Transition from soft to grainier food

My 19-mo daughter has problems chewing and chokes when her food is grainier than congee. She swallows rather than chew. I make thicker congee, mixing soft rice with broth, and extrasoft spaghetti. She can chew on her biscuits, though she chokes on them sometimes.


How should I transit from soft to grainier food? She is 19 months is she slow in chewing? I eat with her, exaggerating my chewing to teach her. Am I being impatient but she has been 'practising' chewing for 2 mths now. What should I do to teach her chewing? What kinds of food should I give her or rather, what kinds of food preparation should I adopt (eg frying, boiling, steaming, oven baking etc)?

I think a medical evaluation of her mouth muscles etc next time you have her in for a well baby exam. This sounds like it could be dangerous, because it sounds as if she could joke on just about anything! My children never had any trouble chewing, and they were gumming solid food well before they had any teeth. As a matter of fact, I considered their interest in chewing and interest in feeding themselves finger food as a sign that they were ready to start solids. If your daughter doesn't have a physical problem, then it's habit. You have to figure out how to break the habit without her choking before she figures it out! I'd suggest giving her small tidbits of bread that she can pick up with her fingers and eat herself, and things like cheerios or small diced pieces of apple -- things that are meant to be chewed but could be swallowed whole if needed. Perhaps if you let her experiment with things that have striking tastes and textures (e.g. a bit of pickle) the taste will be so novel and unique that she will resist the habit of just swallowing and explore the taste a bit by chewing it. What do you think?

Just a note, it's fine to give baby big stuff as long as there's no danger they will bite off a chunk that could choke them. For instance, never give hot dog because it's soft enough they could bite off a piece that could choke them.

Things the size and shape of whole grapes are dangerous as well. On the other hand, it's a very popular thing where I'm from to strip most of the meat off of a whole chicken leg, leaving only bits of meat that would be a safe size to eat, and then let baby hold the whole thing to chew on it. This satisfies lots of needs -- holding, exploring, teething, tasting, feeling independent. I remember one time giving my nine-month old a whole kosher dill pickle in a restaurant. What I remember most vividly is that there were two grandmotherly types at the next table looking on in horror and whispering they couldn't believe a mother would give food like that to a baby, and then I looked over at my daughter who was obviously having a really good time sucking and gnawing on the pickle. I thought, "what do they know about my daughter?!" My youngest daughter's favorite food (and one of the first foods I gave her) was fresh blueberries. Yep, what came out the other end was still blue, too! But she really loved them, they're safe (not on the list of allergic foods), fairly mushy and small, and quite chew-able. You can also chop many table food items up finely and let her use her fingers to feed herself. For instance, when you have chicken, take some meat and cut it up into pieces that are the size of peas. Put it into a little bowl and let her use her fingers to pick it up and feed herself. If she has normal musculature etc in her mouth, I can't imagine her swallowing without chewing the tidbits she puts in there with her own fingers, but even if she does it won't hurt her if it's cut small enough. You can chop any food small enough for her to eat, just make sure it's not salty or spicy -- that it's seasoned to baby tastes rather than adult ones. I mentioned grapes above, you can give grapes, but just be sure to cut them in half.

have you tried bananas? They are very soft, but yet baby needs to bite and chew?


There are also these Japanese rice crackers, they sell them in CitySuper, they are in a green box, and they disolve in the mouth almost... that was the first 'cracker' that worked for us and he LOVES them still.


We had this problem with our baby, but at about 13 months he overcame it and now is an expert chewer with his four teeth.

Thanks, Meiquoren, will definitely give your many ideas a go. By the way, I remember your kids have food allergies too can you share what kinds of food you try with your kids ie those that they didn't react to? I thought blueberries, like strawberries and all berries, are in the highly allergenic list.



Simplythebest, will have a look at this net gadget you mentioned.


Crj, problem is: she is allergic to bananas, i know it really sucks. She eats rice crackers with relish cos she lets them 'soak' in her mouth then swallows when soft, not really a good way for her to learn chewing I find.

ooohh, I know your baby is allergic to everything, even bananas? I feel so bad for her and you when I read your posts...


I guess you need to work backwards...


Start with a list of what she CAN eat.

And then see which of those are softest to start wtih...

and slowly increase..

Crj, I saw your post regarding birth of your second baby. Congratulations and glad to know you are enjoying motherhood even more this time. My husband and I are planning no 2 soon 'cos like your son, my daughter loves little kids and she cries whenever her baby friends leave our home. Only problem is I am so worried the second one would be down with allergies again.


Yes, she is allergic to so many things but I try to be optimistic and pray she will outgrow her allergies when she is older.


I tried chopped pea-size chicken for lunch today and encouraged her to feed herself. She did but pushed them all out with her tongue after sucking off the chicken juice. I know it is a learning curve and it will take weeks before she masters her chewing skills.


Any more suggestions would be much welcomed.

Hi Mummybee, I don't have any great advice! Wow, even to be allergic to bananas. Is it an all-over hives, or a localized irritation? It would certainly pay to go really slow on solids! Knowing the kinds of allergies my oldest daughter has, I took my third to an allergist early on and asked him how to prevent allergies. He really wasn't any help, he didn't tell me anything I didn't already know: He said bf as long as possible, start one solid at a time and watch for reaction, stick with low protein foods and the foods that are known to be relatively less-allergic, no milk or egg before one year of egg (but I've long since lost his printed list). I think pediatricians have the lists of foods that tend to be allergic. If I remember, La Leche League was also a good source of info on all kinds of issues related to weaning and introduction of solids, including avoiding allergens. Ha, if blueberries are allergic, then we slid in under the radar screen! I guess I'm just lucky where blueberries were concerned! Well, I guess there's one other thing the allergist reminded me of, which was to keep all dander and dust out of the house and to run air purifiers all the time, basically to be obsessed to keep the environment clean of things that she could become allergic to if she were to be exposed (including no indoor pets, a rule we break). Unfortunately, I'm afraid my youngest has also now come down with asthma though neither of my second two seem to have the severe food allergies that my oldest has. Sometimes I wonder, what it was that caused this, because I did pretty much go by the book with my oldest as well. The only thing I know I did wrong, which I've later realized was a big no no, was that I ate peanunt butter and milk almost every day while I was pregnant with her. People now know that parts of the proteins from those cross the placenta, but of course I didn't know it then. She was fundamentally born allergic to both of those. For my next two children, I ate different types of protein and I took calcium tablets instead of drinking milk.

mb1,


i feel for you - feeding a toddler is challenging as it is but to feed one who is even allergic to bananas...kudos to you for all your efforts!


building on crj's suggestions, maybe you can give us a general idea on what your girl can eat and maybe we can suggest some recipe/cooking ideas that involves texture for her to try?


ok, not sure if you have alreadt tried this but here's what works for my kid, he is now 13 months and definitely eats textured foods and while he used to swallow most of them, he seems to be chewing more these days. this is what i do:

i make sure not all the food in one dish is textured. say i am making pasta, i will puree the pasta sauce until smooth but i will leave the pasta as it is (usually macaroni or shells). then encourage kid to eat it as finger food but lots of the sauce over the pasta so that it's not too dry, which can also make it difficult for feeding sometimes i find. then when she can handle that, then you can make the sauce more chunky.

Pasta - I got some great varieties made from different healthy grains at Health Gate.

Parknshop also has dino shaped pasta, organic but not whole wheat/grain.

meiquoren, my daughter's reaction varies depending on the food eg, if she has cow's milk or cauliflower, her neck and upper shoulders become red with pimply spots and itchy; if she touches eggs, her face swells like a tomato; if she has salmon/banana, she gets scaly darkened patches on her upper arms and thighs; if she has apple/potato/sweet potato/beef, her mouth becomes swollen and skin peels the next day. If she touches someone who consumes any of the above, she will develop a localised hive rash (skin raised and red) where her "contaminated" hand touches on her skin. Her hives are like welt marks, and I was stopped twice on the street for suspect of abusing / beating my daughter. Sigh...


I did download a list of least and most allergenic foods from several websites, including a list from allergist, but problem is she reacts to many of the supposedly least allergenic foods. So it is trial and error on my own, and I find what other mummies give to their eczema kids to be a better gauge as to which food to give to my daughter hence the question to you, Meiquoren.


Foods she can eat: chicken, turkey, pak choy, asparagus, pear, lamb, carrot, zucchini, pumpkin, lotus root, rice, millet


Foods she cannot eat: beef, pork, apple, potato, sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli,cow's and goat's milk, egg, peach, grapes, banana, gluten(oat, barley, wheat), spinach, choy sum, kale


Foods she can eat in small amt: plum, avacado, papaya, quinoa, parsnip


Recipes and methods of cooking would be greatly appreciated, to get her to chew!