WTH? Suddenly she despises finger foods??

Re: WTH? Suddenly she despises finger foods??

• flyingsaucer member

  March 2009

  They go through stages.  DS is always refusing one thing or another.  He used to be such a good eater, now he refuses to eat half of what I give him.  The only other thing could be teething maybe?

  

  Report0 Reply
• Loading the player...
• pinksweetpea2 member

  March 2009

  How do you react when she gags? ?Do you freak out or do you go about business as normal?

  By gagging she is learning not to put too much food in her mouth and not to push it back too far. ?I personally would avoid trying to fish stuff out of her mouth unless necessary. ? This is from the "Baby Led Weaning" book that I have been reading:?

  "Often worries about choking are based on seeing babies gagging on food and confusing this with choking; these two mechanisms are related but they are not the same thing. Gagging is a retching movement that pushes food away from the airway if it is too big to be swallowed. The baby opens his mouth and pushes his tongue forward; sometimes a piece of food appears at the front of his mouth and he may even vomit a little. It doesn't seem to bother babies who are feeding themselves and they usually carry on eating as if nothing has happened.

  In an adult, the gag response is triggered near the back of the tongue- you have to put your finger right back towards your throat to make it happen. However, this reflex is triggered much further forward on the tongue of a six-month-old baby, so not only is it activated more easily in a baby than it is in an adult, it also operates when the piece of food that has caused it is much farther away from the airway. So when babies of six or seven months gag on food it doesn't mean the food is too close to the airway and it very rarely means they are in danger of choking.

  The gag reflex may well be a key part of babies' learning how to manage food safely. When a baby has triggered this reflex a few times, by putting too much food into his mouth or pushing it too far back, he learns not to do it. As he gets older, whether or not he has been allowed to experiment with self-feeding, the place where this reflex is triggered moves back along his tongue, so that gagging doesn't happen until food is nearer the back of his mouth. So he simply 'outgrows' the tendency to gag.

  However, as the gag reflex moves back towards its adult position it becomes less and less effective as an early-warning sign. So babies who haven't been allowed to explore food from the beginning may miss the opportunity to use it to help them learn how to keep food away from the airway. Anecdotal evidence suggests that babies who have been spoon-fed have more problems with gagging and 'choking' when they start to handle food (often at around eight months) than those who have been allowed to experiment much earlier.

  However, while gagging is not a cause for concern, it's important to remember that this response is essentially a safety feature. For it to work effectively the baby must be sitting upright, so that any food that has gone too far back in his mouth is pushed forward- not backwards- by the reflex.
  Choking happens when the airway is either completely or partially blocked. When something partially blocks a baby's airway, he automatically starts to cough to clear it; this is usually very effective. If the blockage is total, which is very rare, the baby is unable to cough and needs someone else to dislodge the lump for him (using standard first-aid measures).
  The coughing and spluttering that look and sound so alarming are actually signs that the baby is dealing with the problem. By contrast, a baby who is truly choking is usually silent- because no air can get past the blockage. Normal babies have a very efficient coughing reflex and, provided they are upright or leaning forward, it is usually best not to disturb them while they are clearing their airway (Rapley & Murkett, pp. 61-64)."

  ?

  
  
  

  
  

  Report0 Reply