Baby led weaning- am I doing it right???

[Girl339]

My baby is 6 months old and we started yesterday. Tried steamed pear this morning about 30 mins after a bottle feed and she seemed happy sucking on a chunk of pear but then a bit went down her throat and she gagged and then was sick her whole milk feed. Is this normal? Should I be worried that she's being really sick? Also, is it ok that she's not really swallowing any food at this stage just putting it in her mouth and sucking? I'm really not sure at all!!!

Gagging and throwing up is normal - she can always have more milk if she's hungry. They often don't really eat anything at first, it's just about being introduced to flavours and learning to bite and chew at this stage.

Oh thank goodness, it was the throwing up that really worried me!

It's known as baby led weaning because your baby leads how they wean. Some babies take a while to get it.

DS struggled with apple & pear until recently. I stuck to banana, mango, peeled satsuma segments etc until he was a bit more practised. Even cooked, apples & pears can break off big-ish pieces before they've learned to control these, so I tried to give him foods he could kind of mash up in his mouth more easily.

Rather than give apple slices I found with my youngest that offering an apple whole (peeled) worked best as it was something for her to grab on to and she used to naw (spelling?) little tiny manageable bits off herself rather than big chunks!!! Try it!

Im going the other way and saying surely this is a sign that your baby is not ready to eat chunks of food. What on earth is wrong with purrees, it bridges the gap between milk and solid, babies need time to make the adjustment and soft purree/mash helps them make this ajustment. Most purree fed babies are eating finger foods confidently by 7-9 months anyway because they have learned how to chew and swallow from purree/mashed food, so they have learned in the same time frame as BLW babies but havent had the frustration of gagging all the time and wanting to eat food when they just havent learned the skill to do so. Jumping straight to chunks of food is missing out on an essential stage of weaning. I was very much led by my babies by weaning with purree.

We found more success if we waited half an hour between milk and finger food, have you tried having a break?

I'd be very careful with the whole apple idea if your baby has any teeth, it's very easy for them to break off a bit of apple, pear or carrot and for it to get stuck or hurt them when they choke - it sounds like the right thing to stick with steamed for a while, especially while your DD is still at very early stages and is gagging a fair bit.

The key with BLW is to not over think it and focus on how your baby deals with what you present. They are all so different there aren't really any 'rules'. I did BLW with my first, loved it and tried to do it with my second, but she utterly refused! Neither ate very much until they were 10 months old, but I know other babies who ate loads very early on. Some have more difficulty getting the hang of biting/chewing/not gagging etc than others. Stay calm and respond.

My2bundles, there is nothing wrong with giving purees to babies, but not everyone would agree that it is necessary. It is not a vital stage between milk and solids, many many babies have been weaned using a BLW approach without any issues. Gagging receives a lot of attention with BLW but it is not as dramatic as it is made out. The gagging/vomiting the OP describes is not everyone's experience by any means.

I also don't think that it is frustrating for babies, as to begin with they don't really connect food with hunger anyway, so food is just something to play with. Eating some of it is a pleasant bonus to the play! Their appetite seems to match their ability to pick up food, in my experience, so by 9 months my ds could feed himself really well to match his new found appetite for food.