BLW - gagging terrifies me :(

[jerryg]

Sorry if this has been said a million times before. I just dont know what to do! :( Started weaning two days ago but I feel sick with worry every meal time and end up a shaking mess. I dont let my baby see that Im panicked and he doesnt seem to mind it at all. He loves the food but he gags two or three times with every mouthful. I want to do BLW so badly for him, but not sure I can take it! Does it get better? Does the gagging get less?

They need to learn how to eat so a bit of gagging is involved and it does get easier as they learn to control the food that is on their tongue.

If you keep in your mind that gagging is different to choking it will help :) good luck .

DS2 is nearly 9 months and we have done BLW since 6 months. He did gag a lot at first but now hardly ever gags.
hang in there

I agree that gagging is normal at this stage, and it will get better, but if you're just starting out, don't try to be a hero if you're not comfortable with it. My DD gagged on a piece of fruit and I totally freaked out, so I gave her things she didn't gag on, including some purees. Now that she is more used to eating she can handle a wider variety without gagging.

This is a learning process for both of you so if you are a shaking mess, take a break.

You might try giving him something that he has to suck on for a long time and then can only get a small amount in his mouth. Crusty bread toasted, or zwieback? We had the most trouble with things she could bite off a big piece of but were not soft like melon because she didn't know what to do next.

Weaning is not all it's cracked up to be -- hang in there.

In terms of how long does it last- we started about 3 wks ago and for the first week there was a lot of gagging but then it virtually stopped. DD probably only does it about once a day now.

I appreciate that I'm quite unusual in that it doesn't bother me at all, but my approach is just to watch her at all times when she has food in front of her. I've not done a first aid course but from what I've read I'm confident that as long as she's coughing and spluttering she's fine- the only time to worry would be if she was silent and couldn't breathe i.e. genuine choking. And thankfully I gather that that's extemely rare. Be brave!

Gagging is a good thing, it shows that your DS is learning about how to move food around his mouth.
According to Gill Rapley book IIRC spoon feeding bypasses gag reflex, so actually a spoon fed baby stands more chance of choking if given anything too solid as they are not used to using this relex.

The gagging will stop him from choking

FWIW DS gagged a lot at the start and still does occasionally (6 weeks in) but only with something like chicken that doesnt dissolve easily in his mouth.

Thanks so much for your replies and encouragement. Im trying to be brave but have ended up giving myself a break and just giving him really soft bits of fruit, organix carot sticks and a couple of rusks which although he still gags on, I feel more confident with. I think its worse beacuse his gag is just silent and eye popping! What Id give for the 'cough' Ive read other people describing. This weaning malarky is really stressing me out!

jerryg, you don't HAVE to stick with the method if it's not working for you and your baby.

Hopefully your DC will quickly stop gagging so much, but if not and it's causing you a lot of stress, I completely agree with Teapot13's advice to take a break.

Our DS1 was very gaggy indeed, and used to vomit with it. Rather than stress everyone out, we just gave him finger food at the start of meals (damage limitation), and fed him mashed and pureed stuff with a spoon until he got better at managing finger food. Which took a month or two.

We've recently started weaning DS2, and he hardly ever gags and is much much more interested in feeding himself, so we are giving him more finger food.

We haven't done weaning by any particular method, just tried to be guided by what the baby can manage and enjoy. And a mixture of finger feeding and spoon feeding for both.

I do agree that the gag reflex is necessary and useful, but to my mind it's not enjoyable.