terrified of giving dd finger foods!

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Im a first time mum and my dd is 7 months old today

so far she has only had pureed food

i really want to try giving her finger foods but im so scared incase she chokes!

I think im turning into an overly paranoid mother!

will she really be ok?

can anyone please reassure me that she will be ok? and give me the kick up the bum I need? or tell me the best kind of things to start with?

thanks

She'll be fine. She probably will cough and splutter sometimes but she WILL be ok.

She'll be absolutely fine. Steam some carrot sticks so they are softish but not falling apart, or give her a nice half-plum (skin on) or similar

I was terrified of this too, still am nervous. Been weaning for a week and bit. All I can say is the longer you leave it the worse it will be! Find out what to do if she does start to choke. My ds has not yet and hoping he won't but has gagged and spluttered lots. Start with soft things like steamed veg eg sweet potato, carrot, ripe pear. Good luck.

She will be absolutely fine. More than that, she will love it.

Steamed apple/carrot or slice of ripe pear is good as a first food, or some banana or avocado is also good (perhaps avocado is a bit strong for first food though? DD and DS loved it so maybe its ok, won't harm her that is for sure). chunk of potato is also great. Give them to her in approx 1 finger length sizes so she can practice holding/turning/dropping/picking up, which is as much what it is about as the actual eating.

She may well gag, and you will think she is choking at first til you get used to the sound, but watch her regurgitate it and eat it again and see she will be fine. I read somewhere (can't remember where) that babies gag reflexes are further forward than when they grow older, in order to allow them to regurgitate food not properly mushed way before they would normally swallow it. And you will be right next to her when she is eating.

Good luck and enjoy it! DS is 9 months now and he eats most things we eat, pasta, chicken, fish is great, tomatoes, oranges (a mix of mashed/roughly chopped food and finger food)

oh and now, DS won't eat anything unless he has a bit of food in his mits to chomp on too, so brekky is porridge/ready brekk with a chunk of toast!

A paramedic came into my mums and babies group recently, and one of the things he talked about was choking. What he said was that babies very rarely actually get to the point of choking. They may gag a bit, but tend to then eat it again. Or they will just spit it back out. A combination of physical development, and the lack of social awareness to Not Make A Fuss that we have as adults.

She will be just fine :)

funnily enough, gill rapley sent me this in an email today, might be worth a look at the paper when it is published.

Wright CM, Cameron K, Tsiaka M, et al. Is baby-led weaning feasible? When do babies first reach out for and eat finger foods? Matern Child Nutr 2010;10.1111/j.1740-8709.2010.00274.x [doi].

The study used data from the Gateshead Millenium Study, and the lead author is Charlotte Wright - all excellent credentials. In a nutshell, the authors found that, based on when babies began to reach out for food and feed themselves, BLW is "probably feasible for a majority of infants". There is a caveat that it could lead to nutritional problems for infants who are relatively developmentally delayed - but then again, no-one has ever claimed otherwise.

The GMS data show when the babies began reaching out for food and feeding themselves, and how many finger foods they were having (type and frequency) at six and eight months. The authors acknowledge that these babies were born (June 1999-May 2000) before either the six months recommendation or BLW had come into being, and that the parents' reports may therefore represent low parental expectations of their infants' self-feeding capacity, rather than genuine lack of ability. In other words, if they'd given them the opportunity earlier, who knows? So the fact that, on the basis of the data they do have, they are able to conclude that BLW is "probably feasible" for the majority is just great!

it scares me too! but I swear it's fine - DD won't really eat much off a spoon so have had to get used to it.

it's amazing - they really do know what to do if something's too big. they make weird faces and thrust their tongue out and out pops the lump of food. sips of water help after a big lump's gone down I have found.

plus you'll feel soooo proud when she first munches down a bit of toast!

Learn the difference between gagging and choking and learn what to do in case of choking. I puree-weaned DS but gave him finger foods from around 7 months and the only time he's come close to choking when he was about 2.5 years old and got greedy with strawberries!
They are pretty clever. If DS took a bite of something that was too big, he'd give it a chew, spit half out and swallow the other half!

It IS scary - I gave my son a piece of broccoli today (he's 6 months) and he shoved the whole thing in his mouth! He gagged a bit, went a bit red, then happily carried on munching on it. I on the other hand had a fit. Don't have much choice though as he hates being spoon fed. I take comfort in the fact that it is extremely unlikely that babies will choke but make sure I know what to do if they do!

It can be scary - DD2 is 11 months now and loves her food, but I remember the early days! Your DC WILL gag - better to be prepared for it! And remember - if they are coughing or generally making a noise then they are most likely NOT choking (making a noise/coughing means they need to be taking in air)

thnaks everyone will deffo try her today with some carrots!

steam them to buggery first...