Calling Aitch!!! Is this a better thread???!

[NikkiBFG]

Oooh Aitch - glad you are around - maybe you can help? DS is just over a year and really gags on anything solid type, however, he's starting to take more of an interest in finger foods now - he had a potato wedge the other day ...so what's the best way to go from here....let him eat with us at dinner time, put bits on his tray???

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

No. I don't like this one .

[NikkiBFG]

Huh??

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

I thought you were fine on the other thread! Much more fun over there!!!

[NikkiBFG]

Ahh! I get you now!

Really want DS to start eating more solids though....mind you, he likes dust bunnies and cotton wool....what does that say about my cooking????

[NikkiBFG]

Oh and Sudocrem!

[Aitch]

lol!
he is just gagging, isn't he? not choking, good.
urm, what's he been eating up til now? you know i don't have a clue about purees and stuff, don't you?
is it lumps in puree that he gags on, generally?
how did he get on with his potato wedge? did he like it? has he had anything since?

[NikkiBFG]

he is just gagging but in very scary mannner - I'm deaf and can't really distinguish between the start of choke and gag so I'm extra extra cautious when feeding him.

He's been eating purees up until now but I have given him bits of apple and banna and tried him on toast...he seems to like apple but does gag and tbh, a lot of what I put on his tray, he just pokes around with a disgusted look and shakes his head...until he goes on floor and starts eating dust bunnies!!

He only ate a tiny tiny bit of wedge but seemed to like it...had a bit of banana since and melon....

[Aitch]

oh, isn't that interesting, because i think the absence of sound is one of the signs of a choke rather than a gag. although i'd have to say that a gag is fairly active, iykwim, because they're really just trying to manouevre food forward in their mouths.

if you look up gagging on the blog you should find a few posts on the subject, particularly one where quite a few women discussed how often (or in fact how infrequently) their children choked. i reckon dd only choked twice, tbh, it's pretty rare. but you do have to watch for it. and it was on apple both times. i think it's the devil's fruit, blw-wise... mind you she stopped having difficulties when she got teeth so i could give her the whole thing (once i'd taken a bite out to get her started) and she'd scrape at the skin. you could try that, i'd say, but lay off the slices etc as i personally think they break off too easily.

it's my opinion, tbh, that babies have a learning curve with gagging, and that they learn how to manouevre the food better with time. like, two weeks, nothing terrible. but my experience comes from babies at six months, so it may be different in a child who's more developed.

you wouldn't have to muck about with sticks of things or chopping banana with skin on, i'd have thought. i'd still steam things like carrot, however, just for a while, and when you give it raw i'd do it more in slices than in sticks. again, it's a hard food, it could break off. but that's just my opinion. gill rapley talks about sticks a lot but again on the blog our consensus was that most babies liked something a bit more substantial to hold onto quite quickly. that's the difference between research and actually doing it, probably.

have you seen the recipe for sweet potato wedges on the blog? they were a great favourite with dd in the beginning, because they're dry on the outside but kinda mushy inside, so she could suck at them.

hhhmmmm, it's really interesting, this. it's made me realise that i know fuck all about giving finger food to a one-year-old. dd was such a different animal at one than six months, so much more manually dextrous and with her pincer grip. i tell you what, frozen peas are great...

if i were you i'd try the sweet potato wedges (because they are yummy) and see what he's like with some rather over-cooked broccoli. both of them are pretty difficult to choke on as they're mushy, so they'll be good to learn on. i'd also maybe give him some not at dinnertime but for a snack (altho' broccoli can be messy...) so that he's not actually hungry hungry, iykwim? ooooh, and steak, a big hunk of it to chew on... lovely.

imo you do have to ride out the gagging stage, because they're learning, but it really shouldn't go on for long. i always recommend an infant resus course (to all parents, btw, not just BLWish ones), it helps you to be more confident about gagging i personally think and lord knows could come inhandy some day.

[NoBiggy]

I just thought of something!

When babies are weaned by spoon (this is just my observation, mind), they sometimes don't twig that some things are too big for their mouths. Give DD2 a stick of cucumber for example, and she'll whittle away at it, while DD1, until recently (when she saw DD2, I'm thinking) would try and jam the whole thing in. Always had spoonfuls or mouth-size pieces, see.

I've seen it in other children too.

[kiskidee]

put child on your lap while you are eating. let them select off your plate.

dd gagged on everything till 13 months and also refused purees. she lived on weetabix, readybrek and yoghurt and breastmilk from 10-13 months.

then one day, sitting on my lap, she grabbed a piece of smoked paprika german salami and tucked in. go figure. no gagging ever since.

[Aitch]

ooooh, great point, kiskidee! because then you'd feel a choke as much as anything else. funnily enough dd ate from our laps for the first week, i'd forgotten that. but she was much less wriggly at 6 months.

[sniff]

my lo ate almost nothing till 11 months just survied of breast milk she gags occassionally now on lumpy foods but on nothing I put on her tray for her to eat she manages this a lot better

I was adviced by a HV to try BLW because of what you describe and she is much better

[NikkiBFG]

Aitch!!!!!

Today he ate some cucumber....then spag bol - it was pureed but not to the extent I normally do it so he was actually chewing tiny bits of meat...then two small organix biscuits!!!

[Aitch]

oh well DONE that boy... any gagging, or was he fine with it? that's good. i thought that kiski's tip about feeding him on your lap was a great idea, did you try that or did you not need to?

[NikkiBFG]

Well he chewed the cucumber with much enjoyment for.....10 minutes... but finally got most of it...

He gagged on the little bits of meat in the spag bol but I kept at it....we made sure he was sat with us in the high chair at dinner time and he was happily munching away on two little biscuits while we were eating...trying to give him positive associations with food, mum and dad at the table etc...much applause and good boys when he finishes and he now claps himself when he hears good boy! Am sooooo excited!

[Aitch]

oh that's wonderful, really. i'm sure he'll be well away in a few days. good boy

[NikkiBFG]

He's growing up!! Am thinking about his packed lunches for school already....making him homemade muffins and cakes....

[TnOgu]

Just wanted to say that I did BLW with my son 8 years ago.

It seemed a very natural way of introducing him to a variety of foods and I was lucky, it was sucessful.

He is 10 now and I just feel that you need to go with whatever you and your baby feel comfortable with.

>

[TnOgu]

sorry obviously he wasn't 2 when I weaned him

maths isn't my strong point!

[NikkiBFG]

TnOgu - it is getting late, so you are allowed to not be hot on the maths

[TnOgu]

It's terrible though, my brain is like mush.

Tis very embarrassing!

[TnOgu]

and I missed out a 'c' in successful.


Oh, the shame!

[NikkiBFG]

At least you realised the mistake...so

Now...back to your desk!