Weaning woes - getting the hang of BLW

[twinkliest]

I've just started weaning my 6 month old daughter and am starting to bang my head against the wall because nothing seems to be working well.

She's had a couple of weeks of purees, but spits out anything savoury and cries. She's also militant about having her own spoon and getting anything in, and to stay in, is increasingly difficult. Purees also seem to have given her dreadful screaming constipation.

We've been trying baby led weaning on HV advice for a few days but she always bites off a big lump and gags and cries, every mouthful, once to the point of throwing up. She's enjoying picking food up and gumming it, even with savoury things, but just can't seem to get any of it down.

She's not the only one frustrated! How long does it take most babies to get over the gagging? Is it normal for her to gag on every mouthful? Would you go back to purees in this situation, or should I persevere?

Thanks for your reply, nice to hear that they can get over it quickly!

I've tried swede, sweet potato and regular potato (boiled), toast, banana and soft pear so far - whatever we happened to have in the fridge and roughly what we were having.

Tried her with a few more bits of swede and sweet potato tonight and she got on much better, not so much gagging and no crying this time. She was still quite frustrated at the speed of it though, I ended up mushing some of it up and giving it to her on a spoon, as well as helping her to pick up the slimier bits. Naughty I know but we'll go with whatever works at the moment.

It's funny, she even liked a savoury jar I tried at lunchtime today (she was so starving I caved - dipping the spoon in while still in her hand seemed to work quite well) - I think if nothing else the finger food has given her more of a taste for less sweet things. Might even give the broccoli a try, although she cried like it was poison last time I tried it pureed

Let's hope things continue to improve anyway!! I might try puree at lunchtime if she'll have it, and finger food the rest of the time. I was kind of spoilt by my son, who ate anything and everything and was always happy to be spoonfed, and still is now at 3 1/2 if he can get away with it