How do I introduce baby lad weaning on a way that doesn't scare me or the baby? And is lack of interest normal at this age?

[gemmatea]

My son is 7.5 months and showing slight interest in solids. He excepts smooth a purees mainly fruit but anything veggie and lumpy he doesn't like. When trying lumpy foods he has a strong gag or is sick a little bit. He's not interested in finger food at all! And only excepts food if it's on a spoon. How do I introduce baby lad weaning on a way that doesn't scare me or the baby? And is lack of interest normal at this age?

Baby led weaning means you don't do anything until the baby wants you to. It's a concept that is almost always inextricably intertwined with extended breastfeeding, being a SAHM, and being ok with either there being lots of waste, or eating the remains of whatever you put in front of the baby yourself. The maxim is "when baby's under one, food is just fun" - at 7.5mo you wouldn't be giving a hoot how much food the baby puts into their face, you would work making sure the milk supplied is enough for the baby's actual nutritional needs and regard any food the baby chooses to try as a bonus but not something to be pushed.

There will be BLW enthusiasts coming along saying I'm wrong but the truth is that it's not a system that works for everyone who likes the sound of it initially and it's totally ok to wean in other ways.

I did what I called lazy weaning. In that I sat baby on my knee while I ate my meal (cooked without salt), and mushed some of food with a fork on my plate and left in reaching distance. Which soon enough found it's way into baby's mouth. Meant they just tried what we had, no special faffing or cooking, no freezing of ice cube portions of stuff, no waste no extra washing up. Easy or just lazy, however you wish to look at it.
Yes we did go through stages of only eating peas as a toddler/no meat we are veggie for a while, or whatever, but came out the other side as a child willing to try any food, and no hangups about food.

Just put pieces of finger food on baby’s tray and let him play.

he will just play to start and it could be many weeks before anything actually gets eaten.

I have a lovely picture of my DD playing with, licking and rubbing food in her hair at that age.

the food on her tray (in the pic) was bits of naan bread, cheese and strawberries

My first baby did BLW like a pro from the start. First thing we offered she picked up immediately and took a toothless bite. No trouble.
Baby number 2 was not interested in solids. We pureed a bit of our dinner and fed that on a spoon. Ate that no bother.
Baby 3 different again. Surprise surprise!

Do whatever works for you and your baby.

I'm a baby led weaning enthusiast, though not a SAHM or particularly evangelical about it. I can see why it doesn't work for some people, especially those whose babies were slow to put on weight when they were little, as you have to not care too much whether the baby eats the food.

To answer the questions in the OP: yes, it can be normal for the baby not to be that interested in the food, but as it's baby-led you don't really mind, you just offer it for familiarisation and you don't really mind if they don't eat much of it. PP mentions waste but honestly we never really wasted much as we just cooked our own food in baby-suitable shapes (e.g. batons of carrot in a stew instead of dice) and without salt added at the cooking stage. You don't have to give the baby very much at first. You can waste just as much if not more doing purees, because if the baby rejects that you probably aren't that keen to eat it yourself.

For the not worrying - I found that being well informed helped me know when to worry or not. I read the whole of Gill Rapley's book and had done a baby first aid course, so I felt like I knew the difference between gagging and choking and also what to do in case of the latter. Part of the idea is sharing mealtimes with the baby and eating the same food, so you'd just put him in a highchair and give him some food to play with while you eat yours. Ideally do it when he's had some milk and isn't starving, and that takes the pressure off.

Honestly, I stressed out so much about this with mine and here’s what I wish I’d done/ felt less guilty about:
Just keep spoon feeding/ giving the textures you are comfortable with, as long as you are moving forward with it bit by bit you will get there.
If you feel like you don’t want to move on to a different texture for a bit, try focusing on introducing new tastes instead. Sometimes introducing new tastes and textures at the same time can be a bit much.
Go with your gut and trust yourself. Unless you think you are having excessive anxiety about it, mothers usually have good instincts for what their babies can manage.
They should stop gagging pretty soon. It’s a phase that doesn’t last very long in the general scheme of things.
It is normal for them to not have much interest at that age, especially if they’ve been ebf. It builds up over time.
It can be good to give them the spoon to hold if they like being spoon fed. Then put a little bit in a plastic bowl and let them try to spoon feed themselves. Then they get the habit of picking up the food themselves and can move on to finger foods pretty quickly.
Sitting and eating with them is important so they see you doing it.
Overall, try not to worry too much. They get there sooner or later and as they say, food before one is just for fun ☺️

The baby isn't scared when he gags, he's just learning to move the food around his mouth. They don't automatically know how to do it.
You need to know the difference between gagging and choking to an extent that you aren't scared. If you are, he will sense your anxiety.
Just give him different things until something clicks and consider where he's getting his iron from.

Solid Starts is a website and app which has huge amounts of info on BLW.
The most useful I found was the database of foods which it told you exactly how to prepare for specific ages (size, shape etc). This helped to take away a lot of my fear.

I didn't plan to do BLW, but I had a spoon and puree refuser!
I was careful with what I prepared (no salt etc), but otherwise didn't find it wasteful as initially I made the same portion sizes as I always did and just gave some away to my DS.

He might just not be interested. I’d give him a spoon exactly the same as the one you’re using every time and see if he attempts to join in at any point. If he shows an interest in anything (within reason - obviously don’t let him demolish a sherry trifle) let him try a taste and don’t worry about the gag reflex too much.

have you tried him with those baby crisps? They’re just maize and have the advantage of being meltable so you don’t have to worry about choking or anything. They can make a pretty funky paste with them though!

just keep going, he’ll get there and then you face the wonderful world of fads!