BeauTIFFul23
asks:
Q:
My 4 year old sucks on his food, what does this mean?
My son recently turned 4, but since in his age of late 2- early 3 until now, he has been sucking his food. He weight gain is okay, but what bothers me is his brother that's 13 mos younger is always weights 4-5.lbs more than him every 3-6 mos for health screenings. His teeth are almost starting to decay because of this eating habit. I really need to know to do about this before it causes any serious problems.
In Topics:
My child's growth and development, Physical Health, Nutrition
> 60 days ago
What the Expert Says:
Additional Answers (1)
Keep me posted on your sons status. My son is the same way. I'd like to hear your progress. My son used to chew his food and between 1 1/2 and 2 he started chewing then sucking his food. Meals would take an hour. He fell drastically off the growth chart at 2 and has been continuing at a very slow pace gaining. He's in 10th percentile now. He has been referred to ent and had a sleep study and barium swallow due to enlarged tonsils. He was diagnosed with sleep apnea but ent said removing tonsils wouldn't help with his food sucking issues. He is seeing a speech person at childrens institute to help with feeding issues but things haven't improved much. No one has seen anything like it before and the biggest problem is he chews when he is there but they can tell he's just doing it because he has to. He doesn't seem like he enjoys eating. When he's at home and sucking on his food it seems soothing to him like he's relaxing. He is highly intelligent for his age and knows he's supposed to chew. He just doesn't do it most of the time. he is 4 1/2 right now
46 days ago
