Was reading this news on 9mo baby choking

[katerose2022]

And feeling a bit confused... are they supposed to be eating solids at this stage or not? Our baby boy is also 9mo with just two front teeth but we've been giving him finger food...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3gqqprv7y3o.amp

I think by 9 months they are usually having lumps. I've got 4 kids but can't really remember the exact stages I fed them what. Just because babyled weaning might be recommended, doesn't mean that doesn't come with a choking risk, as there are risks with anything. You weigh up the pros and cons and make a decision. If he had only had purees so far for whatever reason, he wouldn't have been used to lumps.

It’s up to the parents whether they follow traditional weaning (purées) or BLW (skipping purées and straight to solids). Though I think a lot of parents do a bit of both.

Sounds like the parents were doing purées and the nursery gave him solids.

This is really sad.

But yes most babies are ready for finger foods before this age. Teeth or no teeth. Soft foods that can be easily mushed in the mouth

Purees are for 4 to 6 months (if you choose to start then) I thought?

She’s grieving and blaming the nursery.

@Kalevala BLW has only become popular in the last 10-15 years or so. Prior to this, it would have been purées, lumpy purées, then solids when they were 1-2ish.

What a sad story. At 9 months i think it's perfectly normal to have finger foods, mine had loads, but they do need watching to make sure nothing is throat-sizes. I had a scare with a relatively small bit of pear my DC had somehow stored in their cheek when going for a nap. All fine but that was early days in the finger food so I was wary.

Either way this should have been a conversation between the nursery and parents when starting. I don't think "giving finger foods" per se is to blame, it's the not checking appropriate sizes and monitoring when eating. (Which is pretty hard because ideally you'd watch them like a hawk).

I thought it was typically purees at 4 to 6 months, then spoon fed mashed foods, and finger foods from six months, moving to family meals between 9 and 12 months. That's how my sibling was weaned in the mid 90s.

Yes my daughter had no teeth at this age but was eating solids and had been for a while. There are obviously foods that are a no go for choking reasons

I was also reading somewhere that babies can handle bigger pieces if you allow them time to chew and if the pieces are too big they'll spit them out. At least that's what our baby has been doing. But now I'm less confident on this...

Over 20 years now. It was well established as a popular recommended weaning method when my now-16 year old was a baby.

Solids are recommended from 6 months in the uk. And blw is recommended when starting solids. But the nursery should have checked what the parents were doing.

Same for my 18 year old

It is fine and normal to have solids at that age, but maybe not throat-sized pieces of hard fruits? Those would be hard to gum.

You're supposed to introduce finger foods from 6 months regardless of whether you give purees or not. A 9 month old would likely be having a mix of finger foods and mashed/pureed foods.

You do have to be careful what sort of finger foods you offer when they are younger though as some can be a choking risk e.g. uncut grapes, raw carrot, chunks of apple, etc

She told the nursery at the outset that he only ate pureed food. She reminded them again later. It's on the nursery. It's their job to care for all the children who they take under their wing. If they are so under resourced / incompetent that they can only take children who are meeting milestones then that should made clear from the outset.

Poor baby, poor parents, poor nursery staff and I feel for the medical staff too. Horrible situation to be in.

Babies can choke - everyone can - every time you put something in your mouth it’s a risk, a tiny one in most cases but a risk nonetheless. We have to eat though.

Giving finger foods or doing baby led weaning is normal from 6 months. The more practice a baby gets at it, the better they will be at moving the food around in their mouths, taking manageable pieces, gumming at it rather than sucking. Babies used to purées only will often learn to suck at food on a spoon like they suck at milk. Adults know we eat soup and bread completely differently but they are still learning. If we suck at a food and it has a lump in it it’s more likely to fly to the back of the throat and become stuck, that feels like a shock so we take a sharp intake of breath and that can be what causes choking in some cases. If a baby is expecting a purée and tries to eat it like milk as they have learned, and if an adult is in charge of putting it in their mouths it’s possible to put it in further back than the baby would have chosen for themselves. If the family was only giving fine purées at home then the nursery should have taken note of this. I hope communication improves everywhere to make sure that caregivers know what stage the babies are at. But it’s entirely normal to do baby led weaning if you want to - and even in traditional weaning finger foods at 9 months are not unusual at all.

Tragic story, I’m so sorry it happened to them.

Was there a medical reason for purees only here? Its pretty normal to give solid fruit at this age.

Both my 3 year old and 20 month old were weaned using baby led weaning and I would do it again if we had a third child. It’s perfectly safe if done properly with appropriate sized pieces of food for the age.
The alarm bell for me here would be “chunk” of pineapple. A chunk (like out of a tin) is not an appropriate size for a nine month old. If I was feeding them pineapple at that age, it would be a whole ring so they can nibble/ chew appropriately.

I am so sorry for the parents. If they didn’t want to do blw, the nursery should have respected that and the parents should have felt able that they could trust their wishes would be adhered to.

The thing is, at this age, there may well be reasons why a child hasn't managed solid food yet that goes beyond lack of exposure. In fact, lack of exposure may have been because the parents recognized that she didn't manage solid food well, but it would take longer/ more investigation before you would be seen with regard to, say, dysphagia.

If purees was how he was being fed at home and the mother told the nursery to only give purees, then it's on the nursery to follow those instructions. How devastating for the family

@Kalevala @Talipesmum I think the BLW became official guidance around 2002? Perhaps I am wrong, but the concept was completely lost on my DM & DGM when I started BLW my DC 😅

I agree with the pineapple, but being fair there it was in his sick. So, it was a manageable piece, as he managed to get it down - and back up again later. And if you gave yours a pineapple ring (as I have for all of mine, no shade) chances are if you saw it again in a few hours it might look like a chunk.

I wonder if it might have contributed that he’d had tonsillitis recently, poor baby. Perhaps he had less room in his throat than usual.

BLW doesn't carry a greater choking risk than traditional weaning as far as I know. Obviously it comes with very precise instructions on how to cut things up and serve them safely.

I was on a BLW Facebook page a few years ago and the mods on there would never advise to start a baby on BLW once you had started on the traditional weaning path, they would direct those parents to another traditional weaning group. I've no sources for this but it was down to safety concerns.