Baby led weaning help!

[Rachiesparrow]

Hi all,

My daughter is 6 months old (27 weeks) and we've been doing blw for about a week now.

Today she had some toast with hummus on it, and had the most frightening gagging/choking incident. She was bright red with tears running down her face, retching and retching. I hoiked her out of the chair and smacked her on the back and she spat out the bread, but it scared me senseless.

That said, even while she was retching and crying, she was still trying to get the damn bread into her mouth. And when it was all over, she quite happily sucked on a bit of pepper, and fed herself some fromage frais.

I just wanted some reassurance really, that I'm not taking unnecessary risks. I really like the idea of blw, but I'm a bit shaken by today's episode.

Cheers ladies,

R

The two of you will be fine - she's learning to actually chew her food, and you've demonstrated that you could deal with an actual choke, though she was gagging.

Are you eating with her and modelling good chewing ? That helps, and gives you something to do too, rather than fretting about her eating

Hi,

I do eat with her - I usually give her bits of what I'm having, within reason. I try not to be too 'in her face' either. We usually just have fun with it - she grabbed half a melon out of my hands the other day and mauled it half to a pulp.

I agree with CMOTd - I'd be reassured by knowing that you would be able to deal with a 'proper' choking incident if it were to happen.

It is horrible to watch, isn't it, but as you found, it's the adults who are more bothered by it than the babies. Gagging is good as it moves food away from the back of their mouth, where there's more chance it could block their airway.

The NHS recommends introducing finger foods from 6 months (even for babies who are puree fed), so I don't think BLW is any more dangerous than the 'traditional' route in that respect.

Angeldog, that's a good point, thanks.

Hi Rachie - we found with DD that we had a few of those gagging incidents in the beginning but very quickly she learnt how to manage the food in her mouth and move it around/chew and swallow...
making exagerrated chewing gestures and noises when she looks like struggling a bit does help and just try not to panic!(easier said than done I know)

The gag reflex is v far forward in the mouth when they are this young and moves further back as they get older so while the gagging can be really dramatic its unlikely she'll be choking...and its seems like you know what to do if she does!!

My dd is nearly 9mths now and I can't remember the last time we had a gagging incident so it does pass fairly quickly usually...