https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:13:05 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913640 Thu, 09 Apr 2020 06:48:30 +0000 LadyDi 2913640@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SteelerGirl: this is what my pediatrician recommended doing, basically just big hard pieces of food he could suck and gnaw on. </p> <p>@Kemma: he hasn’t been evaluated for a tongue. He nursed well for about 7 months until I weaned so I didn’t consider that.</p> <p> @Lahela017: glad she got over it! I<br /> Hoping that he does too. </p> <p>@Ms. RV: That’s basically what we’ve been doing with puffs. We’ve worked our way up from the tiniest puff piece to now whole puffs that he can manage about 75% of the time </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913628 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 20:25:14 +0000 Lahela017 2913628@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My 12 month old had this issue around 9 month. We just went with purees for a few weeks, and she got over it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913595 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 14:10:28 +0000 Kemma 2913595@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Has baby ever been evaluated for tongue ties?</p> <p>I’d do lots of finger foods and more blw-style meals so that your wee guy can be in control of his own eating and learn to manage his own limits for dealing with foods. When given the opportunity most babies will soon work out not to shove too much food in at once and to not poke it too far in! Just keep offering lots of different tastes, shapes and textures so he has lots of opportunity to experiment (and I’m of course assuming there are no medical issues at play). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913587 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 12:33:54 +0000 SteelerGirl 2913587@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is counter intuitive, but what worked for us was giving whole pieces of food- like too large to eat. And he would gnaw and suck and nibble at it. Basically it wouldn't even make it to the back of his throat until he had turned it to mush. His first food was pizza crust! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913576 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 10:07:09 +0000 Ms. RV 2913576@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS1 did OT because he was a gagger (and because he wasn't self feeding) in anything more than a puree at 10 months. We did a lot of oral stimulation with a Nuk brush and also did pieces of puffs and cheerios. We started with the smallest piece possible and worked our way up. Not sure why but he also did best with Walmart puffs not name brand. After he nailed down puffs we moved to Cheerios then graham crackers. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913575 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 09:44:15 +0000 mdf106 2913575@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My 11 month old had this around 9 months, and he grew out of it. We just did a lot of purees (store bought). Yogurt was/is a big hit. We kept giving a small amount of cheerios to practice, and he figured it out. He would gag and through up on any amount of cut up banana at 9 months, but at 11 months will eat a whole cut up banana. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913573 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 09:37:04 +0000 hellobeeboston 2913573@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I had a 'gagger' too.... it was harder when they were that young because it just took a while to get used to textures. I think just keeping up with it and getting them used to it is key. My little guy loved puffs - those baby num nums were the worst, he would always gag because he'd get too big a piece. Tofu was actually a good one - I'd fry it in some avocado oil (probably when he was closer to 12-14 months) but i cut it in tiny cubes... Peas were good since they were small. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913572 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 08:43:05 +0000 Jess1483 2913572@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This isn’t a food, but we got the baby teething tube for DD, and it seems to have helped her move her gag reflex back. Maybe look at that for play time? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/foods-for-infant-with-sensitive-gag-reflex#post-2913566 Wed, 08 Apr 2020 06:50:22 +0000 LadyDi 2913566@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My 9 month old seems to have an EXTREMELY sensitive gag reflex when eating anything other than purees. Whether it's a puff or a small amount of mashed potatoes he'll gag and throw up as soon as he starts to swallow it. I think it's a texture thing, not a problem with swallowing, but we are't going to get an OT evaluation done at this time. Does anyone have any food recommendations for how we can try to de-sensitize his gag reflex? He can swallow a puff once it gets soft enough and yesterday I mashed up an avocado and it was mostly ok as long as I gave it in small amounts (like 1/8 tsp). </p> <p>One problem is that we are moving in a couple weeks and I already packed our blender and food processor and it's in storage at my inlaws, so I don't have the ability to make my own food right now if it requires more mashing than I can do with a fork. </p>