Eating at the front of the mouth? Relatives!

[Guest guest]

I have a question as Thanksgiving is coming up and once again everyone is going

to notice the way my son eats. My apraxic son seems to chew all his food at the

front of his mouth, does that sound familiar to anyone? He did suffer from

reflux as a baby and then later on from gagging. Even now if he is ever ill or

tired he will still gag easily, but its nothing like the problem it used to be.

Has anyone else noticed this? In addition to me worrying about the way he's

eating and wondering if he is even enjoying his food considering most of the

taste buds are at the back of the mouth, I know once again he's going to be

sitting next to me and my husband's relatives who try to teach him how to eat

saying things like " didn't mommy (or daddy) teach you this? " right in front of

everyone including us. I wonder if it's because he's afraid of gagging on his

food. It's taken years of works and tricks his therapist suggested to get his

appetite to where it is now as he used to never want to eat anything. I have

learned so much from this group and I don't know where else to talk to about

this that would even understand. I'm praying before Thanksgiving someone has

suggestions for relatives and the way my son eats his food. Thanks everyone for

any suggestions at all! Kate