to find beginning BLW freaking terrifying?!

[bohemianbint]

I know, I get it, it's great, am a total advocate and Gill Rapley's book is fantastic. I totally understand it on a logical level...but jesus, I was still terrified this evening seeing DS with a chunk in his teeny mouth. He was fine, it was fine, it's great, and once we truly get going I will be fine, but for now, it's really giving me heart attacks!

you are braver than me - i haven't even dared try yet with finger foods.

We are in our 3rd week of this. I don't find it scary as such, but it is a bit weird to see him with a piece of brocolli dangling out of his mouth. And oh my god brocoli makes such a mess! Cucumber is a hit here - skin left on and he sort of scrapes the flesh out with his gums.

yanbu, It is scary at the start, I was the same with ds when he started a couple of months ago. What I found reassuring was actually seeing him gag and cough, because I knew his safety mechanisms were working properly. Other people still find it alarming though.

See, it's only about the second time I've tried it and so very early days. A bit of banana must have got in there yesterday because it looked like a bit came out this morning!

I can't quite get over the feeling that I should read up about what you do if your child chokes...

YANBU at all

The gagging is a bit unpleasant to say the least, even though you know it's all happening for a good reason.

YANBU DS just grabed my biscuit earlier on and had a solid in his mouth for the first time ever. Terrifying.

yup but needs must and 4 teeth say she's going at it ok!!!

It wasn't the choking that terrified me at first, it was the mess! None of the damn food seemed to be going in; after half an hour I'd scrape more mangled veg off the floor then I'd actually given him in the first place. But 3 months in it is quite gratifying to see that mangled mound gradually get smaller as he gets more adept at the "food into the mouth" skills. And it is still gorgeous to watch him solemnly tear a broccoli floret limb from limb

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2300.aspx?CategoryID=72&SubCategoryID=72
I have bookmarked this, but not had any reason to use it, but it is good to know.

we nearly gave up i was so scared, but didn't and now a year later i'm so glad we persevered
EVERYONE should know what to do about choking though - blw or puree, it can happen to either

I got a great tip somewhere for the mess (was it on here?). Put an old sheet (clean) under the highchair at mealtimes so that food drops onto that. At the end of the meal just pick i up, shake over bin and throw in with next wash.

This has worked really well for us.

newspaper is your friend in these times

oh, and a dog

IlanaK - brilliant, I'm going to try that tomorrow

What I like about the sheet thing is that if it is clean, then you can pick up dropped food and re-offer it. My floors are relatively clean, but I am not sure i would be comfortable that they are clean enough to reoffer food. And some veg is really expensive at the moment (baby corn) so if it gets dropped accidentally (rather than thrown!) it is great to be able to pick it up again.

we started "properly" today (her half birthday - yay!). i tried a bit last week but she showed no interest. today she loved porridge and a chip in the pub at lunchtime which she gobbled half of. oops. i thought she'd just wave it about expecting it to make a noise

i felt exactly like this, totally pro the ethos of BLW but terrified of choking. so i did a first aid course - the parent company organises for a nurse to come to your house to do it. i got the NCT group round and it worked out £50 a head. they had realistic dummies to practice on. it was excellent - it made me feel like i'd know what to do if she choked, and also it was reassuring to hear from the nurse (who worked in A&E) that choking is incredibly rare.

she did gag on a bit of avocado last week and i'm surprised that it didn't bother me much at all. she's gotta learn how to swallow somehow!

my, it IS messy though

Thanks for that rowland - I agree everyone should probably know what to do, I only hope none of us ever need to put it into practise!

I can't help but remember hideous stories about a child choking to death at nursery on a bit of apple. But, if Gill Rapley says that BLW makes your child less likely to shove too much in, who am I to argue...

Don't be scared! Like moloko says, if you have done a first aid course, then you will feel a lot more reassured because you'll know what to do should the worst ever happen. Which it won't.

and they've got to learn ONE DAY.

I am a huge advocate of BLW; it is such fun when you sit side by side sharing a sandwich!- gorgeous times! We have a wipe clean mat under the highchair. And if you have a Tripp Trapp then this is invaluable:

www.amazon.co.uk/Kiddopotamus-TinyDiner-Portable-Placemat-Yellow/dp/B000ZJ1OCY

I am not chilled out enough for this!

DS snatched a ryvita out of my hand and started munching on it yesterday - all well and good until a sizeable piece came off in his mouth. He probably woudl have gagged or spat it but I freaked and tipped him over and fished the chunk out.

The poor child will starve if I keep this up, I must get my head around it. I don't remember it being this terrifying last time (sort of half did it with DS1) but DH assures me it was and I have just forgotten.

After I saw DD aged 6 months swallow and immediately afterward bring back up a whole carrot stick totally unperturbed I got over my fears.

YANBU! I found weaning terrifying in every way at the start, took me weeks to relax! What if she hates food? What if she refuses to eat and starves to death?? And the praying to God you won't need to actually carry out the choking procedure! But the gagging does calm down soo much, once they've worked out how to handle having food in their mouths. BLW is fab, great fun, sooo proud to see my dd chomping her way through her dinner all by herself now. The only terrifying thing now is the spoons loaded with porridge being flung across the room and sticking to the wall!

re. the mess - we bought an off-cut piece of carpet for a fiver.... that saved my sanity on the cleanliness factor.... it stayed there, we cleaned up messes, obviously, but did not freak out when raspberries and tomato sauce fell on the floor, as knew we would not have to replace an entire carpet.

Weaning terrified the beejeezus out of me. All that gagging. Got used to it though and they have that strong reflex for a reason. Had to be soothed and convinced by mumsnet though to quite believe it!

The best advice I had was to grin falsely and say "yum yum" while doing eating actions when your baby gags so they don't panic and will just carry on as normal. All the while sitting on your hands while your heart rate soars. Of course you have to keep an eye on them and be prepared, but you also have to relax and trust that their little bodies know what to do, that's what the gag reflex is for, and that they'll get the hang of it very soon.

Ryvita aren't food at all, are they, for anybody?

It is nerveracking to begin with - I remember DS2 looking really surprised that there was something lumpy in his mouth (but not as disgusted as DS1 looked when he got his first tooth - he kept looking at me accusingly and probing it with his tongue!).

Oh, and I've got a yellow TinyDiner you (or anyone reading this if you don't want it!) can have for less than a new one from Amazon - £8 maybe?

"All the while sitting on your hands while your heart rate soars." - too right! I was shaking like a leaf after ryvita incident and had to phone DH to calm me down!