If your kid is pocketing food, it can be concerning and confusing all at the same time. As odd as it sounds for kids to be holding food in their mouths, it’s actually incredibly common.
Although common, pocketing food can be a huge risk for a child’s development. It can lead to inadequate intake, failure to thrive, nutrient deficiencies, and even malnutrition.
But once we understand why your child is pocketing food, there are simple steps you can take to improve their eating.
So let’s dive in! We will cover the definition of food pocketing, how to spot it, and easy strategies to help resolve it.
How to Identify Food Pocketing
Food pocketing is a pediatric feeding disorder in which a child holds or stores food in their mouth. Some kids store food during the meal or even for hours after the meal has ended.
It can look VERY different for every kid and can happen at any age. Some ways that it can be identified include:
- Cheeks appearing full
- Coughing while eating
- Unclear speech
- Spitting food
- Finding food in their bed/play area
Why Do Kids Pocket Food?
Food pocketing can be caused by many different things. Identifying the root cause for your child specifically is the best way to reach an effective solution.
However, identifying the root of the problem isn’t always easy! It might take multiple occasions of you observing their eating to identify a pattern. It also might be helpful to have an outside perspective, like a registered dietitian, help you identify the issue.
The most common causes of food pocketing are…
They feel rushed or pressured during meals
If kids feel hurried during a meal or snack, they might use food pocketing as a way to speed up their food intake. Although we might never intentionally rush our children through a meal, kids can also feel rushed if they are excited about a post-meal activity (recess, etc).
Kids also are very perceptive to any pressure put on them while eating. This pressure can come from parents bargaining for their food intake or even overly praising them for eating (1).
Try to avoid using phrases like:
“If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll be in trouble”
“If you finish your plate, you can have a cookie”
“You’re such a good boy because you always finish your plate”
Sensory overload
Children can only focus on so many things at once. They are not good multitaskers! Especially when they’re eating a food they aren’t particularly excited about, they are easily distracted.
Further, kids with ARFID, autism, or down syndrome are at higher risk for food pocketing due to the common sensory issues (2).
Undeveloped oral motor skills
Our kid’s oral motor skills develop in levels – once they are able to properly chew and swallow a particular texture, they can “level up” to more complex textures (3).
But that means if there were issues with suckling, swallowing, or chewing previously, they are at a higher risk to start food pocketing.
This often happens when parents serve “developmentally appropriate” food textures simply based on their kids age rather than the level of their oral motor skills.
If your child has ever had issues with their oral motor skills, pediatric speech language pathologists can help adjust your child’s food introduction timeline.
8 Tips to Prevent Food Pocketing
1. Don’t rush them through a meal
I know this can be hard with busy schedules! But try to set aside a full 15-20 minutes of un-rushed meal time or snack time.
Also, make sure this expectation is understood by your child. For example, “we will be eating lunch for 20 minutes. Even if you finish early, you can stay here with me at the table”.
2. Relive pressure on them to eat certain foods
Just as difficult, but try to minimize your comments about the amount of food they are consuming (both positive and negative comments!). This helps reduce your influence (and subconscious pressure) you are adding to meal time.
Make sure to also serve an accepted or preferred food with every meal. Having at least one source of familiarity on the plate can make the entire meal less intimidating.
3. Avoid multitasking during meals
Help your kids focus on eating by removing any distractions! Turn the TV off, remove any tablets/iPads from the table, and avoid serving snacks while your child is playing.
4. Encourage small bites
For whatever reason, your child may be taking unusually large bites. This might be because they feel rushed to complete their meal or they might have a painful oral sensation that they are trying to avoid.
Start by offering food that is cut into smaller bite-sized pieces. You can also encourage smaller bites with non-pressuring language and modeling the behavior.
5. Decrease the variety of textures
Along with food size, the texture of the food can also be a barrier to chewing and swallowing properly. Once we decrease the variety of textures offered, kids who previously pocketed food showed less frequency of pocketing (4).
For example, if you often serve french fries, try mashed potatoes. If you serve apples, try applesauce. We want to offer the same food type with a puree-like consistency. Once the pocketing less frquent, you can scale the textures back up.
6. Serve one food at a time
Serving foods by themselves is another way to decrease the variety of textures experienced at one time. However, this does not always lead to very nutritionally balanced meals. Ideally, this tip should only be used for snacks or for a short stretch of time.
7. Serve water with meals
Drinking water can help promote our swallowing reflex (5). It also helps to coat the food we eat to prevent choking or aspiration.
If your child is old enough, serve the water in an open cup (not a sippy cup or straw) to help dislodge any pocketed food. It can also help to model the behavior of drinking a sip of water after each bite.
8. Ask if they find swallowing painful
Although this sounds obvious, kids often don’t know how to verbalize a concern unless they are asked! Try asking “does this food hurt your throat when you eat?” or “is there a reason you dont like swallowing this food?”.
Remember, kids are learning an entirely new skill. When we learn things incorrectly (like chewing or swallowing), we can “normalize” the process despite it being painful.
When to seek help
Coughing or choking while eating
If your child is frequently choking or coughing during a meal, this could be a sign of structural issues within their mouth or throat.
Out of an abundance of caution, make sure to communicate with your child’s healthcare provider about any coughing during or after meals.
Extreme picky eating
Food pocketing is almost always associated with picky eating or a lowered tolerance of foods. But when it gets to the point where your child is accepting less than 10 foods, they are at risk for vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Weight loss
Weight fluctuations are normal, but be extra careful to track your child’s weight on a growth chart if you notice food pocketing. If they drop two or more growth curves, communicate with your primary health care provider about alternative means of nutrition.
For further tips on preventing picky eating, you might enjoy:
10 Ways to Increase Your Kid’s Calories