tongue thrust or normal toddler eating behavior?

[cyclamen]

We did baby-led solids with DD18mo and she has two molars on top and I am not sure about the bottom.  She had a posterior TT that was clipped at 2 wks and 8wks because it was interfering w nursing.  In between, she had some CST which didn't seem to do anything.

Anyhow, she gobbles anything soft or dissolving, like applesauce, eggs, bread & pasta (which we don't do anymore), rice, butter, yogurt, etc.

She likes hard foods, like apples, or meat, but she will chew them until they are quite fine and then spit them out.  If I chew it for her she will eat it.

She rarely, if ever, gags.

Normal?

edit: the reason I am curious is because I also have a tongue tie (never clipped) and a tongue thrust/reverse swallow pattern that has screwed with my bite.  We also had DD's TT clipped in order to avoid this....

Edited by cyclamen - 1/12/11 at 4:38pm

[plantnerd]

I don't see how it would be tongue thrust at her age, and I beleive that pushes everything out that isn't being sucked in (like milk).  DS does this sometimes too, I think it's just a sensory thing for their age.  They like the chewing but not really that hungry, and chewing that long probably pulls out all the flavor she wants anyway.

[tzs]

i agree it might be an age thing. my blw kid has been a great eater from the start but recently i'v ebeen noticing her chewing and then spitting out things that bug her in some way. i don;t know what it is but i have a feeling it might be texture related since it happens alot with fruits with peels (apple, pear...even orange wedges!) and things that are harder to chew like chicken. the other day we had baked potato with cottage cheese and melted cheese and she would take in the cheese and spit out the chewed potato. that's new and pretty weird for her but ya know....she's a toddler now and is pretty unpredictable these days.

[cyclamen]

Well it's good to hear other kids are doing it.  I was wondering if it was a texture thing too.  I plan to ask our ped about it at the next appointment, but that's not for a few more months.