BLW: Talk to me about the gagging.

LunaBug924

I'll admit I haven't read any books on BLW, but it's something I'm really interested in doing with DD. She's 5 1/2 months and is really starting to take an interest in food. She also seems to want to do it herself, so I want to encourage that as much as possible. I gave her a slice of apple the other day, and she was nomming on some broccoli last night.

She does well with those and seems to like them (even swallowed some broccoli as evidenced by the contents of her diaper earlier today!) but with both she did cough and gag a bit. Actually with the apple she managed to chomp off a small piece. She started gagging so I just went in with my finger and fish-hooked it out of her mouth. It wasn't in her throat, just near the back of her tongue. With the broccoli, she seems to be gagging on the tiny bits of the florets once they get soft and fall off the stalk. Once she gets to that point I usually just take it away and give her a fresh piece.

I know I've read and heard that BLW is not for the faint of heart, and that some gagging is normal as they learn to push food to the back of their mouths and eventually swallow. I just wonder if I'm supposed to let her try to figure it out a little bit before going on a search-and-rescue expedition. Any advice, tips?

spacepotatoes

If she's coughing and you can see her tongue coming forward, that's ok. The gag reflex is triggered more forward on the tongue at this age than it is for adults so babies gag a lot more easily. But this is teaching her how much to put in her mouth and where to put it. We haven't started yet, that's coming from the book, but I'm trying to brace myself for this too! I'm sure it's hard not to worry as it's happening.

Emmagk

You aren't supposed to fish it out. Gagging and chocking are completely different and by trying to fish food out due to gagging you could accidentally push it further down the throat and cause chocking. I'd highly recommend reading the book if you plan on BLW, it covers all the safty aspects

kat8805

Because someone shared it the other day - https://www.babyledweaning.com

gutsysneakers

There is also a group for those doing BLW or just want more info. I had to request to join but I'm finding it helpful.

spinsoffresonance

The book does a great job going over gagging and chocking and safety concerns. In fact I did BLW with DD1 but I'm planning on reading that chapter again before we start with DD2 because it is that important. @spacepotatoes‌ summed it up well. Remember gagging is not choking but it's how they learn to handle the food. There will be a lot of gagging in the beginning. It's okay, try to let LO figure it out alone.