Choking/gagging

[Ijustworemytrenchcoat]

Hello, my son had a little choking/gagging incident yesterday with some mango and I just wanted some feedback. I don't know if it was a proper choke, but it was much more than a little gag. He seemed to be really struggling, I went to pat him on the back but he had brought it up himself just as I was about to. The people I was with seemed scared and I don't know if I should have been more scared? I was trying to let him gag it up but how do you know when it's not a gag?

It's scared me a little bit, I think I have dealt with him gagging on things well and kept calm, but this time he seemed really distressed by it, he cried after and was upset. He quite happily took a rice cake shortly after, and even some more fruit which I just wanted to quickly try him with.

It has made me really wary. Up until now he has had a combination of things like stew with soft veg and falling apart meat, pasta and strips of meat and veg to suck/chew. He manages quite well with soft mashed food, mince or bigger lumps but it has scared me and made me reassess. I was going to give him things like dried fruit for example but am not sure I want to now.

Its only natural that you seem more wary, especially if the people you were with seemed very concerned. I do think you are doing everything right though. There is some info on gagging and choking here.

If you are really worried, book onto a local Paed first aid course. Children's Centres, NCT, St John's Ambulance and British Red Cross might offer them near to you.

My experience is that I've weaned 2, one with purses and one blw and blw is just so much easier. Babies can choke on purees and soft food too...

It can be alarming when this happens - a proper choke as I understand it is a silent, eyes bulging affair, whereas gagging is more noisy (but can be equally alarming!).

Sod's law DD choked on something when my mum was round and it was the first time she'd seen her eat, even though she'd been managing fine with all kinds of foods previously with only the occasional gag incident. Now my mum is convinced that BLW is dangerous and DD should only be eating mush. I wasn't too worried at the time but afterwards (having had a lecture about being too blasé from DM) it made me slightly paranoid.

I'd definitely second doing a baby first aid course - the chances of real choking are slim, and by trying different foods and textures babies learn very quickly what they can manage - and avoiding solids basically removes the opportunity to learn. Not sure how old your DS is, but I guess I probably wouldn't give large dried fruit yet (DD is 7 months) because it's quite hard to bite bits off, and quite dry to swallow whole if they try. What you're giving sounds lovely to me! Stuff that crumbles off like cheese is also good, DD loves rice cakes with different things loaded on so it's still DIY but manageable once they bite bits off...

I think this is one of those "it happens to everyone at done point" thing, and it is scary.

Two things my dad taught me: don't pat on the back, stick your finger in to scoop out the offending food if you can. If not, hold upside down (by ankles if possible) and pat on back to dislodge. Be prepared to be covered in vomit

I was paranoid about grapes after reading about a little girl near us who died after ch

*died after ch

Gah!!!

*died after choking on a grape. My mum is the same about plastic bags.

It can be scary when they are gagging on things but general advice is if they are gagging/coughing then they can still get air into their lungs. If there's no gagging/coughing then no air can get into the lungs.

My eldest was gagging badly on a piece of apple at about 10 months and couldn't brig it up. I laid her across my knee and firmly patted her back and it came straight up.

families some of your info is no longer up to date. In the course I did about 6 months ago I was told not to attempt to remove anything as you are more likely to push any obstruction further in. Also not to turn the child upside down as their neck is too delicate and you can cause damage. Place them on their tummy on your knees (or along your arm supporting their face with your hand) and then pat their back firmly.

You are 100% on the grapes though. I always cut them lengthwise, even for my 4 year old. Ditto sausages.

When you start weaning they do tend to gag a bit, they're not used to dealing with the textures and it's part of the learning process. It is important to give them chunky textures though. DS1 was on purees till about 18 months and is a real pain with food. DS2 went almost straight into adult food and is far easier.

The current advice to deal with a choking baby is here

Thanks jilted

Hi I've been wanting to ask a possibly silly question for ages - how is it possible to choke on purees? Or on things like baby rice in milk? Surely they may gag a little then it would slide down? I can't understand how it could block the air way - read it so many times I know it must be true though!

Think they can inhale a purée instead of swallowing, hence the choking. I'm no expert though

It was very scary, he was making a noise at first but then stopped, his eyes were bulging and it really scared him. It hasn't had any long term effect on him though, he was stuffing his stew in like normal today. But I am wary of things he might accidentally inhale. I have looked at the website and will definitely try to find a course. It's hard to know when to intervene, I have normally just left him to it.

About the dried fruit - I had read on here about people giving their child dried fruit, I'm not sure he could handle it yet (he's 8 months by the way). He's had grapes before sliced length ways and peeled, I don't know if the peeling was necessary but it makes me feel better.

Does sound like you've had a scare, but seems like he's got over it

My dd used to gag regularly, I could see the food at the back of her throat so knew she wasn't choking. She doesn't do it anymore, I figured she was just learning how to swallow food. It can be alarming if you haven't seen it before and you need to be able to recognise when they are actually choking so would definitely recommend a first aid course. My local nct run classes regularly. Also, make sure the pieces you are offering are cut up small enough. I would probably quarter big grapes. X