Today will be my last entry on the causes of feeding difficulties. The last cause is a traumatic experience with food, that on either parent or child’s side causes the avoidance of foods. The most common reason I see for feeding difficulties related to trauma, is following a choking episode on certain foods. It does sometimes happen that with the introduction of lumpier textures, a child gags, becomes quite red in the face and in some cases vomits. Some parents experience this quite traumatic and this can lead to a reluctance to introduce textured foods, which means that it can lead to a delay in the acceptance of texture. If this were to happen to your child there are a few simple steps you can take. First of all, I usually advise parents to do a first aid course just to provide them with the comfort that they will be able to hand a situation like this.
Most importantly, do not give up on texture. Melt-in-the-mouth foods (like the maize puffs for children) are often a really good first step to get texture into a child after a negative experience. These foods help with feeling texture and chewing (an essential skill), but before a child can choke/gag they melt and become a puree. I have often also suggested the use of a teething net (you place food in this net and your child can chew) for a week or 2 with food, just to get your confidence. Remember, there is a window of opportunity of introducing texture and that is before 10 months of age, after this it can be really difficult and some children become texture hypersensitive.
Children can also have traumatic experiences with food, which often leads to food refusal. Choking can be just as traumatic for a child as a parent. In addition, children that experience allergic reactions to foods often avoid those foods and foods that look the same/have the same texture/taste. It is therefore important when a child has a negative experience with food, to ensure you do not complete avoid the food (outside of a real food allergy of course)/similar foods but to offer food on the table of the high chair in a non threatening way, so that they still see the food is in front of them and get the message, that the food is safe and in their own time they can trial this again.
Most importantly, the reaction of parents to a food-traumatic experience can deter a child from having this food again. So if you see your child is gagging and spitting out foods, although it may be very stressful for you as a parent, try to handle this in a calm manner as a child will try to avoid similar feeding situation like this, which may entail avoiding foods.