BLW: early days but not impressed

[sugarsinner]

My daughter started BLW this weekend, she's 6 months old and has been on purees and baby porridge since 5 months due to reflux.
It's quite normal for her to gag at new tastes etc but after giving her softened carrot, she bit off a huge chunk and full on choked leaving me smacking her back until it flew out, followed by the carrot and lots of projectile vomit.
It's completely disturbed me. I called the HV to see what she could recommend and she said that episodes like this are 'normal' she also didn't seem to know the difference between gagging and choking. I had to explain that she actually choked: went silent, red, struggling to breathe etc and did not gag. What does everyone else think of BLW? Any tips or 'safer' foods I can try her with? I'm terrified of it happening again. Thankyou!

that sounds horrible for you both, and not helpful of the HV.
I did BLW with my first 2, and mostly purees w no 3, so have tried both - both have pluses and minuses in my view, so don't do it if it's fussing you!
If you want to keep going how about trying

• rice cakes - large ones, which she can just worry at (and waste most of)
• cucumber/melon sticks (again, she won't get much)
• broccoli trees - steamed till the tops are very mushy, but the stalks still quite firm

Thanks for the ideas snowman. Ive seen broccoli mentioned a few times when I've googled so will give it a go. Melon wasn't too bad when we tried it at the weekend. She mainly sucked it but seemed to enjoy the taste. Will try a few other foods but if it doesn't suit, I'll switch to purees for a while.

I just did pureed or mashed food along with finger food at every meal. I have never got on with carrots though they do always seem a bit chokey! Go for melt in the mouth or mushy foods. Ripe banana and avacodo are good well cooked pasta too. Obviously toast is a fave too

Brilliant Claira thanks for that! I feel better about the whole thing after reading your post and feel like I know what to do now. You're right true blw is doing the right foods when baby is ready

I tried BLW - all for it - but sadly nobody had told my DS that it was a great idea.

That gag reflex thing? He didn't seem to have one and swallowed anything & everything. Two chokes later I realised that just like sleeping and milk and nappies and everything else to do with babies, there is no one size fits all and BLW did not suit my DS.

We went to mashed foods and then chunky textures and he was ready for finger foods at about 8 and a half months. He currently eats like a champion and will happily have finger foods or be spoon fed.

I was far too impatient for BLW. Plus DD seemed to like to be fed and she still does at nearly 2, the lazy little madam
We didn't do purees either really. I just cut stuff up really small / mashed things. She got the odd cucumber stick, rice cake etc and eventually she just got it. But all that mess, all the time - no thanks!

I never used carrot sticks for blw as even softened I was worries they were too hard.

I mostly used things like toast, cheese, Broccoli, Cauliflower, peas, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, sausages, baked beans - basically what ever we had she had a little bit on her tray.

If you are not comfortable though don't pursue it. my dd didn't always want to feed herself so we used a mixture of puree and blw

good luck

It's Baby Led Weaning. You had already weaned her. You are now giving her finger food. There's actually a big difference. Try reading Baby led weaning by Gill Rapley if you want a better understanding of it. It's all to do with how their mouth, chewing etc develops differently depending on how they were weaned.

I found BLW to be an easy and enjoyable process, my DS enjoyed it too and took to it really well. However none of that is relevant to you - if you're not enjoying moving to a full BLW approach then maybe stick to spoonfeeding puree/mashed food and some soft/easily disintegrating finger foods alongside until your DD becomes more used to manipulating food in her mouth.

Thanks for all your help :) feel much better about the situation and it's great to hear from mum's who did the 'BLW' approach ie finger foods when you felt your child was more ready for it. I'll stick to mashed foods for now and see how we go. It seems every professional is an advocate for this BLW approach, it seems rather a fad in many ways. So I'll go with my instincts.

I booked a session with a BLW specialist/dietician and she too said that the gagging/choking is 'normal' as the baby is getting used to having things in their mouth/learning to chew.

I wasn't too impressed with BLW if I'm honest, and kept DS on purees until he was 8 months-ish, I tried again with little bits of food like over cooked pasta, rusks, bread once I was sure he was ready...anything he could nibble little bits off of, I tried. Now, he will happily sit and eat toast, chunks of cucumber, sliced meat, cheese etc. I'm still wary and don't give him big lumps like, say, a cut up apple, as that's still too hard imo. He's 1 and I will go at the pace he's comfortable at I guess!

BLW doesn't suit all babies. My DD nearly choked on carrot (i had to do proper first aid on - laid on my lap hitting between the shoulder blades) and had countless near misses with toast. Decided to lay off the finger food for a few more months after that.

confusedandemployed At last, someone like me! I couldn't think of anything worse than BLW although it didn't have that daft name when my two were younger. I loved feeding my kids purees, etc. knowing mealtimes would be done and dusted in 10 minutes and with no mess! Luckily they were both so greedy that it never got thrown or squashed all over the high chair so everything stayed nice and tidy. Which then left more time for baby groups, seeing friends, MNing housework which is far more preferable to bloody BLW!

Harold! Yep, we're always out and about too, I need mealtimes to be over and done with quickly.

Blw is utterly hopeless for bad refluxers and former prems like my dd. Both her hv and paed smiled indulgently and said lovely isn't it, please stop. A wee bit of gagging and choking is one thing, but I think a lot of blw acolytes simply don't have a clue how dangerous it can be for other kids. Holding a limp bluing child over their highchair til they projectile puke up their entire meal - every meal -is not my idea of food is for fun until they are one. My dd was banned from finger foods til she was one on docs orders.

BLW is not a one size fits all approach that must be attempted by everyone regardless of their baby's individual health issues/development. It's called "baby led" after all. If your child chokes/projectile vomits every time on finger food then there are clearly issues there that need investigating, and spoonfeeding puree/mashed food is clearly the best approach. Being told to stop finger foods by a doctor until 1yr old is really quite unusual. That doesn't mean that BLW shouldn't be suggested generally as a suitable weaning approach by HV etc.

I didn't find that BLW meant I couldn't be out and about. In fact I felt that it made it easier for me, as I could eat whilst they were eating. The dreaded mess was never that bad, I found. You just choose something less messy for eating out.

I didn't find now that messy either tbh. Long sleeve bib on and just wipe hands and face.

I didn't give spaghetti bolgnaise thrown on highchair like many seem to in pictures! It would have been penne with just a little sauce in a bowl. Fork given. So then could use fork or pick a piece up at a time. With a few veg on the side.

Outside I found much easier as could just give say 1/2 banana and some food off my plate ( via my fork or give into their hand)