I have a question regarding my
girlfriend's 10yr old daughter (one of
twins). Normal build for her age, though
it is noticeable that she is slightly
smaller than her twin, who eats normally.
Meal times is becoming a struggle!
The crux of the problem is she eats very
slowly and it has been noticed that she
still continues to put food into her
mouth, though having not yet swallowed the
previous mouthful, she does eventually
swallow some but her cheeks resemble that
of a hamster's!! But just chews and chews,
whilst has said contine to fill her mouth
with food.
This behaviour occurs to a variety of
foods but predominately at evening meal
time. The other 5 members of the family
all eat at a moderate speed and finish
their meals normally, yet X will eat her's
slowly (which is her prerogative) but we
could all be waiting an extra 30mins
sometimes, this is also on top of her
amounts that are on her plate have been
reduced.
However put something nice and tasty
delicious before her (such as ice cream or
sweets) and there is no evidence of the
fore mentioned behaviour.
When quizzed on this eating habit, she has
no answers though did once approach about
not liking to swallow stuff ...and it has
come to light very recently that her Dad
said he was tubby when a child!! I should
mention that this has happened before but
the problem seem to have disappeared or so
we thought.
So is this some sort of real food disorder
or maybe a psychological problem, any
advice or previous experience on this
issue would be greatly appreciated.
|
antigone
Supporter
Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 806 Location: IL
Thanks: 35
Thanked:13
Posted: 05-16-08 10:46am
I don't know that I can give you an answer
on this. Pouching food is common for those
that have difficulty swallowing. Is it
possible that she has a problem with her
swallow? A speech therapist in a hospital
could perform a cookie swallow test on her
and determine if there is a structural
problem that is causing her to not
swallow. It could be that some textures of
foods make swallowing difficult. Does she
have any food intolerances or allergies?
Children may avoid and refuse to eat some
foods because the child has an allergy to
the food. When they eat that food they
feel sick so they avoid eating it. The
other thought I have is that she just
doesn't like some foods. She eats slowly
because she doesn't care for the food.
If she is healthy and of normal weight and
development she may just need time to
outgrow some of this. A visit to the
pediatrician may be in order if she is too
thin or this persists. Hiatal hernia or
other conditions may exist that would
hinder her ability to swallow.
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This page was last updated on June 11, 2008
