DS2 (8mo) keeps choking on his finger food

[Highlander]

Didn't start food until 7mo. Fully BF. Putting DS2 in a high chair at our mealtimes and offering nuggets of pasta, bread crusts, broccoli etc.

However, he's chocked twice and doesn't seem to be able to take small amounts into his mouth. Anytime he gets a bread crust he tears off a massive piece that invariably gets stuck at the back of his thoat. I'm trying to be cool, but having to back slap him is terrifying.

Is he just not ready?

It sounds to me like he's not ready. I know not everyone approves of them, but I found farley's rusks helped dd - they do actually dissolve in contact with saliva, so if she stuffed too much in her mouth, it did eventually get swallowed, or pasted over her face, or thrown at the dog.

I would try different foods and try giving them in smaller sort of bite sized pieces e.g. small bits of banana, grated cheese, shreddies soaked in milk, grated apple, rusks (I use them as finger foods as they do dissolve quite well - but watch out for your lo breaking bit bits off - you may have to help fish them back out again!!). My ds still bites big lumps off but he is better at dealing with them now and can move them about his mouth.

It takes practice for your lo to work out what to do with the food and you may have a couple of vomiting incidents (well we did anyway!), but they do learn quite quickly as ds hasnt been sick with food for a while now (is 8 months too)

DS2 used to choke on everything, it was horrible and he did it until he was quite old so I don't think it was because he wasn't ready, I think it was just the way he was. Apple and bread were the worst foods. He's 3.7 now and I still cut stuff up for him !

I find that a 3-4" length of cucumber sliced lengthways in to quarters or sixths (depending on how fat the cucumber is) works very well.

My DS was like this with any finger food or any lumps in other food - and he also spectatularly vomited with the choking - it was pleasant He even used to gag, choke and puke on the lumps in Stage 2 jars which say they are ok from 7 months - ha!

Anyhoo, he did grow out of it - he is now 11 months and has been ok for at least a month now and can handle finger foods and lumps with no problems at all - guess he just wasn't ready. He can now eat a whole banana without me mashing it - which, trust me, for him is a huge achievement.

It will get better - I did find cutting up his food into small pieces helped a great deal.

Dd just plays with banana - I think she finds the texture really entertaining.

DS is like that with shreddies that have been soaked in milk - he rubs them between his hands as if it is soap and then pulls his hair or his ears (just to piss me off, I think!!) - he does eat some of it too. Its a bugger to clean off him and the highchair and I sometimes strip him at the hichchair before taking him into any other room

Soggy then dried rusk smeared over everything is a sod to get off, too. Dd gave herself a rusk "facemask" the other day . She seems to have got the hang of eating hard things like carrot sticks, but soft things offer all manner of opportunities for entertainment - I mean, a lump of chewed carrot just doesn't stick in quite the same way as some well-handled banana!

have abandoned anything vaguely hard, like bread crusts.

He's actually doing very well now on cooked veg and pasta.

Will try grated apple today...........

Bread is a bit stodgy,why not try really soft fruit.He'll get there eventually.Don't worry.

seona - he wolfed down the grated apple!! What a fabby idea

excellent highlander!! - my ds had some grated cheese today and seemed to like it. You could try grated pears too I suppose - I might try that tomorrow

Highlander
v. ripe avocado?
rice cakes?
My ds choked on bana and apple - yes it is terrifying! but he didnt seem to mind...

you could slightly steam the apple (cut into slices ) to make it slightly easier to grasp and swallow
bread - toast it and spread mashed up fruit onto it, then cut into fingers