ideal solution...to only give your daughter 1 piece/bite at a time and not allow her to have more until her mouth is empty. If you did try that though, maybe after several meals, she would get into the routine and understand better what you've been trying to teach her about eating slower and chewing. Good luck!
K.

HI A., this might seem obvious, but how much food are you giving her at once? My daughter does this same thing- she shoves as much food in her mouth as she can, and while she's never choked, I found that it helps a little if I only give her a few pieces at a time. One piece at a time made her frustrated for more, but two or three at the most small pieces works better, and then she doesn't get more until she chews and swallows. I talk her through it, "open your mouth, chew (make chew motions), swallow" and I also feed her small meals throughout the day- if she's less hungry she eats slower and pays more attention to me. :) good luck!

My daughter who is now two had the same problem around that age. She would shove anything that could fit and if you tried to take any out she would freak out while she still had everything in her mouth. She knew the faster she got that bite down she could have another one. She had a couple of incidents when she swallowed whole goldfish and I had to get it out of her throat. It was pretty scary but I think she started catching on that she must chew. Also, we had her show us the number 1 with her finger and have her pick up only one not giving her anymore till she finished that one bite. We really had to regulate how much she could have in front of her. She still has issues with certain foods but I have learned that I need to continue to cut everything into small bites. Besides that I only give her small portions at a time. It took time but it was worth it. Good Luck :)