Milk Gagging

Milk Gagging

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Baby-led weaning: Is gagging normal?
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It's normal for babies to gag. They may gag when they're first getting used to eating, taste something they don't like, or have too much to eat. Gagging is different from choking: Gagging resolves on its own, but a choking baby needs help. You can tell a baby is choking if they're unable to cry, talk, or cough. If your newborn is gagging, try slowing the flow of milk by changing nursing positions or changing the bottle nipple. If your baby gags on food, they may not be ready for solids yet – or you may need to keep trying.
We all have a gag reflex – it's a lifelong automatic response that helps prevent choking.
Gagging is normal for babies as they learn to eat solids, whether they're spoon-fed or you're doing baby-led weaning . Gagging brings food forward into your baby's mouth to help them learn how to chew.
Until your baby's around 6 months old, they also have a reflex that causes them to thrust their tongue forward whenever the back of their throat is stimulated. This tongue-thrust reflex can make early solid feedings a bit of a challenge, so it's best to wait until the reflex is gone to try solid feeding. Still, gagging on or pushing out those first spoonfuls of pureed food isn't uncommon.
Prodding your baby to eat more than they want can cause them to gag, as can having too much food (or food they don't like) in their mouth. Some babies will even gag on their own fingers until they figure out how far they can put things in their mouths. And until they get the rhythm of sucking, some infants will gag while breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, especially if it's flowing too quickly for them.
Gagging is different from choking. Choking means your child's airway is partially or completely blocked, which prevents breathing. Here's how to recognize the difference between gagging and choking:
A child who's gagging may push their tongue forward or out of their mouth and do a retching movement to try to bring food forward. Their eyes may water. They may cough or even vomit. Let your child continue to gag and cough – it means their airway isn't completely blocked.
Coughing can usually effectively clear their airway. Don't pat them on the back or reach into their mouth to try to grab the object. Doing either can cause whatever they're gagging on to go farther down their airway. It's best to calmly stay with them and make sure they completely recover.
A child who's choking is unable to talk, cry, or cough because their airway is blocked. They may gasp or wheeze, make odd noises, or make no sound at all while opening their mouth. They may grab at their throat or appear panicked. A choking child might turn blue because they aren't getting oxygen. They may need first aid for choking – back blows and chest thrusts (or, for children over age 1, abdominal thrusts) – to dislodge the blockage.
Newborns might have their gag reflex stimulated if the breast milk or formula they're fed comes out too quickly, especially when they're first getting used to eating.
Try to get your baby to relax during feedings and don't push them to eat more than they want.
If you're breastfeeding , the flow of milk coming out (the "letdown") can be strong – especially in the early weeks – and cause your baby to gag. Try nursing your baby with them in more of an upright position, so they aren't lying down. This might help slow the flow as it enters their mouth. You can also try nursing in a side-lying position (with both of you lying on your sides) to slow the milk flow as well.
If you create a lot of milk, or it's been a little longer than usual since you last nursed your baby and your breasts feel engorged , you can try pumping or hand-expressing milk for just a few minutes to get past the initial forceful letdown before nursing your baby. Then, the milk flow will be a little slower.
If your baby is bottle-fed , make sure the nipple is the right size. Nipples with faster flow have more holes, and can allow too much breast milk or formula to come out at once, causing babies to gag.
It's scary when your baby gags on food, but it's part of the normal process of learning to eat. Try not to worry when it happens, as hard as that might be.
From birth to around 7 to 9 months, the gag reflex is actually triggered closer to the front of the mouth. Because of this, gagging might be more common when first starting solids and lessen once your baby gets older (around 9 to 12 months), when the gag reflex moves more to the back of the mouth.
If you're starting to introduce solid foods and your baby gags, here's what you can do.
Make sure your baby is ready for solid food before you introduce it. This usually happens around 6 months old, once your baby is able to sit upright , has good head control , grasps , turns away when full, and shows an interest in food, leaning forward and opening their mouth when food comes near.
When you think your baby's ready, start by putting a small amount of food on a spoon. Tip the spoon to get a bit of the food on the front of their tongue, rather than putting the whole spoonful in their mouth, which may trigger the gag reflex.
If your baby pushes the food out with their tongue, it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't like it – they're probably just trying to figure out this new way of eating. Feed them slowly while they get the hang of it.
After a few tries, they'll start using their tongue to move the food to the back of their mouth. If your baby is still pushing food out of their mouth or having trouble swallowing food after a week of trying, they may not be ready for solids yet.
If you're introducing your baby to solid food through baby-led weaning, gagging is also a normal part of the process. Your baby's learning to feed themself, and that's naturally going to come with some bumps along the way. Let your baby work out the gagging on their own, but keep an eye on them to make sure they're not choking.
To help keep your baby from gagging on finger foods , feed them soft, easy-to-swallow food that's cut into bite-size pieces once they develop the pincer grasp, at around 8 or 9 months old. If you're doing baby-led weaning, you'll give them large pieces of soft foods to grab and gnaw on. These foods should pass the squish test – they should squish easily between your thumb and forefinger or between your tongue and the roof of your mouth – so they're easy for your baby to eat.
Don't give them foods that are choking hazards , like whole grapes, hot dogs, nuts, raw vegetables, large chunks of meat or cheese , popcorn , or other cylindrical foods that can block the airway (like pieces of sausage or hot dog).
If your baby gags because they don't like the texture of solid food , try giving them different types of food – and remember that it's normal to have to give a baby a new food many times before they'll accept it.
If your baby turns away or cries, they're done eating. Resist the urge to push extra food on them or make them eat more once they're done.
Your baby will most likely gag less as they get more meals under their belt and as they get older, though some kids do have an overactive gag reflex. If your baby is still gagging about a month after starting solids, mention it to their doctor. Your baby's doctor can give you input and check for problems, or may even suggest seeing a specialist, just to be sure.

BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals. We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies .

Nemours Foundation. 2019. Choking. https://kidshealth.org/Nemours/en/parents/choking.html [Accessed March 2022]
Nemours Foundation. 2021. Breastfeeding FAQs: Spitting Up, Gagging, and Biting. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/breastfeed-spitting-up.html [Accessed March 2022]
Mayo Clinic. 2021. Solid foods: How to get your baby started. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-baby/PR00029 [Accessed March 2022]
Children's Wisconsin. 2018. Choking vs. gagging: What parents need to know when introducing solid foods to children. https://childrenswi.org/newshub/stories/choking-vs-gagging-what-parents-need-to-know-when-introducing-solid-foods-to-children [Accessed March 2022]

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Category: > Health > Milk and Mucus: Why Dairy is The Major Cause of Your Phlegm, Mucus and Congestion Issues
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Jan 18, 2018 Carly Fraser Save For Later Print
It seems to be the case that there is a lot of confusion about whether milk and other dairy products create mucus in the body.
The Dairy Council denies that there is any association between milk and increased mucus production, but personal accounts (including myself) and other scientific studies have proven otherwise.
First I would like to address the fact that nutrition studies funded by food companies (like dairy councils) are almost always biased in their interest.
A new study, co-authored by Harvard researchers and analysts from the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, found just that. They documented widespread bias in nutrition studies funded with industry money. The study they carried out questioned whether the science behind nutrition recommendations is, in fact, legitimate ( 1 ).
Dr. David Ludwig, director of the clinical weight loss program at the Children’s Hospital in Boston, analyzed 206 studies published between 1999 and 2003. He decided to focus mainly on milk and other fruit juices and soft drinks, as those beverages are “highly profitable and heavily advertised to children.”
Dr. Ludwig had a group of investigators analyze nutrition studies’ scientific conclusions without knowing anything about the financial sponsorship they had received. A separate group looked up who funded the studies, without knowing anything about the first group’s conclusions.
What did they find? When a food company pays for a scientific article, the results are eight times more likely to be favorable to the company’s financial interests than if the study were independently funded.
So of course, when we see studies funded by the Dairy Council and other dairy companies, we can be rest assured that the results are going to be in favor of the dairy industry. This is similar to what we see when milk gets promoted as building “better bones,” when in fact it does the exact opposite .
According to Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Centre for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, “both the dairy and the soft drink industries are notorious for giving investigators money to do studies that typically find things favorable to the industry. And if the studies are biased, which they appear to be, we’re not getting the correct picture ( 2 ).” Brownell goes on to say that while the studies are published and peer-reviewed in scientific journals, it is still no guarantee that the researchers or their conclusions are free of bias.
Whether the questions are framed in ways to make them more favorable or studies with negative conclusions are never published, always consider the source of where the information you’re looking at comes from. Who paid for the study you’re getting the information?
While I am not lactose intolerant, I did suffer from a lot of mucus production before giving up dairy. I receive countless e-mails and comments from people about how their mucus and phlegm issues cleared up as soon as they gave up dairy. And while I do recognize that everyone’s experiences are different, I wanted to take a look into the studies that have found dairy to be a trigger for mucus production.
If you’re not aware, casein is a milk protein and is usually involved in the mucus response. And while I do not, by any means, support the use of animals for study, some of the studies that examine dairy and mucus involve rats. Maybe one day we can get past the use of animals to study on, and instead use easier methods of study, like personal accounts of how individuals feel after eliminating a certain food group (aka. dairy) from their diets – just like I did, and noticed significant changes in how I felt.
Study #1 : the milk protein casein breaks down in the stomach to produce a substance called casomorphin, which has opioid effects (this makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint as species survival may depend on a close maternal bond between infant and mother). Opioid receptors on the mucous glands in the respiratory tract may respond to the casomorphin from milk, which stimulates the production and secretion of mucus from these respiratory glands. This explains why a subgroup of the population who have increased respiratory tract mucus production find that many of their symptoms, including asthma, improve on a dairy elimination diet.
Study #2 : feeding higher levels of dietary animal protein (like casein used in this study) increases colonic DNA damage and thins the colonic mucus barrier in rats. Thinning of the natural mucus barrier in the colon often leads to issues like irritable bowel syndrome (we all have mucosal cells in our body (it’s a good thing, and protects the organs). It’s when we give the body irritating foods, like dairy, when mucus production goes into overdrive). This leads to modified mucus production in the colon and can result in things like mucus showing up in the stool. I used to suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, and once I gave up dairy, I no longer suffered from the symptoms (including mucus in my stool).
The University of Maryland Medical Centre states on their website that to reduce symptoms of cystic fibrosis, to eliminate potential food allergens and foods that increase mucus production, including dairy (milk, cheese, sour cream, and ice cream), wheat (gluten), soy and corn, and to eat more foods that decrease mucus production like garlic, onions, watercress, horseradish, mustard, parsley, celery, and lemon.
WebMD , a popular medical website also supports the hypothesis that phlegm can be made worse with the ingestion of dairy products like milk, ice cream, and cheese. Dr. Neil L. Kao, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine says on WedMD that the reason people produce more mucus when they drink milk is because of gustatory rhinitis. Gustatory rhinitis is a reflex reaction triggered by eating. It is also why your nose runs when you eat hot peppers – the same thing happens when some people consume dairy products. Hot peppers are an irritant, and so is dairy. Rhinitis means inflammation of the nasal passages, and when the body triggers the inflammatory response, it usually means it is trying to protect itself or repair itself from damage (aka. from the irritant (dairy) you put in your body).
Mayo Clinic also states that drinking milk makes phlegm thicker and more irritating to your throat than it normally would be when you have a sore throat. Unfortunately, the same applies to when your throat isn’t sore – you just don’t notice it as much when your throat isn’t sore and irritated.
To demonstrate just a few studies (amongst many others) that are funded by the dairy industry, I’ll leave a short list below. These studies, of course, only mention positive results. You’ll never find a negative study result being funded by the dairy industry.
Study #1 – Funded by the Swiss Federal Research Station for Animal Production and Dairy Products (ALP).
Study #2 – Funded by the Global Dairy Platform, Dairy Research Institute, and Dairy Australia. An author of the study received the Wiebe Visser International Dairy Nutrition Prize from the Dutch Dairy Association’s (NZO) Utrecht Group. Another author of the study is the recipient of research grants from the Danish Dairy Research Foundation, the Global Dairy Platform, the Danish Agriculture and Food Council and the GEIE European Milk Forum.
Study #3 – Studies lead author, Jonathon Maguire, has a long history of receiving money from the dairy industry and of publishing studies with unsubstantiated conclusions that are favorable to the dairy industry ( 3 ). In this study, it is suggested that cow’s milk is essential for obtaining vitamin D, but the problem here is that vitamin D isn’t even found naturally in milk – it’s artificially added by milk processors. The best place to get vitamin D? The sun. This study was a project of TARGet Kids, which lists as funders – Dairy Farmers of Ontario and the Danone Institute.
Study #4 – Fully funded by the dairy industry, including the Dairy Research Institute and the Danish Dairy Research Foundation. The study was criticized in a letter to the editor of the journal, and stated that the “experimental diets were apparently designed so that the possibly desired conclusion could be drawn ( 4 ).”
The National Osteoporosis Society also warned that diets, which cut out dairy, could be a “ticking time bomb” for young people’s bone health, a claim made after the Society carried out a survey that found a fifth of under-25s has cut down on or completely given up dairy. What this scaremongering survey fails to mention is that the National Osteoporosis Society is funded by a dairy company – Yoplait ( 5 ) – and that the company “donates annually to the National Osteoporosis Society in the UK and the Irish Osteoporosis in Ireland ( 6 ).”
Of course, this is false information that the National Osteoporosis Society is spreading, as children and adults alike can get calcium from plant-food sources like kale, sesame seeds, okra, dried figs, chia seeds, almonds and more. Calcium from plant-based sources is actually better for you than dairy, as the high acidity in dairy actually buffers the pH in the body, stripping alkaline minerals (like calcium) from the bones.
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