What To Do When Your Baby Takes a Big Bite
It can feel scary: that moment when baby takes a big bite of food. You may instinctively want to reach into baby's mouth and pull the piece out. You may even feel you need to grab baby out of the high chair and start choking rescue.
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First, know that a big bite of food is not inherently unsafe and not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, baby’s brain more easily recognizes big pieces of food in the mouth than small ones at this age. And as infant swallowing specialists, we’re not worried about the big pieces–we’re worried about the small ones that can more easily bypass baby's protective mechanisms and slip into baby’s narrow airway.
Baby’s body is set up to help them learn how to chew and swallow—and when they can’t manage what’s in their mouth—the body has automatic reflexes to thrust the food (or object) forward. Baby was born to eat and their body knows what to do.
In fact, the only time a big bite of food becomes problematic is typically when a well-intentioned, worried caregiver steps in and gets in the way. Any time a caregiver puts their fingers in baby's mouth—whether that be placing food in baby’s mouth or trying to pull a piece of food out—the risk of choking increases. Baby’s brain and tongue are learning to move food around in the mouth. Your fingers in baby’s mouth disrupts this fumbling and gets in the way of the tongue as it does what it’s designed to do: spit out the food, move the food for chewing, or move the food for swallowing. So, what to do if you feel baby has bitten off more than they can chew:
What to do when baby takes a big bite of food:
Take a deep breath and stay calm. The more calm and collected you are, the more likely baby will do exactly what they are supposed to do with that food without much or any assistance from you.
Wait a moment. We know this feels impossible. But the best and safest thing you can do is simply wait. Let baby’s body work to figure out what to do. They may spit. They may try to chew. They may swallow the piece whole (even if big!). And that’s actually okay: baby’s food tube (the esophagus) is elastic and while it may be uncomfortable, it’s not inherently dangerous to swallow big pieces of food. Choking occurs when small pieces of food or objects slip into the wrong tube and get lodged in the airway.
Kneel next to baby and coach them to spit. If you feel like you need to take action, start by kneeling down next to the high chair so baby looks down at you. This helps keep the food at the front of the mouth and decreases the likelihood of them trying to swallow it. It also encourages baby to spit out the food and employs gravity to help. Placing your hand under their chin can also help cue the brain to spit out the food.
What to do if baby doesn't spit
If baby doesn’t spit, move the food around to chew it, or swallow the food, you can help coach them to spit. Try the following tips and for more ideas, check out our article, How to Teach Baby to Spit Out Anything.
Clear the food from the tray. Make sure baby does not continue to put more food in their mouth.
Kneel down in front of baby. As they look down at you, their head tilts forward. This movement puts gravity on your side.
Use gravity if needed. If baby doesn’t lean forward to look down at you, help them by placing a hand on their back and gently pushing them forward so gravity can help them spit out the food. If baby pushes back against you, stop trying and kneel down in front of them again to encourage them to look down.
Talk to baby. Calmly tell them, “Too big. Spit out.” Even if baby doesn’t have the language to fully understand or respond to your words, talking both helps baby associate the word “spit” with the action that you’re practicing, and your calm tone helps reassure baby if they’re uncomfortable or upset.
Place your hand under baby’s chin. This simple tactile cue, especially when baby is looking down at you, can encourage them to open their mouth and stick out their tongue.
Stick out your own tongue. Encourage baby to spit by sticking your own tongue out in an exaggerated way. You can even add a sound effect: “Ahhhh.” You can also spit out a small bit of your own food with your tongue to demonstrate. As you model how to spit, keep your hand under baby’s chin as a tactile cue. If baby laughs as you are modeling, learn what to do.
Perform a finger sweep: If a child is incapable of spitting out a dangerous object or piece of food, and the child shows signs of distress, there may be a need to perform a finger sweep. For instructions and a video, check out our article, How to Teach Baby to Spit Out Anything. It is important to understand that if finger sweeps are not performed correctly, they can actually increase the risk of choking by inadvertently pushing food further back in the mouth.
Remember: Do not try to remove the food.
When done improperly, trying to manually remove the food from baby’s mouth with your fingers can greatly increase the risk of choking. Let your baby work it out.
Finally, remember that biting off large pieces of food and figuring out how to move them around is an important part of the learning process. The more you let baby fumble through these awkward moments, the faster they learn.
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