6 month old baby led weaning - worried about choking

[ChloeJu]

Good morning, I hope this finds whoever reads well. My son is 6.5 months and has been having home made fruit / veg purées. I’ve introduced weetabix and baby wafer sticks to help him with hand eye coordination and he’s been great with it. I’m wanting to introduce more foods he can feed himself but am worried as he doesn’t have teeth. Has anyone given their baby with no teeth other foods? If so please could I have some choking safe ideas! I’ve seen toast and avacado a lot but would that block his airway in worst case? Not sure if I’m being extreme!

🙏🏼 thank you!

He won’t choke, his gag reflex will prevent that. Give him some food off your plate.

Any food is fine except honey.

None of my 4DC had teeth until over a year old.

TBH I just have them regular food after the first couple of weeks of purée.

So cooked veg etc that they could pick up.

Babies have a strong gag reflex thats quite far forward, so gagging will be fairly common during weaning, don’t let it panic you, its normal.

Look up solid starts on Instagram. They have a really good guide to weaning and explain the main choking hazards etc and when to worry. Basically most of what we think of as choking is actually gagging. Looks and sounds awful but is not dangerous. Choking is silent and happens most often with things that are the same shape and size of the airway. So stuff like toast is very unlikely to cause actual choking. SS explains why it’s actually more dangerous to give your baby small pieces of food rather than large.

As PP has said, gagging is normal and it starts close to the end of the tongue when they are younger. It’s scary but please try not to panic and let your baby work it through. It’s so hard though, I understand, I worry even now and I have a 1yo.

I have always used Solid Starts as a guide, you can search for pretty much any food and it advises when it should be introduced and how to serve it.

They don't need teeth to chew in the way we do. Give him soft foods he can hold easily in his fist and that he can gum away at. Banana, soft cooked vegetables, ripe fruits e.g. strawberry, raspberries or peach. Scrambled eggs, toast fingers etc. Gagging and choking are two different things. As previous posters have said, babies gag reflex is really far forward. Learn the difference between the two as gagging is really common with baby led weaning. I was told choking is silent and gagging is not and it's normal.

We started baby led weaning, rather than purees, at 6 months and my baby didn't have any teeth
It's surprising how well they can eat, a baby group friend is 1 year with still no teeth but eats well!
I liked the app Solid Starts which demonstrates how to serve things to reduce the risk of choking, as mentioned above
My baby didn't do very well with toast for quite a while, lots of gagging and spluttering as she would stuff lots in

I did baby led weaning with my son and he’s a great eater now. They have teeth under the gums so they can chew. It’s not like old people with no teeth/dentures. My son had steak at 6 months. You just have to cut things appropriately and keep an eye on them.

You also need to know the difference between gagging and chocking. There’s a St John’s ambulance video on YouTube.

As long as your baby can sit up on their own their good to go. You do need to stop the purées though as your baby may try and swallow the food instead of chew it.

We did a baby first aid and it was so useful to know difference between gagging and choking. I’d stop the purées and just give solid food mushed or cut up.

Thank you all for the helpful responses! I guess the worry is just natural and is with us for the rest of our lives as parents lol! Update - he had some steamed tender stem broccoli and avacado for lunch and was fine thank god! My heart was racing the entire time🤣 Going to take a baby first aid for sure, it’ll definitely be handy to recognise the difference!