My son choked on a lolly, his sister not eating, scared to swallow, how do we get her to eat, been 1 week.?

Question

My daughter is 10 years old, she has totally stopped eating, I have found food stuffed in her pockets, or hidden in tissue. I have spoken to hear about it and she says she is scared to swallow in case she chokes. If you can get her to put a piece of food in her mouth she will chew it but you can tell that she can't swallow it. She wants food and is asking for food but once she has it she is finding it impossible to swallow it. She has always been a good eater, but is a very slim child and cannot afford to lose weight. She will drink and she will eat yogurts, ice cream etc, obviously things she is sure won't get stuck in her throat.

Answer 1

You must be going out of your mind worrying about this.She is afraid,maybe what needs to happen is that she needs to see that if she chock es on something that those around her can take care of her. It might be as simple as getting one of the Red Cross posters on how to do the Heimlich monomer and having the whole familiar practice it on stuffed animals ( teddy bears are great for this).Then the hard part comes ,YOU HAVE TO STOP HANGING OVER HER WORRING. Keep the fridge stocked with yogurt and ice cream and ensure.Let the panic die down if she doesn't get better in about 2 or three weeks then the next stop is either a school council er or her pediatrician.

Answer 2

Make her a lot of soups. To make sure that she's getting all the nutrition from these, put the soup through the blender first so that it is completely ground down into the consistancy of wet baby food. Since you say she is eating yogurt, she should have no trouble swallowing this as well.

Eventually the fear will fade, but it may take months. Don't try to make her eat any more solid food, until she is ready. Then you can ease her into it with mashed potatoes and gravy, with ground up meat, etc. She'll eventually lose her fear when nothing bad happens.

Answer 3

Tell her that if she is careful when she eats, she will not choke. Inform her that cutting her food into small pieces and thoroughly chewing her food will keep her from choking and that the only reason her brother chocked was because he was not being careful.

Also what was her brother doing when he chocked? If he was running around you could explain that sitting calmly while eating will keep her from chocking.

If this doesn't help, try taking her to the doctor/pediatrician, and if the doctor advices, possibly a psychiatrist. This may be scary for her so inform her that all these people want to do is help her get over her fear, and teach her ways to eat without chocking.

Answer 4

Oh, that is a shame. The poor little girl. I am sorry to say that I don't think you can get someone to eat; especially someone who has a reason not to eat. This reason is very real to your little girl.

You can point out to her that you still eat and have not choked. Her friends eat and have not choked, etc. This will at least stay in her mind even if it does not work at first.

I would start giving her a lot of soups. You could try pasta too, since it is soft she may not feel it will get caught in her throat. Eggs will also work and they are an excellent source of protein.

Good luck to you.

Answer 5

I wouldn't bring it up anymore.Make some of her favorite foods. One thing about children is they forget and move on quick. If you keep talking about it then so will she. If you have explain that if you chew your food that there is no chance of her choking,and she is not a baby.Babies sometimes choke and since she didn't choke when she was young that if she chews her food she won't choke now. Thats about all you can do.

Answer 6

I would suggest a gradual reintroduction to solid foods. Start with soup and then add very soft foods like jello, mashed potatoes, pudding, applesauce, mashed squash. You can also mash or puree vegetables like peas and carrots (frozen works best and tastes best). For breakfast there is a wide variety of oatmeal and cream of wheat - select vitamin enriched varieties. You can also select baby foods. Anything that slides down easily. You can increase to foods like pasta: mac & cheese and spaghetti that also goes down easily. Avoid beef and chicken, nuts. You can supplement her diet with chewable vitamins.

Answer 7

My friend did this once. She was suffering mild Dysphagia and choked on a baloney sandwich, once she got better she was still scared. We told her that the baloney wasn't going to hurt her and that worked.

Answer 8

make your son eat in front of her and make sure your son doesnt choke again then say something like, "look, your brother is eating again and he didnt even choke....."

Answer 9

let her get so hungry untill the point she will want to eat. ignore her its attention she will eat cause shes hungry its human nature