When will my 17 m.o. actually start swallowing most of his food??

[P.J.]

DS is almost 17 months and we did BLW with him. He is still breastfed but eats regular meals and snacks like a normal toddler. Thing is, he chews and then spits out a LOT of the food he takes in. He does it more at mealtimes than at snacks (I give him snacks when we're out and about, in the stroller, etc and usually not at the table like a sit-down meal, which we do 3x/day).

It's hard to tell, but I reckon he's actually swallowing an average of only 50% of the food he gets at meals. I suspect this is a result of BLW because with this method the baby learns to chew before they learn to swallow. I'm not worried because I know he's getting enough nutrition (not only from food but from my milk) and if he's really hungry he eats / swallows what he needs. I am more curious from other mamas if your toddler does this, or if you have an older toddler when they stopped doing this and started eating "normally" and swallowing all of the food they put in their mouth.

TIA!

[newmamalizzy]

I recently posted about my 18 month old who tends to squish and spit a lot of different foods.  For her, she doesn't really chew the food first - just takes it in and spits it out.  I don't get the impression that she knows how to deal with a lot of these foods.  I cater to her skills, always giving her some foods I know she'll swallow and some I know will be a challenge.  If I didn't plan her meals this way, I'm sure she wouldn't swallow more than 50% of what I give her.  We, too, did BLW, and I feel like that was somehow why she didn't progress with chewing/swallowing.  She treats her food now exactly how she did when we gave it to her to explore at 7 or 8 months old.  Maybe we didn't do it quite right...I'm not sure.   Now that she can use a spoon, I've found it helps her for me to focus on the intermediate "lumpy" textured foods that you kind of miss with BLW.  Will your LO swallow foods if they don't require much chewing?  Or is it only if he has to chew it first that he spits it out? 

[lovepickles]

DD didn't start swallowing most of her food that made it to her mouth until about a month ago. We did BLS and besides yogurt nothing would really stay in her mouth. Now she swallows most of everything that goes in unless she decides she is full or put too much in to chew. Honestly I think until they get molars on the top and bottom food isn't easy to do.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by newmamalizzy 

I recently posted about my 18 month old who tends to squish and spit a lot of different foods.  For her, she doesn't really chew the food first - just takes it in and spits it out.  I don't get the impression that she knows how to deal with a lot of these foods.  I cater to her skills, always giving her some foods I know she'll swallow and some I know will be a challenge.  If I didn't plan her meals this way, I'm sure she wouldn't swallow more than 50% of what I give her.  We, too, did BLW, and I feel like that was somehow why she didn't progress with chewing/swallowing.  She treats her food now exactly how she did when we gave it to her to explore at 7 or 8 months old.  Maybe we didn't do it quite right...I'm not sure.   Now that she can use a spoon, I've found it helps her for me to focus on the intermediate "lumpy" textured foods that you kind of miss with BLW.  Will your LO swallow foods if they don't require much chewing?  Or is it only if he has to chew it first that he spits it out? 

Yes, he easily swallows yogurt or bananas (although he spit out one bit of banana this morning actually!). But TBH I don't think it has to do with that he CAN'T swallow. He can! In fact this spitting out thing is relatively new, like in the last couple months ~or maybe it's gotten more noticeable the more he eats, IDK. And he has four molars so it's not that either.

Intuitively I feel this is normal and it will go away eventually, he's just in the process of getting used to eating still, and being a toddler who for whatever reason halfway through chewing a bite decides no he doesn't want to be doing this anymore and spits it out.

I guess I was just looking for confirmation that other kids do it, sympathy from other mamas dealing with this, and maybe some hints as to how much longer this will go on, as it's just really annoying.

Soooo, anyone else in this spit-out boat with me?

[exona]

Mine only spits out his food a lot once he's full. Do you think you're giving him too much food right now and he's just playing with it when he's done? 

[P.J.]

That's a great question. I'll have to pay closer attention. I have noticed that he doesn't spit it out (and eats more!) when he is really hungry. At his age (17mo) it's still kinda hard to tell if he's hungry so I just offer snacks almost all the time, assuming he'll only take them when he's hungry. But I think he also sometimes takes it anyway....and maybe those are the times he spits out the most.