Help - baby eating solids stressing me

[Newmum2127]

Hi,

My baby is 8 months old, she has been on purées etc since 6 months and is pretty good with trying different foods, she really enjoys feeding herself, finger foods etc but I am so terrified of her choking I am really limiting what I give her. She has toast and I give her the ellas kitchen crisp puff things because I know they will dissolve on the tongue, she also tries little rice cakes, but I hear of people giving their babies veg and fruit to feed themselves and I just can’t do it, when I’ve tried I get so panicked, it’s honestly stressing me out, everything I read on the internet is so conflicting, like one site will say, yes it’s okay to give baby ‘X’ at 8 months, the next will say not to. I feel like I’m letting my baby down by not giving her more finger foods to try, especially since she loves it so much. I already feel pretty stressy and I just don’t know where we should be up to with food right now ... any help or advice !?

We’re using the joe wicks weaning book but everything she is having I just mash up.

Also, I have looked at the St. John’s first aid videos for choking etc, it made me feel more confident for 5 minutes ... before we tried a different food and then the fear and anxiety set in ... I swear before I had a baby I was not anxious at all but now I’m terrible

If you cook veg well so it's soft and the sticks are nice and thin, she can't really choke on them. Remember loud & red let them go ahead, silent & blue, need help from you. Lots of babies gag on food, but it's ok to let them try. Could you give her some whilst you are eating, so you are a bit distracted and not just sat watching her?

The internet is a nightmare because, as you know, everything is on there and everything you read seems to be contradicted by someone, somewhere, and they are usually not an expert. I would recommend picking one source of information and sticking to it - when I was weaning I used the Solid Starts website - they have lots of great (and intuitively sensible seeming) information about how to cut/prepare different types of food for different ages - so I would just use this as your guide and ignore the rest. Maybe try and get your partner to take the lead on weaning for a while if they're around and it's possible? It sounds like you know this already but she needs to start on solids soon so it's just about finding the information and tools to ensure you're doing it safely and then figuring out how to keep your own anxiety under control.