During infant feeding, aspiration (the introduction of liquid material into the airway) represents a performance failure with potentially serious consequences including aspiration pneumonia and even death. Recent work has indicated that the primary mechanism driving aspiration in infants is the volume of milk being swallowed, with higher volumes increasing the likelihood of aspiration. An effective means of managing bolus volume should, therefore, result in enhanced swallow performance. In healthy populations, the afferent nerve fibers associated with the interior branch of the superior laryngeal nerve (iSLN) are responsible for regulating bolus volume by triggering a swallow. In adults, chemical stimulation of the afferent fibers of the iSLN via capsaicin has been shown to decrease the time to swallow onset and improve swallow safety. Whether this relationship holds for infant populations remains unknown. We filmed infant pigs with unilateral iSLN lesions while bottle feeding using high-speed videofluoroscopy under two conditions: prior to capsaicin application, and directly after the application of capsaicin to the soft palate and valleculae. We found that capsaicin application impacted feeding behaviors and kinematics. Furthermore, bolus size was significantly smaller in infant pigs exposed to capsaicin, resulting in a decreased probability of aspiration. Our results indicate that capsaicin may be a powerful agent to improve swallow performance in compromised infants by stimulating the afferent fibers of the iSLN to reduce bolus volume.