blw and size of bites

[bravissimo]

This is a really silly question but i gave DS some banana yesterday - a whole one which he held with both hands and started biting into - he was taking quite large chunks out of it and clearly enjoying it. I then panicked a bit because i thought he might be "biting off more than he could chew" - at one stage it sounded like he swallowed a big chunk. I wasn't sure if he was even gumming it in his mouth - just seemed like biting and swallowing. He has been having some purees in the last week which he has loved as well - do you think the purees have prevented the chewing/gumming action or is what he is doing ok? He just seems to want to cram as much as he can into his mouth. i gave him a sugar snap pea today and he initially sucked on it then put the whole thing in his mouth. He is now 25 weeks. Many thanks!

I know what you mean - my DS does the same given the chance and it makes me panic! I tend to cut the food into small pieces, about grape sized, that he then mashes on. I have also been known to bite on stuff like cheese to break it up a bit - DP calls me pigeon. I'm sure someone will say that my approach is more dangerous, there is probably a greater choking risk with these small bits that could lodge in his throat. He is 8mo by the way and has developed a good pincer grip.

I find it hard not to fish the stuff out of LO mouth. he is only 6 months. but i am terrified when i see him bite big stuff off. Must be braver.

The only times DS has struggled with gagging is when he's had something big to chew on. He's never had a problem with the small stuff [touching wood emoticon]

PDT's approach, cutting it up small, is only really relevant if they can pick up small pieces though...

dd used to take the most enormous pieces of food into her mouth and sometimes she'd push them back out but other times she'd steadily gulp down bigger bits than i thought possible. it's weird, they can just do it.

(re the fishing out, don't do it. you really do risk a choking incident then. we were told at an infant resus seminar thing that if you think the baby is choking, tip them over and slap them on the back, but no fishing as it can make a bad situation much worse.)

Ds ate like this as soon as we started blw - just stuffed things in and chomped away - occassionally he coughs and spits something out, but has never choked. They seem to work out what to do fairly quickly. Plus most foods suitable for blw are not really choking hazards, they are the sort of things they'll just gag on and throw up ! ie banana

thanks for your responses. I feel more reassured now - didn't help that i did this in front of my mum who increased my panic!

what are best foods for this then?
banana
what else??

i used to do apple and pear stewed which my ds really loved

carrot, cucumber, avocado, celery, green beans, sugarsnap peas, potato, turnip, pepper... oooh, anything you're eating, really.
have a look at this www.babyledweaning.com