How to get over the fear of choking?

[kisaki333]

My DD is 6 months and a bit. For various reasons, we started her on solids a bit early, at 4 months and a half (doctor recommended). As she was so little, she had nothing but smooth purees till now, all good.
Now that she's over 6 months, the HV suggested we try pieces of food ( basically baby led weaning). So today I finally worked up the courage and sliced up some avocado spears (she loves avocado). She took a couple of bites and then started gagging. As bad as it looked, I stayed calm, having read about gagging vs choking etc. But then the gagging turned into choking. She did the high pitched shrilling noise and she clearly couldn't breathe.
I did what I saw in the redcross video as best as I could (put her on tummy, bum higher than head, hit her between the shoulderblades) and between her and me she managed to spit a bit out.

She was still struggling so we called 999 but by the time they picked up (5mins on hold, by the way, unbelievable!!!) everything had cleared up.

5 mins later she's happy and smiling but I am shaking and can't get over it. My baby nearly died. I don't know how I will ever have the courage to give her anything more than blended food.

Anyone been through anything similar? Any advice?

OP I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad experience. It’s such an unnerving time.

First things first: you need to do a baby first aid course.

Secondly: make sure you’re cutting up pieces the appropriate size. Bigger is actually better for babies (outside of grapes and cherry tomatoes etc.)

Thirdly: there are things you can do to minimise the risk of choking, such as making sure the high chair is set up properly.

Now for the insensitive bit: are you sure she was choking? Five minutes choking isn’t likely to have a happy ending. Plus, gagging doesn’t turn into choking. They’re two different reactions. When a baby is gagging, their body closes their airway to protect it. I just wanted to suggest that even though you’re confident you know the difference between the two, maybe an anxiety over choking is confusing things.

The more textured food you give her now, the more gagging you’ll have, but the less likely she is to choke generally.

All easier said than done of course because it’s terrifying. And a minefield!

Check out this page: instagram.com/solidstarts?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Firstly - just recognise you are going to have a lot to process there, so you will be very stressed. I'm so glad you knew what to do and all was well. Reflect on how you did exactly the right thing.

I would personally read a lot about baby led weaning and get myself as expert as possible. You don't have to be 100% BLW from today.

Sorry to hear about your experience.

My little one is 9 months and we've done similar, started on purees but by 7mo mainly finger foods. But don't feel like you have to, you could do thicker puree if you prefer.

We did a baby first aid course and use the solid starts app for how to cut stuff up.

I actually didn't love avocado to start with as it's so slippery. Really well cooked broccoli and cauliflower were our go to. I was nervous of toast but found finger slices of crumpet soaked in a puree worked well while she was learning to chew.

When they are eating, lots of exaggerated chewing from you to encourage.

DO a first aid course.

You don't have to offer big pieces of food yet, just start slowly. I was too anxious to move on quickly so I stuck to extremely soft food or more textured purees first. You'll feel better as time goes on, there doesn't need to be the push on baby led weaning if you don't think either of you are ready

OP I cannot recommend solid starts enough especially their Instagram account if you have it. There is so much free information about how to serve foods to different aged babies, how to prevent picky eating and the anatomy of choking vs. gagging. This gave me so much confidence to feed my baby solid foods from 6 months. For example babies are much less likely to choke if they hold and bring the food to their mouth themselves because the brain is preparing to bite and chew, and for this reason you should never put food into a babies mouth yourself (not saying you did this just an example of something I learnt that I had no idea about!) And much much more about how babies learn to chew and swallow, and the mechanisms they have to prevent/protect from choking.

I'm sorry that you had a scary experience but If your baby was making a noise though they weren't choking, as choking is silent.

Aww, that sounds terrifying! We had a little choke this morning - nothing extreme but there were tears, so I have a bit of fresh fear.

When my son was starting with solids I gave him a couple of bites of mashed banana as one of the first foods. He gagged instantly, but did swallow. Gagged on 3 bites, then puked it all up.

I tried again with banana a couple months later and he loves it now!!! No gagging whatsoever, and he easily puts away an entire banana by himself.

Babies' gag reflex is much further forward in their mouths than adults. I would suggest try again with the avocado after a few weeks and see how she does. Good luck!

I thought when someone is actually choking they don’t make any noise at all, because their airway is blocked? Maybe double check the description of choking vs gagging.

It sounds like a frightening experience for you. I think doing a first aid course would help you feel like you know what to do in the case of choking.

(And yes I called 999 recently for the police and was put on hold - I was quite shocked)

DD choked once around 7 months and it was utterly silent. I had turned round to put something in sink and turned back to see her eyes wide open and face a funny colour. There was absolutely no noise, no gagging or anything before. It was scary but it cleared easily when I thumped her on the back and we never had any further instances of it.

Thanks for all your replies!
Yes, she started by gagging (watering eyes, turning red, throwup, coughing etc). But then I think she somehow managed to breathe in one of the pieces she had almost coughed out. That's when she turned silent and could not breathe. She only let out a really weird-sounding very high pitched sound. I've been told before by two EMT's that's a very specific sound they make when actually choking.

I will look into doing an actual first-aid course but I don't think it will help much with my confidence. I did know what to do, even in this case, it doesn't mean it will be effective each time...

I'll check out the instagram page but at this point I've decided to at least postpone BLW for another month. Or she'll just be on smoothies till she's 18 and that's that :)