blw: is gagging always accompanied by vomiting? and how long till ds learns to swallow?

[MamaChris]

only started blw yesterday. but brocolli (yesterday) and banana (today) have both induced gagging accompanied by vomiting. each time ds got a little shocked and then stopped playing with the food (much more interested in eating his bib and chair). he's swallowed nothing, and dp is questioning why we aren't trying mush.

i know this is very early days, but, any guesses how long till ds stops vomiting at least, and perhaps even learns to swallow something?

DD did a lot of gagging, 26-28 weeks old. Now at wk 31 she's much better. You can do baby-led puree by giving toast/pitta strips dunked in yoghurt or puree. DD loves mashed mango on toast - mango pieces are just too slippy to hold, even with a washed skin left on.

Totally normal - he's learning how to chew and swallow food properly. And he won't swallow anything till he's ready to.

It'll be fine, and remember that they don't need to be consuming any solids at this point, so anything they do is a bonus.

My HV said that if my dd wasn't ready, which perhaps yours isn't yet, then to wait a couple of weeks and try again. I did leave it a few weeks and then another few weeks and now 9.5months my dd is eating without gagging. It is trial and error as every baby will be ready at a different time.

Thanks all for the reassurance

Well he had a piece of toast at a cafe this morning, and enjoyed sucking it, even with a little gag (but no vomit). I guess it's just a learning curve for all of us and we need to learn to step back and let him go at his pace. But how nerve-wracking!!!

DS just chewed for about 2 weeks including gagging and a few episodes of vomiting (including one projectile), but then he suddenly 'got it' and started to swallow. There's so much to learn about food before swallowing - how to hold food, what it feels like in the hand and mouth, how to chew, how to move food around the mouth, he's learning these things before swallowing - which is the safest thing for him to do! It's all about going at his pace, as you say. The gag reflex will go soon enough. It is terribly nerve-wracking but you just have to smile and reassure him (even though you're just shouting inside DON"T CHOKE!), you'll probably be a lot more unhappy about gagging/vomiting than he is.