BLW - keeps vomiting!

[lechatnoir]

Thanks to your sterling advice a few weeks ago, I've learnt to relax & give my DS time to gag any stuck morsels & it seems to do the trick most of the time, but I now have a new problem: vomiting!

He'll be happily sucking on a stick of cucumber/melon/banana etc & get the odd bit stuck which he will gag back up, but most feeds something will get stuck that he can't gag back up so he then pukes everywhere including what looks like loads of milk. As he's actually eating very of the solids, I'm concerned about the amount of milk he's bringing up. Even leaving a good hour after his bottle brings the same results & unfortunately he has a long sleep just before his lunchtime bottle & wakes up starving so feeding just before this bottle isn't working. He won't take any more milk at his feeds but seems to still be sleeping OK so should I just run with it until he learns to chew things properly?
Ayn advice gratefully received.
LCN

PS He's now just over 26 weeks & been stable at 20lbs for the past 2 weeks

[Bajan]

Is he e having any other solids other than 'sticks' of something? Ie are you giving him mashed up stuff/rice pudding etc as well? Does he cope with this OK? My ds was and is a real food monster and was chewing on stuff way early, but dd took a lot longer to handle proper 'solid' food as opposed to mashed.

[MrsBadger]

agree that BLW often means No Spooning-In Of Mashed Stuff, but if you can bear the mess, how does he cope with porridge, yoghurt etc if you let him shovel with his hands?

[lechatnoir]

I briefly tried conventional purees which was a disaster hence going down the BLW route - he hated being spoon fed and anything I could shovel in would be spat or puked back out again! I don't mind the idea too much so happy to let him try feeding himself yogurt/porridge - do I just give him a bowl of the stuff & let him at it (I can see that being flung across the room contents included) or do put some straight on his highchair tray for him to smear & hope he gets some from his fingers into his mouth?

[MrsBadger]

am no expert (you need aitch1971, who I guess will be along soon), but you could start with a dollop on the tray or a flat plate for experimental smearing - porridge, rice pudding or something similar that has a bit of body may be easier for him to chase round than runny yoghurt.

[lechatnoir]

Sorry to be dim but can I use normal porridge oats with some formula mixed in or should I buy baby porrige? I've just looked on the packet of my porridge & it's 100% natural oats but just wondered about the texture being too bitty.

Thanks for all you help so far!
LCN

[MrsBadger]

I'd use whatever oats you normally make porridge with - you can cook it longer to get it smoother if you want, but I'd just make porridge for yourself for breakfast one day and offer him a splodge!

[lechatnoir]

I was hoping that would be the case - excellent thanks

[MatNanPlus]

Try mashed potato as stodgy and easy to grasp.

You might also cereal like to try weetabix/shreddies that have soaked up the milk but are not sloppy.

[Bajan]

Sorry to be thick (new to all this so go easy on me!) but missed the BLW part in the title, and not sure what it means?

[lechatnoir]

Oooh mash is a good idea & I can mix in some of the carrot & butternut squash ice cube purees sitting in my freezer going nowhere fast!
Thanks very much again and I promise l last question....should I persevere with the harder finger foods or wait a week or so until he's OK with the stodgier stuff? I'm inclined to continue but make sure I give his a limited selection of those he (so far) hasn't gagged/puked on and wait as long as possible after a milk feed to offer.
LCN

[lechatnoir]

BLW - baby-led weaning is an alternative approach to weaning whereby (if you're really evangelical about it) you never feed your baby but allow them to feed themselves right from the word go so no purees etc as 'some say' that if they have more control over what goes into their mouth, they are less likely to gag/choke and tend to take a better & wider variety of foods. I think that's the reason anyway .
As you can see from my post not all LOs instantly take to fingers foods so I will be trying some mashed/sloppier yogurt type food but letting my DS feed himself. Not because I'm one of those evangelical types, but because the little sod won't let me near him with a spoon . If you scroll down the weaning boards you#ll see loads of post about it & one member aitch has a fantastic weblog charting her progress as she attempts BLW.
LCN

[aitch71]

and here i am, mrs badger... although i should stress that i amn't an expert, just a little anal about keeping diaries, blogs etc.

hello lechatnoir, sounds a bit messy round your way.

my daughter went through a wee phase of being sick as well if she wasn't able to gag something out of her mouth properly, but like you i wouldn't have been too thrilled if it meant that she was bringing up her milk feed as well.

i suppose the only reason that she didn't do that is because i tend to treat her milk feeds and solids as something quite diffent so they can often be quite far apart.

let me think...
she normally has a bottle at about 7-ish then a nap til 8, then solids (cheese, porridge pancakes, peaches) at 9-ish then a bath and another bottle before another nap from about 10 or 11 till 12-ish...
then some snacks (rice cakes, a banana, moon biscuits with water) as we are out and about and probably another bottle after an afternoon nap in the buggy, then if we are at home she has some solids (fruit, pasta, whatever is around) at 4 ish and then her last bottle at 6-ish.

it's all very -ish, isn't it? but if i want her to drink the bottle properly i know i have to leave a good couple of hours without snacks. her daytime bottles are often left half-empty but i'm okay with that if i know she's had cheese or something like that.

and now that i think of it, she did most often gag /vom when she had something hard to eat like melon or cucumber etc. i've never even tried her with apple as i know that would be a pukey disaster.

so i would agree with the other posters that something softer would be the way to go - i can recommend hub2dee's porridge pancakes which i think are on the recipes page and are definitely linked to another BLW thread below (i have NO idea how to do links, sorry) and i modestly suggest my sweet potato chips with smoked paprika at babyledweaning.blogware.com/blog

and if you are finding it stressful for both of you to give him solids after his post-nap bottle then just forget about them and leave the solids til later. it's more important that he keeps the milk calories than the food, as i understand it.

i mean, sometimes my DD has more milk and less food cos that's the sort of mood she's in. and i'd say that about half the time she doesn't eat a 'breakfast, lunch and dinner' thing, partly because she isn't interested and partly because i am too lazy and disorganised.

[MatNanPlus]

oh yes LCN, do mix in a cube of puree to plain cooked suds for a lovely colour and taste.


I would err on the wait a week or so, then reintroduce the troublesome foods as a week can make a difference.

[aitch71]

agree with matnanplus, leave the tricky stuff for a week and stick with what he can manage easily for the next week.

[MatNanPlus]

suds i meant SPUDS

[lechatnoir]

Thanks so much everyone & I'll keep you posted!
LCN

[Bajan]

LCN - thanks for the explanation - am with you now! That's kind of what I did with Ds - but largely because he is such an independent monster, and the only stuff that got spoon fed were the sloppy things that in his humble opinion didn't go down fast enough otherwise! Food is a big deal in his life, unlike ds who can take it or leave it.
Am off to look up the porridge pancake and sweet potato chip recipes - they sound fab!

[lechatnoir]

YAY porridge success!! I tried the porridge splodged on the tray as suggested & he had great fun smearing it everywhere . His fingers were regularly shoved in his mouth along with the spoon I gave him (& sneakily loaded with porridge every so often). He didn't have that much but something definitely went in and we both had great fun so relief all round. Thanks so much for all the help and I'm going to continue with porridge for the next few days then try mixing in some of the apple & pear puree stashed in my freezer. If all goes well I'll be trying mashed potato/carrot & butternut squash at the weekend . No doubt I'll be back in a week or so asking 'now what' but at least we're up & running at last.
Thanks again
LCN
PS I'm sure it's fine, but, does it matter that I'm giving him his 1st & only meal late afternoon (ie between his 4pm & 7pm bottles) He gets in such a mess it seemed sensible to give it to him then as he has a bath before bed plus he's most awake & content at this time.

[MatNanPlus]

Glad it worked LCN.

Onwards, and i don't think the timing matters IMO as long as you are both happy.

[aitch71]

seconded. if you are happy and he is happy then you are building a good relationship with food, which is the main thing.

[Mum2FunkyDude]

WOW, I'm brand new to this site and much relieved! I've been obsessing about my poor son not wanting to progress to lumpy foods. Now I know he is only 8.5mnts and only been eating solids for about 2 months...and I should throw away my books and listen to other mums. I have lots of ideas about how to introduce lumpier food, and one thing I do persist with (only twice a week) is to mix a teaspoon of finely pureed chicken or fish (home cooked with flavours) to his veggies, he doesn't always notice as the veg has an overpowering taste to the meat, but at least he is getting important protein in. Most times when he rejects this I offer Greek Yoghurt. I remember the way I got him to start self-feeding was by offering him a very ripe piece of banana (stay near him as he sometimes bit off too much, and just dig it out) and he loved sucking it until it was all gone. I also made a big deal about him sipping water when he starts to gag telling him it will make it feel better...so cute, he now reaches for the sippy cup when he starts to gag and just swallow it down with the water. Anyway I now feel much better about him still being on the 4mnth jars...be carefull though, they often put bulking agents in(cornstarch etc., read the labels) so you might think he is getting alot of food, but the nutrition issn't actually that high.
Thanks for some great advice.