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Baby stuffing food in mouth


Mouth Stuffing and Food Pocketing in Young Children

Has your baby or toddler ever filled their mouth with blueberries – one after the next – without chewing and swallowing? Perhaps they store them in their cheeks or at the roof of their mouth and you find food a few hours later! 

Is this normal?
Is it behavioral?
Is this a sensory processing issue?

This question comes up almost daily in my practice as an Occupational Therapist specializing in feeding therapy. 

Photo credit from top left, clockwise: @druckstarr, @shaysmomlife, @ccamila55, @lilmisskekeisen

In short, food pocketing and stuffing can happen when children are eating too fast and haven’t mastered chewing skills, but if pocketing becomes a persistent issue despite using the preventive measures listed in this post, it may be time to seek professional help.
​
To understand why your child may pocket or overfill their mouth, let’s briefly discuss their oral development.

Note: the images used in this post were provided by parents in our Facebook Group and are used with permission. The children in these images aren’t pocketing food but rather have adorable, squishy cheeks!

Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links, which means (at no cost to you) we will make a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. 

@rukiperez
Mouth development and oral awareness

Starting at birth, we want your baby to learn to soothe themselves by placing their own hands into their mouth. By doing this, they learn the landscape of their mouth. This type of self-soothing with hands is comforting to babies and is exactly what we want them to do!

Your baby eventually learns how to bring toys further into their mouth and learns to gum and teethe on these safe teething toys. This is a developmental milestone that should be encouraged. They first learn where their mouth is, and then they learn about the boundaries within their mouth, such as the tongue, the hard palate and the back of their mouth.

Your baby will also learn to open and close their mouth around toys and their hands, and they soon learns that placing a toy straight back in their mouth may cause them to gag. They also learn when their mouth is too small for a large toy. In the OT world, we call this mouthing and the development of oral play skills. This is exactly what we want to see babies doing before 6 months of age.

Mouth stuffing and food 

Once your child starts feeding herself, which can happen around 6 months if you’re doing Baby-led Weaning, they may discover that they can put lots of food in their mouth. Their mouth is now bigger than it once was when they were a young baby, and they may get excited about eating new flavors and textures – so excited that they jam them all in their mouth at once. Perhaps they store them in their cheeks, chipmunk style.

What do you do?

In the case of pocketing and mouth stuffing, prevention is the best remedy.​

Preventing your child from stuffing in the first place is the safest and most effective way to manage chipmunking.

How do you prevent mouth stuffing?
  1. ​Be your child’s speed bump – help them slow down their pace of eating by offering only one or two pieces of food on their tray or plate. If they’re old enough, give them the option of serving themself with small spoons, getting just one blueberry at a time.
  2. Offer frequent sips of water from an open cup or straw cup. Model drinking water with meals yourself. This will help your child wash down food and will slow down their pace of eating.
  3. Novelty utensils like animal bento picks (2-3+ years) as well as blunt toothpicks, require more fine motor control and will slow their eating speed.
  4. If the food is a bread product, use cookie cutters to make various sizes that may feel different when they take bites. You can also try FunBites Food Cutter to cut sandwiches and other foods into bite-sized pieces.
  5. Older toddlers may understand taking different size bites. Ask your child to take a mouse-sized bite, then a dog-sized bite, then a dinosaur-sized bite. Work with various sizes until they understand that they can control how much food goes into their mouth by the bites they takes. 
  6. Talk to each other at mealtimes and encourage other language skills – don’t just talk about chewing the food. Yes, sometimes we need to remind our children to chew and take sips of water, but we also want them to remember that mealtime is a positive experience. Model and imitate safe, slower eating skills and take sips of water yourself. 
  7. Make sure that your child isn’t watching a device or TV during mealtimes, as this can promote mindless eating and can increase the risk that they’ll stuff.
  8. Ask yourself if you’re pressuring your child to eat – sometimes kids stuff food in their mouths because they’re required to take a certain amount of bites (perhaps to “earn” dessert) but really don’t want to eat that food. We highly recommend taking our toddler course to help make mealtime better without bribery or using pressure.
Your child’s mouth is already overstuffed with food – now what?

While prevention is key with overstuffing, if stuffing happens it’s critical to maneuver food out of their mouth safely.

1. Encourage your child to chew, but if they won’t ask them to spit out the food, take a sip of water, and start over. 
2. Offer her a small bite as their next bite and use the strategies listed above.
3. If your child won’t spit out the food, won’t chew and swallow, and won’t drink any water, you may have to remove the food from her mouth. Be extremely careful, as you may push food further back in her mouth. Use your finger to slide food to the side and forward, not back. This may be a negative experience for your kiddo and should be only used as a last resort. This is not recommended when your baby is gagging while learning to eat and should only be used if you can clearly see the food that they won’t spit out or chew.

When should you seek help?
@jennyslens

If you regularly find food stored in your child’s mouth minutes to hours after a meal, it may be time to seek professional help. While it can be behavioral, food stuffing may also be a red flag that your child is not chewing their food and may not be feeling the food within their mouth. A lack of oral sensation can lead to stuffing because excess food helps your child understand the boundaries of their mouth better. They may seek out crunchy or chewy textures or may crave highly flavored foods (spicy, sour) to “wake up” the oral sensations within their mouth. 

This behavior is concerning to feeding professionals and may require therapy. Speak with your pediatrician and seek professional help for your child if this is a persistent problem. We recommend scheduling an assessment with a Feeding Specialist (either an Occupational Therapist {OT} or a Speech Language Pathologist {SLP}) who has specialized training in oral/mouth development.

If your child is regularly pocketing food, please always do a mouth check before they leave the table, as this can be a safety and choking concern.

We hope this helps you keep your kiddo’s mouth safe and keeps their cheeks available for sweet parent kisses, not food pocketing! 

Help! My Child shoves too much food into their mouth

If your baby or toddler keeps shoving food into their mouth, here are some top strategies you can try to become their speed bump and help them to slow down.

Does your adorable little one constantly turn into a competitive eater during mealtimes? Yup! That was my son for the longest time. It drove me nuts and super anxious seeing him constantly shoving food into his tiny mouth. It’s a miracle he never choked!

While it’s a phase that they normally go through during this self-feeding journey, it may last longer for some little ones compared to others. And no matter the duration, it can feel like an eternity for the parents watching nervously.

Here are some things you can try to help your child to slow down

Serve less food

Seeing a lot of food on the plate can be quite overwhelming, especially for babies. Some may react by playing, throwing, or ignoring the food all together. Others might start shoving everything in sight. If  any of these behaviors have become a common sighting during mealtimes,then try serving less to start and see if they slow down their pace.

Always follow your child’s lead, offering more if they continue to show interest in eating.

Serve more food

Now I’ve just confused you. I know this is the complete opposite of what I just suggested, but here’s the thing. Every child is different. I learned that serving more food, which seems so counterintuitive, works really well with my child! Although there are days when it doesn’t. But that’s pretty typical. You just never know with toddlers , right?

I started noticing that he was shoving food in as fast as he could so that he could get to the next portion. How did I know? During every mealtime, he’d shove everything on the plate and scream “more” with his overstuffed mouth. It was as if he was worried that the food will run out.

If this sounds like your child, try serving more at a time. Family-style meals will work especially well here. Place all the food at the center of the table and allow everyone to help themselves. Seeing abundance rather than scarcity can help them to relax and enjoy their meal at a slower pace.

Some things to Keep In Mind:
  • Did you notice the oranges on the right? If you’re serving something sweet at the end of the meal (fruits, desserts, etc.), try serving it WITH the meal. If you have a hearty eater, they might be eating fast to get to the “prized” sweets. That was C also. OR your child might not eat much during mealtimes to save room for them. Therefore, put the sweets on a level playing field with the rest of the meal. It will make them less appealing. I promise.
  • Isn’t that too much food? Fully allow your child to be in control of how much to eat. What might look to you like an insane amount of food for your child might not be so much to them. Or perhaps it was and they ate too much. And they’ll learn from their mistakes. They will experience for themselves what it feels like to be overly full and may respond differently next time. Or the next... They will make mistakes. And out of these mistakes will come their wisdom.
  • What to do with leftovers? Either you can eat them or can save for the next meal if untouched
  • What if they only eat one thing and ask for more? The most important thing you can do is to stay calm and relaxed. Never engage in activities that can actually prolong picky eating, which includes negotiating, bargaining, bribing, pressuring, rewarding, and restricting. Instead, listen to your child. If that one food is all that they want, then you can certainly give more. Just don’t offer something that wasn’t on the plate initially.

While it might seem wasteful, your child got to see, smell (and perhaps touch or spit out) all the different foods. And that’s powerful! Don’t believe me? Check out this post – Repeated Exposures to Foods.

How can you gently encourage them to try the food that’s getting no love, particularly vegetables? Click here for my top tips.

Help them to learn to take bites

Because I was so anxious, I constantly found myself cutting food into smaller pieces and taking away his plate to encourage him to chew before handing it back to him.

 I talk about serving smaller pieces of food when pincer grasp develop. But of course, bite-sized pieces made it easier for my eager eater to pop them into his mouth one after another.

So if you’re finding yourself in the same boat as I was, it’s time to give them plenty of opportunities to learn to take bites.

If interested in seeing more of my son's meals, head on over to my Instagram page - @kidfriendly.meals. I shared his meals since day 1 of starting our baby led weaning journey.

For us, these foods helped a great deal. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t possibly stuff it all into his mouth. Yes, he got super frustrated at first. And Yes, the mess was UNREAL (that stuffed shell? the filling had zero chance of staying intact),

BUT he slowly started getting the concept of taking small bites & tearing food into smaller pieces with his hands

I especially loved rice cakes and toasts - easy to prepare and you can get super creative with the toppings, yogurt (mixed with seeds, chopped veggies, fruits, etc. ), nut butters, hummus, mashed beans, pesto, etc.

I cut the rice cakes into ¼ths to start, then halves, and then eventually started serving them whole.

For the toasts, I found that he was fully capable of shoving ½ a slice of bread so I just offered whole from the beginning. Not pictured, quesadillas would be a good option too!

Also try English Muffin Pizza and Savory French Toast!

Offer utensils or toothpicks

Using these will means they’ll need to use their fine motor skills, which will help slow down their pace. They may just play with them, which is fine too. I like to think of it as exploring.

My toddler is very proficient with his utensils now, but he definitely went through the oh so fun phase of playing, throwing, using it to scratch his face, hair (not the hair!), feet…you get the picture. 

Our children are processing and learning with EACH and EVERY exposure. So if you’re wondering when your child will start to eat with their utensils, KEEP OFFERING, BE PATIENT, and then be prepared to be amazed one day.

Be a role model

Don’t underestimate the profound effect of them seeing you taking sips of water, pausing, chewing, etc.

Take the focus away from food

Engage them in conversations. Mealtimes aren’t just for eating. Have fun and enjoy each other’s company!

Take away any distractions

Such as screentime, toys, etc. This can encourage mindless eating.

Don’t be afraid to seek professional help

If mouth stuffing continues after having tried just about everything under the sun, this may be a sign that there are some other underlying sensory or motor difficulties that needs special attention.

Now tell me! Does your child like to shove food? If so, what strategies have you tried to help slow down their pace? Have you tried any of the ones mentioned here?

Sticking objects up his nose, drinking water from a dog bowl and crawling under the bed ten times in a row - do you know that? - March 27, 2012

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up your nose, drinking water from a dog bowl and crawling under the bed ten times in a row - for a person who does not have children, this behavior of a child looks more than strange. Meanwhile, this is quite normal and understandable.


The child runs naked

Why is it normal
The child wants to explore not only the world around him, but also himself. Perhaps right now you have begun to potty train him, and he is very interested in examining all parts of the body, including those that are involved in this process. In addition, he probably likes the feeling of a free, unencumbered body. Many parents feel embarrassed when faced with "children's nudism", and children are interested in watching their reactions. And it is not surprising that the baby is amused by the game of catch-up when you try to dress him forcibly.

Coping
If your little one makes you feel uncomfortable, let him run around naked at home where he can't be seen by others. Having received such an opportunity, he is likely to eventually lose interest in such entertainment. But if you react to undressing by screaming or laughing, you can be sure that the “weirdness” will last for a long time. You should also not call the behavior of the baby ugly, because in this way he explores the world, and condemning words about his nudity can instill in him an inferiority complex, because of which in the future your child will be ashamed of his body.

Puts pieces of food and other small objects in the ears and nose

Why is it normal
Small objects are convenient for a variety of manipulations and are indispensable for the development of motor skills, and hence intelligence. They are easy to take in hand, taste, smell, examine from different angles. However, the little researcher may not be satisfied with the usual use of a piece of food, a button or a bead. He can try to push them where his finger cannot go, trying to make the already “mastered” object an extension of himself. Well, if the object of study in this case is a gap in the floor or the cabin of a toy car. But one's own body, and especially its hard-to-reach parts, is of much greater interest.

How to cope
You can partially satisfy the crumbs' curiosity by examining the nose, ears and mouth with a flashlight. It will be good if you can explain to the child that food is food and should be put in the mouth. Initially, teach how to act, and do not tell what not to do, because recommendations are effective, but prohibitions breed temptation. And the invariable main rule: children of this age should not be left unattended.

Trying to crawl into impassable places

Why is it normal
When exploring the space of his home, the child uses his body as a universal measuring tool. The kid, who recently began to move independently, still knows little about the size of his body, so he tries to squeeze into the gap between the floor and the sofa that is too narrow for him, gets stuck between the legs of the high chair. This is not only a satisfaction of the need for movement, but also an invaluable experience for the development of your child's intelligence. After a while, he will be able to get an idea of ​​​​the size, boundaries and capabilities of his own body.

How to cope
Use every opportunity to satisfy the need for movement and knowledge, create a safe environment at home, add special gymnastic facilities to the interior of the nursery.

Plays in inappropriate places, “gets underfoot”

Why is it normal
A child builds a tower of blocks in the middle of the hallway of everyone on the road or starts a game literally under the feet of adults, and not in his room. The reason for such strange behavior from the point of view of an adult is not at all “harmfulness”. He is waiting not only for attention to himself, but also for a reaction to his exploration of the surrounding space. At this age, contact, support of parents is very important, but without suppressing the activity of the child.

Coping
Be patient and wise, look for new forms of relationship, cooperation with your child. Here it is important to find a balance between respect for the needs of the baby and respect for the boundaries necessary not only to teach children to discipline, but also to maintain the mental health of parents. Requirements should be clear and expressed calmly and kindly. Try to look for an alternative: when choosing a dangerous item, offer an equally attractive one in return. When forbidding people to play near a running stove, offer a couple of minutes to toss a ball or show a short puppet show. You will reduce the number of tantrums and be less tired. If the baby continues to resist, use a time-out - an educational technique that many parents have appreciated. You only need to put the child on the chair next to you for a few minutes, and there is no need to scold him or make a stern face. As a rule, two or three minutes is enough to "cool down".

Has fun by making loud noises

Why is it normal
The kid enjoys learning about the properties of his body parts and sense organs. He enjoys the possibilities of his own vocal apparatus and the impression that his "vocal" makes on others, each time increasing the level of decibels. Another option is to study the properties of objects with which you can achieve a roar, creak, knock. A monotonous sound that irritates an adult's ear for a child is not inferior to the sound of a musical instrument, because its auditory perception is many times more sensitive. For him, the door creaks differently every time, and each of the pots he bangs on with the lid has a unique range.

How to cope
Psychologists recommend finding an opportunity to let the child practice vocals and other "music-making" from time to time, find a place for this, provide him with a sufficient number of sounding objects. If loud noises are unacceptable, set an example of a quiet voice by switching to a whisper: after all, it is strange to demand silence with a shout. It is unlikely that the baby will understand you correctly. Also keep in mind that if it is customary in the family to communicate in raised tones, the radio or TV is on all day, the child will have to make some efforts to be heard, and, most likely, will “turn up the volume”.

Tastes bath water, sand, or dirt

Why it's okay
When your child was very tiny, he tasted toys and books. He is now 1-2 years old and moving on to experimenting with soapy water and sand. He continues to explore the world, and the main way to do this at this age is to taste it. The child can drink water directly from the bath or suck it out of rubber toys, lick them, even taste the foam. He is also attracted by the delightful fluidity, softness and plasticity of the sand, and he drags the contents of the scoop into his mouth.

How to cope
If the taste of sand quickly discourages eating, the habit of drinking water from the bath can last longer and pose a certain health risk.

Before bathing, try to give your child bottled or boiled water to drink, focusing on its taste: “Oh, what good, pleasant water, Sasha and I always drink such water from these cups.” You can also offer juicy fruits.

It is important that the bath water is not too warm and does not make you feel dehydrated. If the child wants to drink, take him in your arms, wrap him in a towel and carry him to the kitchen. He must remember that he should drink water only there, let him get used to drinking from his beautiful cup. Create a "ritual".

However, drinking water from the bath is more often explained not by thirst, but by curiosity and a desire to explore the properties of not only water, but also one's mouth. This is a natural desire at this age, and it is important in this case to wean the child from swallowing water. If you teach your baby to let it out of his mouth with a trickle and show how you can get water into a floating toy, you will not only take care of a small tummy, but also develop a useful skill that will come in handy for a child when brushing his teeth. It's also best to keep boiled water handy for this game, especially if your tap is heavily chlorinated. It is important that weaning from unwanted behavior does not turn into a struggle, bathing should remain a favorite pleasure. Keep in mind that strict prohibition encourages the child to repeat the unwanted behavior over and over again, which will reinforce the habit, not break it.

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How to wean a child from pulling everything into his mouth? | Consultations and courses on children's sleep from the largest center "Baby's Sleep"

Drag everything in your mouth: wean a child from a bad habit.

For a child, every new day of his life is another discovery. He examines the objects around him with interest, examines his limbs, touches nearby things, and begins to taste them. For a child, this is normal behavior up to 2-3 years of age. But when older children turn this activity into a habit, it no longer seems so harmless.

A mouthful of sand, stones and paper drives parents crazy. That is why the question of how to wean a child from dragging everything into his mouth is of such interest to many mothers. Have you decided to wean your child from this bad habit? There is no need to panic in this matter. First, we analyze the situation, and then we act. Now I'll tell you everything in detail.

Understanding the causes of this inexplicable craving, I can highlight the physiological and psychological aspects. From the point of view of physiology, the need of the child to put everything in the mouth is explained as follows:

  • At the moment of birth, the way a baby receives food changes. If earlier all the necessary nutrients entered his body through the umbilical cord, then after being born, the food enters the stomach through the mouth. And this means that it is vitally important for a baby to master the oral way of obtaining food. Therefore, this part of the body is especially trained by the child.
  • There are many nerve endings around the mouth, which make this area especially sensitive. It is due to the large number of sensitive areas that the child safely learns the surrounding objects.
  • The baby's mouth turns into an organ of touch, and he literally tastes this life. With the help of lips and tongue, the child studies the properties of the object, recognizes their taste and texture, and already forms his first preferences, he likes something, and something he does not, and positive and negative emotions are formed accordingly.
  • From the age of 4-5 months, the baby starts teething. Due to pain and constant itching, the baby pulls everything into his mouth, because he tries to scratch his swollen gums with the help of foreign things, thereby relieving his condition.
  • When a child puts everything into his mouth, he thereby trains the muscles of the lips, tongue, palate and lower jaw, which are directly involved in articulation. This is one of the stages in the development of speech.

In addition to the physiological characteristics of the child's body, the craving to drag into the mouth, everything that lies badly, the child is also explained from the psychological side.

  • Through the mouth, the baby not only eats, but also receives all the pleasures available to him. Due to sucking, the child calms down, interacts with the mother, receives attention and emotional contact. It can be said that the baby associates the mouth with pleasant emotions, so he even likes to put everything in his mouth. But you can't say the same about parents.
  • By tasting his fists and fingers, the baby satisfies the need for a sucking reflex. It is with the process of sucking that a child associates the attention, care and love of a mother. If a child has an excess of this, then he begins to drag foreign objects into his mouth.
  • In children after 3 years, the desire to put everything in their mouths is explained more by psychological reasons. Due to the lack of attention from adults, the child may begin to put everything in his mouth to get the attention of his parents.

It is important to understand that for a baby, the knowledge of the surrounding space begins through the mouth, and gradually expands. As soon as he becomes able to consciously move his arms, they immediately fall into his mouth. Then, when the fists are unclenched, fingers appear in the mouth. After the baby tastes the whole hand, sometimes he puts his fingers so diligently and deeply that it can provoke vomiting. Don't worry, just make sure your hand doesn't go too deep.

Starting from 6 months, the desire to explore everything around becomes even greater, and the child's abilities for this increase. The kid can sit down, pick up objects in his hands and, of course, pull them into his mouth to form a certain impression (taste, shape, texture).

Parents need to know that up to 3 years, for a child, this is such a way of learning, so be patient and make sure that only safe objects get to the child. Fighting the habit, putting everything in your mouth up to 2-3 years is pointless, and even harmful!

One should worry not about the fact that the child has various objects in his mouth, but if, on the contrary, he does not put them in his mouth. In this case, it is necessary to consult a doctor and check if the development process is disturbed.

But back to the most important question, how to wean a child to put everything in his mouth?

I repeat that, taking into account the peculiarities of the development of children, we do not take any action regarding weaning at an early age and treat this habit with a share of indulgence. However, we should not forget about hygiene and safety. Make sure that the baby does not harm himself, and then the question of how to wean him from putting everything in his mouth will not arise.

Here are a few simple rules to follow while your baby is in the oral stage:

  • The key driver of the development of a child's intelligence is curiosity. If parents prevent every attempt of the baby to taste the object, snatch things, then the zeal for research will be undermined.
  • Stay safe . Make a list for yourself which items you definitely shouldn’t put in your child’s mouth (small, sharp, included, etc.). Proceed from the principle of common sense, and remember that the more different subjects a child explores, the better it will affect his development.
  • Start introducing your child to the words “no”, “no”, “put” . When he starts to put in his mouth what you do not allow, say “no, you can’t take it” and carefully take this item from the child. But do not forget to offer him a replacement, saying "but you can touch it." Thanks to such examples, the baby will quickly learn to understand the boundaries of what is permitted, and specifically what you want from him.
  • If the baby is worried about the teeth, then he starts not only to put everything in his mouth, but literally gnaws on objects . For these purposes, buy a special teether.
  • Prohibition of putting things in the mouth is essential and should be done by all adults in contact with the baby . Otherwise, the correct connection will not be formed. If the mother forbids taking something in the mouth, but the grandmother does not, then the child will postpone it as much as possible.

Sometimes parents themselves provoke children into bad habits by their example. Therefore, starting the process of weaning the baby to pull everything into his mouth, pay attention to your behavior. These are the mistakes that can cause weaning to be delayed or not take place at all:

  • Some adults pick up fallen food from the floor and continue to eat it as if nothing had happened. Of course, this is an individual matter, but it is not worth doing this in front of a child. Young children do not yet understand under what conditions it is possible to lift from the floor (for example, at home, and then wash), and under what conditions it is not (on the street, in a public place). It is better to throw a fallen piece of food into the trash can so that the baby forms an association - what is on the floor is not needed and spoiled.
  • There are situations when adults have inedible objects in their mouths, such as a toothpick, a piece of dental floss, or you open something with your teeth. Do not forget that you are the main role model for your child, so all your actions will inevitably be copied.
  • Be sure to clean your room regularly to keep things in their proper place. Otherwise, they will end up in your child's mouth.
  • Pay attention to how you react to the fact that the child puts everything in his mouth. In no case should you shout, scold and beat! It is better to explain everything in a playful way.

It is worth worrying if the child is over 3 years old and regularly bites nails, pencils or any other object. Often this indicates the presence of stress in life. If there are frequent quarrels between adults in the family, or the child suffers from a lack of attention, affection and tenderness, or he is afraid of something and fears, then such craving is a protective reaction.

In no case do not scare the child that he will become toothless in this way, or worms will start in the stomach. Such statements will further increase children's anxiety and tension. Instead, talk to him, explain how to do it better, offer other options for calming down, for example, picking up a soft ball, or tearing paper.

Another reason why young children put everything in their mouths may be due to sensory dysfunction. If the baby often tries sand or chalk, then this indicates a lack of certain trace elements in his body.

All questions that concern you about this should be discussed with a pediatrician or a narrow specialist (for example, a neurologist). Children with similar problems require close attention.

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