Talk to me about spoon feeding...

adoxyinherear

We were planning to do BLW with DD, and I feel like we got off to a decent start, but DH is super worried about choking, so we decided we are going to do mostly purees until she's a little older. But spoon feeding has honestly been scarier for me than letting her mush sticks of roasted sweet potato herself. The last two times I've tried to spoon feed her, she starts gagging and then throws up... a lot. Is this just normal for babies introduced to their first solids this way? I've honestly never fed a baby and have no idea what I am doing.

melly918

Depends on what you are giving her.  Msybe she does not like it?   Have you used www.wholesomebabyfood.com as a guide? It helped us tremendously with DS.  DS ate pretty much everything but gagged at this fresh green bean puree I made...and to be honest, it was gag-worthy.   I think we started with the boxed Gerber oatmeal/banana with actual fresh bananas mashed in and moistened with BM.  He gagged with the rice cereal that we actually tried first.

adoxyinherear

melly918:

Depends on what you are giving her.  Msybe she does not like it?   Have you used www.wholesomebabyfood.com as a guide? It helped us tremendously with DS.  DS ate pretty much everything but gagged at this fresh green bean puree I made...and to be honest, it was gag-worthy.   I think we started with the boxed Gerber oatmeal/banana with actual fresh bananas mashed in and moistened with BM.  He gagged with the rice cereal that we actually tried first.

It's been sweet potato both times, which she's eaten herself and done fine with. I'm going to make some other stuff tomorrow from a recipe book I have. I'm just freaking out.

melly918

It will be ok.  Just experiment with other foods and you will find what she likes.  Purees worked great with DS and even today he is one of the least pickiest eaters I know!

cmumama

Sweet potatoes can be kind of pastey. I mix a lot of bm/formula when i give them to matthew. Butternut squash went over very well bc its pretty thin.

Eta neither of mine had any gagging/throwing up issues with spoon feeding. She will get it keep trying! I would try a super thin puree.

JulyMomma2U2

Though we didn't have any issues, I've read about others who've had a similar experience to yours and the "trick" was to just start with a really thin puree.  Good luck!! She'll get it soon

karma79

We didn't have any issues. I'm thinking it may be the consistency. I'd try thinning it out.

Ladiebug710

I agree with previous posters, start with really thin purees.  It really only took about 4 days for DS to get the hang of swallowing and not just pushing them back out.  Now after about two weeks he actually does a little better with a bit of texture, but it took some practice to get there.

bmv1980

G has been gagging too. Not throwing up though. I assume it's because they're just learning to swallow food that's a new consistency. We served butternut squash yesterday, and I wanted to BLW but DH already had it mashed up. We've also opted for a combination. I'm with pp...thinning with BM should help. I just hate using any of my pumped milk unless it's absolutely necessary :]

KJsbabe

DD gagged a lot when we first started solids. She'll still do it every now and then when we intro a new texture. She spit up a couple times, too. I just took it as a natural reflex to gagging.

At this point, it's pretty normal to gag and try to push the food out with her toung. She's still learning how to swallow something other than milk. I agree with the other ladies, try a thinner pur?e and after she gets the hang of it, you can thicken it back up. Eating right now is more educational than nutritional. Let her play with the food and get her hands in it and get it all over her face! She'll get the hang of things.   

4legsRbest

Sounds like good advice above. I have heard it can be gut wrenching to go through the gagging/chocking phase

adoxyinherear

Thank you SO MUCH for all of the advice, everyone. I feel totally silly, but honestly I have no clue what I'm doing. We did a thin oatmeal this morning and she ate a little, but mostly just seemed to think we were crazy! At least she didn't throw it back up. We'll just keep trying and try to be patient.