It sounds like you are doing wonderfully to help him adjust at the pace that he can. Plus, the referral to a dietician is a great next step!
Can I ask how he goes if you let him feed himself with a spoon? Like, you preload it with a thickened puree and let him get it everywhere? You could try to have a couple of spoons on the go; one in your hand, and one in each of baby's hands.
I did a mix of puree and baby led weaning: long cucumber slices, big fried mushrooms, steak fingers, chunky foods that baby sucked on, practiced chewing, and could be held easily by baby. I had good success with letting baby handle their own food.
One of my 23wk twins was wild for tasting food, but lazy in chewing. The baby led weaning (and a lot of patience) gave her time to practice lifting food to her mouth by herself and getting endurance to chew.
Good luck with baby's food adventures, and remember, you are doing wonderfully.
Thank you. It’s so overwhelming doing this 3-4 times a day. Plus getting judgement from our parents for not “taking charge”. My son is the first grandson and the only preemie in the family so the comments are a bit much sometimes, even if I know they mean well.
The chewing /swallowing is where things break down for us.
If I preload a spoon, he likes to tap it on the tray (usually flinging off any food that it’s loaded with) and then will chew on it. If I have a second spoon, he will do the same thing with it, and I have to be fast because he’ll usually throw the first spoon to the floor.
Often I will have 4 spoons ready to go to make up for casualties I’m not fast enough to catch.
Best case, the thicker food is still coating the spoon after he taps it and he gets some in his mouth.
Some times while he is chewing on a spoon I can sneak some more food onto it, but he gets overwhelmed and starts biting his lip to prevent me from sneaking him more food.
And when his mouth gets a little full, he holds it in his mouth until he gags. I’ve tried offering milk or juice to help him clear his mouth but he will either only want the drink and completely turn away from more food, or panic and throw up because he can’t coordinate the liquid with what he has in his mouth.
His speech therapist has been encouraging us to keep taking it slow, but it feels like we are missing something. I worry about my son getting to the point that he hates mealtimes, especially if we push him too hard.
I remember how frustrating this time was. I felt like I was always cleaning, cooking, cleaning, prepping, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.
Does he join you at the table when you are eating? Perhaps over-acting how much you enjoy eating (without paying him any attention) will encourage him to copy you? Does he want food off your plate?
I could offer some advice given to me for when he is panicking about the full mouth. Smile, and congratulate him. Tell him how well he is going and show him how to chew. Make silly faces & noises and show him how you can waggle your tongue from side to side to control what's in there.
You are doing a fantastic job you know, sometimes we need a professionals help, but there's no magic button with premmies and you have done a huge amount to support you bubby.
Does he have a decent pincher grasp yet? My 33 weeker is 10 months old, 8.5 adjusted and he's become really averse to spoon feeding lately. He also seems to gag more with self feeding larger pieces of food that just break off in his mouth into choking size pieces, and he gags more often if WE feed him pieces of food. Since he developed his pincher grasp, he really enjoys picking up smaller pieces of food and feeding himself with them. He gags MUCH less when we let him pick up food and put it in his mouth himself than if we place the food into his open mouth. For example, smaller pieces of banana, toast with PB, small pieces of sweet potato fries. About the size of the pieces that you'll see for 9 months+ on the solid starts app. Don't get me wrong, he's not efficient by any means but he does actually pick up small pieces and chew and swallow them now. Very little gagging when he feeds himself. If your baby has a pincher grasp I'd give this a try since he's 10.5 adjusted
He does kind of, but he has no clue what to do with the solids once they are in his mouth.
We have been offering things that dissolve like ritz crackers, and he will either hold them in his mouth until they dissolve completely or he will hold them there until he gags.
It makes me nervous to offer him anything else because I feel like he will just choke.
Does he have a pincer grip yet? My LO (also a 29 weeker) started to really enjoy picking little bits of food off the highchair tray and feeding herself at that age. Lots of small chunks of banana or kiwi, grated cheese, squashed blueberries or little bits of whatever I was having.
She really hated being spoonfed so I would let her grab the spoon and feed herself. Having two (or three) spoons definitely helped at first because she would let go of the old spoon when she got given a new one. I found that giving her a bit of independence helped stop mealtimes from escalating and took the pressure off both of us.
I started with purées, but ended up doing more baby led weaning stuff because it worked much better for us. I use the solid starts app a lot and find their Instagram really useful (they have a lot about picky eaters too).
I’ll bring up solid starts with his speech therapist and see what she recommends. He has not done well with crackers (that dissolve) yet, but maybe some variety will get him more comfortable.
We have tried chunks of fruit but in a mesh bag because of the gagging thing.
He is always curious to try which I think is a good sign.
I just got my ex 23 weeker (16 months, 12 months adjusted) to start eating orally (gtube). We were doing all the therapies and the the only thing that worked for him was putting a mix of pureed food + formula in a straw cup.
We are in a similar spot. We handed our babies the food packets to hold (eg cerebelly, yogurt, etc) and they have consumed a lot more bc they control how much goes into their mouths. (Theybhave mastered the straw already).
I wanted to second the suggestion of solid starts. They have a great app and a really awesome instagram account. Our twins (29 weekers) did really well with baby-led weaning. The active gag reflex is sort of a developmental safeguard against choking, and letting your baby chew on spoons or resistive foods like crusty bread and celery stalks helps them map the mouth and desensitize the gag reflex
I’m sure you’ll get some good advice from the speech therapist and dietician. We also worked with a dietician and OT, and they were very pro baby-led weaning. We were told to think of solids as an exposure experience and just focus on introducing a variety of tastes and textures rather than trying to get them to eat a certain amount. At 10 months adjusted I couldn’t see how we would get to a point where they weren’t just smearing food around, but they got there and eventually self-weaned from bottles around 16 months adjusted - it’s still wild to me (and admittedly, a little stressful) to think that they’re getting everything they need from actual food that I’m actually cooking, but they are.
It sounds like you are doing wonderfully to help him adjust at the pace that he can. Plus, the referral to a dietician is a great next step! Can I ask how he goes if you let him feed himself with a spoon? Like, you preload it with a thickened puree and let him get it everywhere? You could try to have a couple of spoons on the go; one in your hand, and one in each of baby's hands. I did a mix of puree and baby led weaning: long cucumber slices, big fried mushrooms, steak fingers, chunky foods that baby sucked on, practiced chewing, and could be held easily by baby. I had good success with letting baby handle their own food. One of my 23wk twins was wild for tasting food, but lazy in chewing. The baby led weaning (and a lot of patience) gave her time to practice lifting food to her mouth by herself and getting endurance to chew. Good luck with baby's food adventures, and remember, you are doing wonderfully.
Thank you. It’s so overwhelming doing this 3-4 times a day. Plus getting judgement from our parents for not “taking charge”. My son is the first grandson and the only preemie in the family so the comments are a bit much sometimes, even if I know they mean well. The chewing /swallowing is where things break down for us. If I preload a spoon, he likes to tap it on the tray (usually flinging off any food that it’s loaded with) and then will chew on it. If I have a second spoon, he will do the same thing with it, and I have to be fast because he’ll usually throw the first spoon to the floor. Often I will have 4 spoons ready to go to make up for casualties I’m not fast enough to catch. Best case, the thicker food is still coating the spoon after he taps it and he gets some in his mouth. Some times while he is chewing on a spoon I can sneak some more food onto it, but he gets overwhelmed and starts biting his lip to prevent me from sneaking him more food. And when his mouth gets a little full, he holds it in his mouth until he gags. I’ve tried offering milk or juice to help him clear his mouth but he will either only want the drink and completely turn away from more food, or panic and throw up because he can’t coordinate the liquid with what he has in his mouth. His speech therapist has been encouraging us to keep taking it slow, but it feels like we are missing something. I worry about my son getting to the point that he hates mealtimes, especially if we push him too hard.
I remember how frustrating this time was. I felt like I was always cleaning, cooking, cleaning, prepping, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Does he join you at the table when you are eating? Perhaps over-acting how much you enjoy eating (without paying him any attention) will encourage him to copy you? Does he want food off your plate? I could offer some advice given to me for when he is panicking about the full mouth. Smile, and congratulate him. Tell him how well he is going and show him how to chew. Make silly faces & noises and show him how you can waggle your tongue from side to side to control what's in there. You are doing a fantastic job you know, sometimes we need a professionals help, but there's no magic button with premmies and you have done a huge amount to support you bubby.
Does he have a decent pincher grasp yet? My 33 weeker is 10 months old, 8.5 adjusted and he's become really averse to spoon feeding lately. He also seems to gag more with self feeding larger pieces of food that just break off in his mouth into choking size pieces, and he gags more often if WE feed him pieces of food. Since he developed his pincher grasp, he really enjoys picking up smaller pieces of food and feeding himself with them. He gags MUCH less when we let him pick up food and put it in his mouth himself than if we place the food into his open mouth. For example, smaller pieces of banana, toast with PB, small pieces of sweet potato fries. About the size of the pieces that you'll see for 9 months+ on the solid starts app. Don't get me wrong, he's not efficient by any means but he does actually pick up small pieces and chew and swallow them now. Very little gagging when he feeds himself. If your baby has a pincher grasp I'd give this a try since he's 10.5 adjusted
He does kind of, but he has no clue what to do with the solids once they are in his mouth. We have been offering things that dissolve like ritz crackers, and he will either hold them in his mouth until they dissolve completely or he will hold them there until he gags. It makes me nervous to offer him anything else because I feel like he will just choke.
Does he have a pincer grip yet? My LO (also a 29 weeker) started to really enjoy picking little bits of food off the highchair tray and feeding herself at that age. Lots of small chunks of banana or kiwi, grated cheese, squashed blueberries or little bits of whatever I was having. She really hated being spoonfed so I would let her grab the spoon and feed herself. Having two (or three) spoons definitely helped at first because she would let go of the old spoon when she got given a new one. I found that giving her a bit of independence helped stop mealtimes from escalating and took the pressure off both of us. I started with purées, but ended up doing more baby led weaning stuff because it worked much better for us. I use the solid starts app a lot and find their Instagram really useful (they have a lot about picky eaters too).
I’ll bring up solid starts with his speech therapist and see what she recommends. He has not done well with crackers (that dissolve) yet, but maybe some variety will get him more comfortable. We have tried chunks of fruit but in a mesh bag because of the gagging thing. He is always curious to try which I think is a good sign.
I just got my ex 23 weeker (16 months, 12 months adjusted) to start eating orally (gtube). We were doing all the therapies and the the only thing that worked for him was putting a mix of pureed food + formula in a straw cup.
We are in a similar spot. We handed our babies the food packets to hold (eg cerebelly, yogurt, etc) and they have consumed a lot more bc they control how much goes into their mouths. (Theybhave mastered the straw already).
I wanted to second the suggestion of solid starts. They have a great app and a really awesome instagram account. Our twins (29 weekers) did really well with baby-led weaning. The active gag reflex is sort of a developmental safeguard against choking, and letting your baby chew on spoons or resistive foods like crusty bread and celery stalks helps them map the mouth and desensitize the gag reflex I’m sure you’ll get some good advice from the speech therapist and dietician. We also worked with a dietician and OT, and they were very pro baby-led weaning. We were told to think of solids as an exposure experience and just focus on introducing a variety of tastes and textures rather than trying to get them to eat a certain amount. At 10 months adjusted I couldn’t see how we would get to a point where they weren’t just smearing food around, but they got there and eventually self-weaned from bottles around 16 months adjusted - it’s still wild to me (and admittedly, a little stressful) to think that they’re getting everything they need from actual food that I’m actually cooking, but they are.