Anne,  you may have already left for the conference but I thought I would chip in my thoughts. Others have covered the more significant possibilities, but I was wondering about something simpler.

 I would be interested to know what this toddlers motor skills were around the 6 - 9 month mark.  Was he picking up toys and putting them in his mouth?  Did he progress to a pincher movement to pick up smaller things?  If all these milestones were normal at this age, it would be curious he did not transfer these skills to eating food. I guess you would be narrowing this down to an oral-motor problem, in this case.

I really like the ideas of Gill Rapley (baby led weaning, BLW).  If this wee man checks out OK developmentally and physically, I wonder if it would be worthwhile going back to the basics via the BLW method and encouraging this boy to play and experiment with food.  No spoons or plates anywhere!

We all know some babies are extra sensitive to experiences at the breast and one negative experience can put them on an adamant  path of refusal, which is really hard to undo - I wonder if this baby did something similiar with the introduction of solids.  Perhaps he hated the taste or texture of his early food experiences (e.g. avocado) and now relates this to the dreaded spoon!

Re the gagging - my basic understanding is that babies have a good gag reflex, but it is a case of, if you don't use it, you will loose it! If babies have not had the opportunity to use their gag reflex well before the 9 month mark, they may have problems.

I respectally ask if the baby showed interest in solids earlier than his parents desired, and this was avoided.  I have seen this happen. On several occassions I  observed a mum I know (who had a big healthy breastfed boy) keep saying "no" to her baby when he tried to grab food around the 5 month mark.  This mum wanted him to be exclusively breastfed for as long as possible, like his sister was.  He spent most of his time in a sling, so he could not avoid being around food , yet it was actively denied him for quite some time, and the breast was offered instead.  He went along with that programme, so all was well for him.

Karen Palmer
IBCLC

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