7.5 months old chocked

[sexymamma17]

My 7.5 month old daughter chocked a few weeks ago on a hienz biscotti biscuit which is meant to melt in the mouth and chocked on a milky bar button of all things. I'm so worried now about giving her whole foods, don't want her chocking again. I've been blending her foods. I have taken her to the doctors and she's got a little bit of reflux, been given infant gaviscon.

Any advice on small things to start her on again to get her used to eating? Also to calm my anxiety down! I'm a worrier and it's getting out of hand now.
Thank you in advance c

I blended all the food to begin with, all the fruit purée/veg purée. Then I moved on to meat and veg purée. Gradually I started to make them thicker, then with lumps, then solids. I did also give pieces of cucumber carrot (raw to chew on). We didn’t introduce sugar (other than found naturally in the likes of fruit etc) until they were one, eg didn’t give biscuits/chocolate.

Are you sure she wasn't just gagging? Gagging is a normal part of weaning - it helps them learn to swallow.

It is very different to choking.

You could look into going on a paediatric first aid course if there is one running near you, if not youtube has some quite good videos.

It’s very normal for babies when they are starting weaning to cough or ‘choke’ on foods it’s part of their development. As long as your baby can sit upright and has control of its head you can try them with anything.

At that age my DD liked cucumber sticks, slices of bread, bits of banana

Oh it is worrying isn’t it? Remember that if she is coughing and spluttering she isn’t choking; she is clearing her airway on her own. It can be distressing but the body is doing its job. Choking is a completely blocked airway with no coughing. I would continue with soft solids at this time. It’s quite a skill to learn how to chew and move the food from the front of the mouth to swallowing it and this is the time to encourage it. Combination of finger foods and purée is good; she can then control her intake a bit more.

I was going to say what GoodLittleWoman said. It's scary but gagging is a learning process.

I went on a baby first aid course which was very confidence building. Important to distinguish between choking (unable to make noise, needs emergency help) and gagging (may need comforting but no need to panic). Gagging in early days of learning to eat is totally normal as they develop control over moving food around their mouth. Don't remember gagging phase lasting long but all children of course different and some take to chewing quickly and easily while others need more time.

Gagging (coughing, lots of noise, cat coughing up fur ball style food being twice eaten) is common. Choking tends to be silent and terrifying.

Don’t get me wrong, I know the gagging is terrifying to see (we started weaning well away from all grandparents cause they were all keen to poke fingers into mouth etc and all the things you’re not meant to do) but she’ll get used to it quickly.

If blending works for you then cool, but we skipped that stage completely by persevering through the weird noises and it was really worth it for us.