6 month old not swallowing food

[ftmdani]

We are on our 6th day of weaning and have done a mixture of food in full form e.g broccoli, carrot and sweet potato wedges and then mashed avo, mash potato and a sweet corn pouch purée. My issue is that my baby (who turned 6 month last Saturday, we started the day before) doesn’t seem to understand that he is meant to swallow the food. It will sit in his mouth for a little and then if will dribble out. Any tips or advice? He likes to feed himself but it’s the same even if I manage to feed him myself. His hand eye coordination is great and he reaches for the spoon or food as soon as he sees it but doesn't really eat anything.

Give him a break! He's only six days in! How many skills have you mastered in six days?

He'll get there.

This is completely normal. Eating is a brand new skill and it takes them a while to coordinate all the necessary steps to achieve it (putting food in mouth, chewing it, pushing it to back of mouth and swallowing). Weaning isn’t about getting as much food in as possible, it’s about learning how to eat. We scooped vast amounts of partially chewed up food from DS bib in the first few months. He had it nailed by a year and is a fantastic eater at 2. It’s a marathon, not a sprint!

Aw I hope my post didn't come across bad! I know it's so early still and he is getting used to the textures and things I just wasn't sure if maybe he's just not ready yet or whether this is usual, I'm still clueless when it comes to weaning! (Despite many many hours trawling the internet!)

My eldest barely swallowed anything until she was about 12 months old tbh. Try and relax, he will get there, it's such early days.

It’s normal. For the first few months DS would only properly swallow purees. Finger foods and mashes would sit in his mouth for up to 45 minutes after a meal.

I literally came here to write this.

Ours is nearly 7 months and we’ve been putting food down on his tray as we eat since 5.5 months and it hasn’t improved at all.

Our first just started swallowing straight away but now second doesn’t want to/know how to/can’t.

He just chokes and coughs it out. HV said wait until 7 months then speak to GP so that’s what we’ve done 🥴. He refuses someone putting the spoon in his mouth so we just load it up and give it to him.

He rams everything in but is then surprised that there’s something at the back of his mouth.

Has anything improved for you?