7mo and finger foods - not getting it/I'm terrified!

[gretagrape]

Hi. Weaning has been going really well in as much as my son will hoover up everything he is offered. I've tried giving him some finger foods (banana, cooked carrot and courgette) over the past week or so.
His technique is just to suck on whatever it is and then swallow it with a big cartoon-style gulp - there's no inclination to chew at all, and even with the other food that is now just mashed rather than pureed he doesn't chew it, just swallows.

So, while the stick of food is still long there's no problem, but once there's only an inch of it left he tries to just suck it into his mouth and then swallow it which ends up with him either gagging or swallowing it with a massive gulp and sometimes choking and coughing.
Should I hold off on the finger foods for a while?
Thanks
x

I found that cooked carrot and corgette were a bit tricky for my DS at the start of weaning cos they did tend to get bitten off into big, pretty hard lumps in his mouth which he then couldn;t really chew.

I think other sorts of finger food are easier to start with: things which go a bit mushy in their mouths. DS liked soldiers of bread, soft steamed florets of brocolli (let him hold the stalk and suck off all the soft bits at the top), small bits of soft cheese sandwich, strips of omlette, those Heinz baby biscotti biscuits, those Organix baby crisps, cooked pasta shapes (fusili is easy to get hold of...grate a bit of cheese over the top).

Sounds like youre little boy is doing fine, and if he is capable of putting finger foods in his mouth he is deffo ready to eat them. he might just find it easier with some different foods to start with.

Oh, and remember, gagging is v different from choking, and gagging is a natural part of how babies eat...DS is 11mo now and still has a good old gag on quite a few bits of food at each meal...then he just chews them up a bit more and swallows. I always sit on my hands and count to five when he gags to see if he sorts it out himself...and he always has! Sometimes with the offending bit of food being violently ejected from his mouth! But it doesn't seem to bother him.

I would, just for your own sanity! I found weaning quite stressful. My ds would vomit at the slightest texture at the same age. I'd be much more confident to follow my own instinct next time & by asking this qu I think you should follow our instinct.

Don't bother with cooked veg - they're very slippery and hard for children to manage. Bananas ditto - in fact after weaning three children using BLW I don't know why anyone recommends bananas. See how he gets on with a cracker or a breadstick. Something that is solid to hold but goes a bit mushy when sucked on. Fingers of bread are especially good as they can be dipped into soup or whatever and sucked on. Large pasta shapes can be good too, once they're covered in sauce and have a bit of grip (cooled cheese sauce is especially good for this!)

Let us know how you get on - and as Bot said, don't worry about gagging. Anything that makes a noise is fine because it means that air's getting through. Choking is completely silent because the airway is blocked. For your own peace of mind it may be worth watching some youtube videos on how to deal with choking.

Thanks - some really useful advice. I know what you mean about veg and banana being slippery - I think that's why it just gets sucked up!

Pasta, bread and broccoli sound like good starters - he's allergic to dairy, egg and peanut so I have to be careful about what I buy but I'll check out all the other suggestions to see what he can have.

The gagging doesn't bother me too much as I know it means the food is coming back the right way, but a couple of times he's tried to swallow it and ended up with that scary gasping cough where he can't get a breath. I'll have a look at the videos on youtube as I wouldn't have a clue what to do and it's probably that ignorance that's scaring me.

Thanks all
x