Great advice on here for BLW, but what about when a lump makes them sick?

[DawnAS]

This may seem like a really silly situation and perfectly normal but I'm still worried...

My DD is coming up for 8 months and we're doing a combination of pureed foods and some finger foods.

Last Sunday we had a roast dinner. So we put some carrot sticks, broccoli, cauliflower and roast potato in a small bowl on her high chair. She eagerly dug in and tried to eat bits. She was so keen!

Then a piece of carrot went down the wrong way and she brought up all her previous meal and all her milk.

However, she still wanted to carry on, so we cleaned her up and put her back in the chair. The next culprit was a piece of cauliflower.

My worry is that I'm always concerned about how much she's eating and drinking and if she gags on a lump (of anything) and is sick, she won't have had enough to eat through the day and doesn't seem to realise that her tummy is empty so won't take any extra food/drink.

Yesterday, the culprit was a bit of pitta bread. She was really enjoying it until then...

I don't want to stop giving her finger foods but I'm concerned that her weight is going to suffer if she continues to gag and be sick.

Should I just let her get on with it and not worry, or should I hold off for a while?

So she's only been sick once? That's not a lot and your DD should be having lumps in puree and/or finger food by now anyway. There isn't much choice in continuing, they are generally not sick a lot. I'm not sure why you think your DD wouldn't work out if she was hungry either? I think you should really chill out, if you're worried about her weight when she's just been sick once, just wait until the toddler years when they can become really fussy and not seem to eat anything!

Thank you for your response.

I will try and relax about it and just let her get on with it.

We're just starting out with BLW, and dd (6months) has gagged and vomited a couple of times with chunks she bites off things. It is pretty scary to watch - and I am also sure that it looks more than it actually is, if that makes sense. If she is happy to continue after she is sick then just go with it
I am sure she would let you know if she got hungry again, how is her weight doing? How often do you have her weighed? The BLW book says not to have them weighed too often IIR?

It's so difficult to know what to do for the best, but you are doing great - and it is only natural to worry. Keep going.

Hi Ready,

Thank you so much for your support.

I don't actually get my DD weighed. I'm too scared to... Let me explain...

When DD was born, she was just above the 25th centile. At 8 weeks old, she was still there. No problems so far. However, I had been telling the GP since she was about a week old that I was concerned about her mouth, that it looked like her tongue was white. They kept dismissing it saying that it was residue milk. Well at her 8 week check, they confirmed that she had a bad case of oral thrush and gave us some gel.

After a week or two, it was still really bad but they told me to persevere with the gel. So I took her back again at 11 weeks and demanded to be seen. Turns out that they hadn't given us the right treatment and the thrush was the worst they had seen! Finally we were given Daktarin gel.

Within a week it had started to really clear, but by then, she'd spent virtually all of her life feeding with thrush in her mouth so when it started to clear up, she was tasting the milk and the taste and feel was so different that she stopped feeding properly.

I kept phoning the HV and saying that I was worried and they kept saying that it would sort itself out - blah blah blah.

The last time I got her weighed, she had dropped to just above the 2nd centile and I broke down. The stress of her being ill for all those weeks and the problems with her feeding had taken their toll.

When I got home, I began to get upset over every bottle that she wouldn't finish and it was causing me so much heartache.

In the end, I spoke to family (including a nurse who said that she was absolutely fine and healthy) and friends who basically told me that if it was upsetting me that much, not to take her to be weighed.

As soon as I made the decision, I physically relaxed and so did she and now her feeding is fine. She drinks around 20-25oz of milk a day and has three meals, plus snacks.

But this is why I worry about the sickness. I don't want her weight to suffer.

She is healthy and happy and developing normally, so I know that I shouldn't worry. She's always going to be small as I was a small baby (tall but skinny) and all my family are the same. She's in the right size clothes for her age so I don't know why I still worry, but I do...

Sorry for the waffle, just wanted to clarify my worries a bit...

Thank you for reading...

xx

Ready, meant to add to the bottom. I'm going to try to stop worrying and just let her carry on as she seems to really enjoy it!

DawnAS, sounds like you have been seriously let down by your health professionals. That is a real shame that things got so bad and you felt so down about it. I don't blame you for not getting dd weighed with all that hanging over you.
I take my dd to self weigh every few weeks because I cannot stand the health visitors and the terrible advice they give out - their advice was the nail in the coffin of my breastfeeding and I am still upset about it.
I do honestly think though, that your dd won't go hungry - as long as she still seems happy and healthy then I really would let her get on with the BLW. It is so hard to relax though, isn't it. Honestly, you are doing such a great job. The fact that you are so concerned means you are a fabulous mum.

Thanks so much Ready, some people get really good health professionals and I really think that I've just been unlucky. That's awful that their advice ruined your breastfeeding experience, how sad.

I am definitely going to carry on now though! Ellie already has breadsticks with philly and ricecakes every day as her snacks in between her meals and she loves them!

I think my plan will be to maybe leave a longer gap between her meals and when I try some more finger-food, that way if she is sick, most of her food would be digested.

Thank you!

That's a really good idea. At the moment I usually wait about 45 mins after milk before giving solids.