Constantly worried my 7.5mth old will choke on finger foods. Calm me down please!

[bergentulip]

I know that I am supposed to be letting my DS2 start eating pieces of soft veg/fruit/bread etc... but he is constantly choking on everything!

He'll happily eat lumpy food on a spoon, and seems to chew, but if he has something like a piece of pear, as soon as the end breaks off he seems to try and swallow the damn thing whole, and ends up choking.

Yup, super-effective gag reflex always kicks in, but jeez louise, does it have to be quite so nerve-wracking? I am worried that my anxious face peering at him as he tries to munch, and me fighting the urge to fish food out of his mouth is going to turn him into a child/adult with serious issues with food(!) !!

How can I just relax and let him get on with it? Or what's the best thing to give him? He enjoys food so much, I feel like I am taking all the fun away!

It is nerve-wracking. Why don't you do a first-aid course, so that if he ever does choke for real you are confident that you know what to do?

Although I'm not suggesting you should take the Baby Led Weaning (BLW) approach, especially given your worries, you may find it helpful to look at this BLW website which gives fantastic advice and is all about giving young babies finger food. Good research has been done into it and you may find it reassuring.

My ds was weaned via BLW and he quite often seems to try to swallow something a bit too big, goes puce and then coughs it back out across the room before carrying on as if nothing happened!

Blot4, that's exactly what happened with DS1, he often went puce, and then spat whatever it was back up again.
Can't see why I am not being so matter of fact about it all this time round. I am odd!

That website looks good. Thanks!

it's my website, bergen. some babies just seem to have really, really (frighteningly ) efficient gagging mechanisms on them, for some reason. from what i've read on the forum on my site, and from emails i've had, it seems to just stop one day and they've got it.
can't do anything about you, though, other than to second alarka's excellent advice. i know i felt a lot better when i thought i could actually DO something. oh, and exaggerated chewing faces from mum and dad often help when they seem to forget what to do mid-gag.

Yeah, putting myself on a course--- certainly food for thought ......

bad pun, my apologies!!

Honestly though, thanks all of you for really good tips. I think I am just going to have to relax and now know that gagging is a natural part of the learning process, and I will look into a first aid course pronto.

depending on where you are, you might find your maternity hospital does an infant resus course for pg mums as part of their ante-natal stuff.