gagging on baby rice at 27 weeks

[SuperAmoo]

DD2 been EBF and now at nearly 28 weeks starting her on solids. Started with tiny bit of baby rice with lots of breast milk and she was ok. Then made it a TEENY bit thicker and she just gacked multiple times. I know she has a very sensitve gag reflex but I'm abit shocked as DD1 never had a problem with solids even though I weaned her at 22 weeks. Shall I just persevere? Or should I put off solids till she's 7 months? Originally wanted to do BLW - fat chance of that happening!!!

Why not try blw? Look on here for advice on what food to try first as I can't remember, over a year and a half since I did it with DD. Or wait a bit longer then try blw.

bump!

Uhhh LadyintheRadiator if you haven't got anything constructive to say then don't say anything at all. I want to hear from people who's babies have had the same problem and how they overcame it and how long it took for them to grow out of it etc. I am plainly not going to try BLW now - it goes without saying that it's not a good idea if she chokes, gags and vomits on thin baby rice.

Ladyintheradiator That was very rude.

Honestly, try BLW - she will be more in control of what she's having and I would have thought she would be less likely to gag on something that she was expecting to be solid than something more liquidy like baby rice.

superamoo - my ds gagged on everything when he was a baby , i took him to the doctors when he was 6months old in tears as he was constantly gagging & vomiting turned out he had very enlarged tonsils & found swallowing very difficult , honestly the gap in his throat was very small for food to go down , i had to liquidise his food until he was 2yrs old & then he had his tonsils removed , he was fine after the op . might be worth having your lo's throat checked out , good luck x

actually it is a good idea, my ds2 had a v strong gag reflex and could not be spoonfed at all, with blw he could control it himself and ate wonderfully.

plus, would you eat baby rice? disgusting stuff

Ooh dear. It is a little rude to not acknowledge somebody who has taken the time to post, even if you choose that their advice isn't best for you. Perhaps be a little more clear SuperAmoo. Do you only want parents who've had babies who gagged on baby rice to respond? And are you resolved to continue with rice and purees? And what actually is happening? Because your op says gagging and then later you say choking and vomitting?

Gagging's just a defence mechanism and not choking at all. It's a handy thing for them to learn.

Is she showing all of the signs of being ready right now?

dd2 was like this I think because she had tongue tie when she was born so hadn't had the tongue exercise in the womb. She ate that smooth packet baby food until 10 months and then went onto proper food just fine. It was lovely when the whole meal came back up! I also wouldn't let other people supervise her eating biscuits etc because she would just silently choke to frequently.....

I think it will just take longer but would def take her to the dr to have a look.

Thanks all. She does a combo of all three - sometimes she just gags, other times she seems to be choking - struggling to breath I mean and then other times she gags and then brings a whole load of stuff up two or three times. I am just rather stunned because I would have thought that very thinned out baby rice would be quite easy to swallow for a baby that's over 6 six months old. At Christmas she did grab some broccoli off my plate and she got a small bit in her mouth - she then spent the next 2-3 minutes repeatedly gagging and vomiting and then had hiccups for half an hour. It was really scary and totally grossed everyone out. I am much to scared to take the BLW approach now.

i really think you should discuss this with your doctor , he might be able to put your mind at rest , i know how worrying it can be as I've been there with my ds ,

dd (25 weeks) gagged on baby rice so I tried banana instead (figuring that maybe she just didn't like the taste of baby rice) and she wolfed it down. Have you tried experimenting with small bits of different foods to see if she gets on better with something she enjoys the taste of? It could be just that she isn't ready to wean yet but if you are worried I would follow the advice already given to see your gp. I started weaning dd because she began to refuse bf during the daytime but seemed frustrated - as if not satisfied iyswim.

First of all take your child to the HV/GP to rule out a physical reason for the gagging etc.

Then perhaps dont offer anything other than milk until YOU are readu for it. If you give your child a food complex at 6 months of age then it will stay with her for a very long time and you will end up woth a child who will only eat yogurts.

Try a mix of foods some mushed up and some whole. Put them on her highchair so she can chose what she wants to eat. No pressure for either of you. If she doenst like it take it away and try the next meal time. Dont sit fo ages trying to get her to eat. Give it maybe 15 mins and then move away from the food room.

It is all about learning the texture of food and how not to be afraid of it. For both of you.

Also to be honest I would puke if I was given baby rice. Try one with a flavour to it. Make it interesting and fun. Let her throw it around and wipe it in her hair.

You say you think that very thinned out baby rice would be easier for her to swallow, but actually when adults have swallowing difficulties eg after strokes, they are never allowed liquid and things are actually thickened up for them. If a baby puts something in their own mouth, they'll take it in at the front of the mouth and move it back themselves (if developmentally able), whereas when you're spooning something in, it will hit the back of the mouth, and trigger the gag reflex. As the others say, this doesn't mean she won't manage solids. My DD gagged and vomited every day for the first few days, but I think she just wasn't ready for it yet. It just as easy to choke on liquid as solid.

I agree with thewicketkeeper - dd choked on gripe water when she was about 10 weeks old.

Thanks for the further comments - I'd never really thought about the whole 'choking on liquids thing' - I guess she probably sucks the liquid and then chokes because it's thicker than milk. Today I was eating tuna and rice and DD2 was going crazy trying to get at it. I was really really scared (but hid it well!) and let her have it in the end and she ate some amazingly - I tried to chill out about the gagging and vomiting and let her figure it out herself and actually she only gagged a couple of times on the actually spoon not the rice/tuna. I am totally amazed I have to admit but I am now a total BLW convert. Baby rice going in the bin - yucky stuff.

Well done for your courage.
It is so scary watching a tiny thing learn to eat.
With each of my three I did it differently but the most successful one was Ds this year. He just eats anything put in front of him. I did a mixture of both BLW and mushy stuff. I know that makes it not actual BLW but it was close enough

well done

Yes, well done!