Lumpier food - too much too soon????

[Gloria42]

DS is 7 months tomorrow and we started weaning about 2 months ago (on advice of HV).
He loves purees, fruit, veg, meat or fish, but there have been recurring incidences lately where he has gagged on lumpier stuff (today was stage 2 oaty cereal). This is upsetting for all of us as it involves EVERYTHING coming up, previous ff and solids. He's fine afterwards, a bit tired if anything.

Anyway, the question is this - am we simply trying to run before we can even crawl?! The only symptom is this occasional (massive ) vomit, otherwise he's happy and healthy, so I don't feel it's a health issue I should be overly concerned about (am paranoid about becoming hypochondriac first-time mum!), more a weaning problem. Am I going too far the other way??

Thanks in advance for your input x

hi gloria42

ive been through a similar thing with my ds who is now 3, he is still difficult with food but otherwise happy and healthy. The chances are he will grow out of it shortly, but if he doesnt it is worth going back to the hv to have it investigated further. My ds did have the tests at hospital which came up clear, they can also refer him to a speech therapist (nothing necessarily wrong with speech) its just with some children they find it difficult to learn the chewing motion with food and the speech therapist will help with this. With my ds they have put it down to emotional problem due to being premature, they said its a common problem because when they were born, they have the tubes down their throats which they dont like, which then causes an emotional block against anything lumpy in the throat. All that said your ds is still young and very easily could grow out of it on his own, but there is a point were it could need checking on.

Hope this helps you

I would try offering some finger food (rice cakes or steamed carrot etc.). That way he can control what he takes in - and when he bites a bit off he will move it tothe back of his mouth under his own control - and he will be expecting it.

If he can develop his skill with finger food he should take lumps a but easier.

Thanks Spud, I'll keep your thoughts in mind.

Spider, tbh I don't give him finger food very often but I can see the logic in your suggestion. And if this helps us on the road to lumpier food, all the better

we tried our DS on lumpier mashed foods around this age, and like your son he was gaging and was vomiting as well. like you we also got very stressed - it was more stressful for us I think in a way. anyow at about 8 months I decided to stop all of that and try finger foods instead, on a tray and let him feed himself. this thankfully worked better and took all the stress out of weaning. not at 17 months he can eat all things, smooth and lumpy.

(ours was fine with finger foods which made it odd - if you do go that way please don't be surprised if his food intake dips a bit, as I understnad it's to do with the density of the food etc)

I agree with SlightlyMadSpider on introducing finger food. One of my twins had real trouble with lumpy food - if there was the slightest bit of texture she would gagg and it would often come up. I started giving her bits of food to chew on - fruit, cooked veg, ricecakes, etc and the gagging very quickly reduced.

The upside to this is from around 13 months both girls were completely self feeding. Makes life easier as I can sit and have my lunch with them without having to spoon food.

We had a similar issue with lumps initially - was advised to start weaning early due to mild silent reflux and slow weight gain - dd took to purees really well and started putting on weight. Just after 6 mths we started on lumpier and finger foods which she was really enthusiastic about but every time she got bits towards the back of her mouth she would gag then vomit up her entire stomach contents much like your ds. She also didn't seem particularly bothered by it. She is now nearly 8 mths and for the last 2 weeks we have had no vomiting - I think she was not quite ready... I would just leave it a bit and then try again - we initially had some success with a jar as the lumps are really soft - she has also successfully eaten my homecooked spaghetti (very overcooked so again really soft) and bits of bread with cream cheese so gradually extending the repetoire. Good luck!

This might be a stupid question, but what makes the difference with finger foods? Won't he just cram in as much as his mouth will take then gag anyway?
His coordination is quite good and he certainly knows where his mouth is and what it's for, but the idea of letting him feed himself makes me nervous!

well I think it's all to do with them being able to controll it all and it also helps them develop the 'chewing' muscles. atich has done a fab website on it babyledweaning.com I think it is it's fantastic. or just put out a new thread asking for her help.

start with something small like a carrot stick that's nice and soft and see how you go. remember weaning should be a happy time for you and baby not stressful

Have a look at the principles of Bably Led Weaning (BLW) on here or Aitch's site.

That explains the lack of choking with finger food.

Basically to choke you need to have food in your throat (is different to gagging).
To get food in your throat you must swallow it.
To swallow food you must move it/have it thrust to the back of your mouth.

If you are feeding with a spoon he is not necessarily in control of putting food at the back of the mouth. If it is finger food he must chew it and move it to the back himself. He is in control and it won't come as a surprise when it ends up at teh back as he will have done it himself.

I am not necessarily suggesting you go all out BLW - thats your choice (we didn't) - but I think that introducing him to finger foods will teach him how to deal with the food which isn't an ultra fine puree - allowing you to feed him lumps in with his puree.

With DTDs we stayed with fine purees for ages (prob til 9m). DD3 is a much much better feeder than DTDs were at 18-20m and she is only 15m .