BLW - What am I doing wrong?
acia
member
I posted about this last week, but I still feel like I'm doing something wrong...
For the last week or so, we've been offering DD some solids. So far we've offered her bananas, pears, green beans, broccoli, bell peppers, and carrots. She really likes everything, and spends lots of time sucking and playing with the food. However, she gags on everything! She bites off small pieces with her gums, and then it ends up too far back, and she gags. It's like she doesn't realize there's something in her mouth. Her face goes bright red and her eyes tear up and she coughs and sometimes vomits. The only thing she didn't gag on was a whole pear (that I had started for her), and that was because she could only suck on it and couldn't get any chunks off.
I know that the book says that choking is really unlikely, and that gagging is a protective mechanism, but I still get really anxious that she's going to choke. And DH is even more stressed, and more than a few times has pulled the plug on an eating session due to too much gagging.
I know BLW is supposed to be more convenient, and I love that it lets DD take the lead, but right now I'm considering pulling out the blender because purees seem like they'd require less stress!
What am I doing wrong? Can someone suggest foods that might make gagging less likely? Or should I just be cooking the food longer so that it pretty much disintegrates in her mouth?
Re: BLW - What am I doing wrong?
I dont know how your offering food right now but I would suggest instead of giving a whole pear for example, cut up into tiny pieces and still cooked it so its very very soft/mushy and then put in on a tray in front of her and let her do the work. She is still taking the lead and not being fed with a spoon but if the pieces are very small and soft they will be swallowed much easier.
Maybe give it a try? As she gets used to swalling foods you can increase the size and firmness.
I dont know how your offering food right now but I would suggest instead of giving a whole pear for example, cut up into tiny pieces and cook it so its very very soft/mushy and then put in on a tray in front of her and let her do the work. She is still taking the lead and not being fed with a spoon but if the pieces are very small and soft they will be swallowed much easier.
Maybe give it a try? As she gets used to swalling foods you can increase the size and firmness.
Wait. Give it a week or two. Or a month. Yes, she's putting the foods in her mouth because that's what babies do with everything, but it sounds like she's not ready to deal with them when they're in her mouth. Sounds like she may not be ready. If you really want to do solids now, you can do mashed avocado, banana or sweet potato and let her go to town or mash them, load up a spoon and let her go to town. She may still gag on these.
If it's stressing you and DH out, it's not the right time and a few weeks at this age makes a huge difference. You also don't want it to be stressful for your LO, and whether or not she is stressed by the gagging, she's probably picking up on your stress which is not what mealtime should be about.
You aren't doing anything wrong. It sounds totally normal to me. DS is 10 months, and last night he gagged on his chicken a few times. It would probably bother me more if he vomited, and I don't like it when he gags, but after 10 seconds he doesn't care and he goes back to eating away. That's how he learns how to eat. I didn't do BLW with DD and she did the same thing, she just did it later because we introduced finger foods later.
Maybe for a few week just stick to things that disintegrate well (cheerios, puffs) or things that are really mushy (banana, avocado) or put a little pool of applesauce on her tray and let her play with it. I think it is great that you're doing BLW and that you have introduced so many things, but up until now all she has eaten is breastmilk, so she doesn't *need* variety. You could just stick with the 3-4 items that are easiest to deal with and add more when the gagging happens less often.
And since I've done it both ways, I'll tell you that homemade purees are a LOT more work. I used to spend most of the weekend cooking fruits and veggies and mashing them up and freezing them in ice cube trays. It was satisfying to feed DD homemade baby food, but it was NOT fun. BLW is much more convenient and satisfying...especially since DS will eat food I've cooked that DD hasn't touched in months. :-)
ETA: I think it is also fine to stop and try again in a few weeks. We started at 6 months, but DS didn't start doing anything more than sucking on things and licking them until about 8 months.
I would stick with really soft things that she can easily mush - banana, roasted sweet potato or butternut squash, etc.
And there's nothing wrong with taking a step back and waiting a bit or doing purees if you feel more comfortable with them. Eating should be fun; if it's stressful than definitely change!
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I would give it a few weeks. Try again at 7 months or a bit before. She's still really little, and may just not be ready.
Or try puffs or teething biscuits or something to give her the idea w/o the gagging.
FWIW - Jack wasn't ready to eat at all until 7.5 months and didn't eat much until 10.5 months. He was ALWAYS putting stuff in his mouth, but didn't want to actually EAT.
I think it could be either that she's not ready or maybe you're not cooking the foods till they are soft enough. With Ari there was a fine line between mushy enough to eat & too mushy where the pieces broke apart on him & he couldn't pick them up w/o them breaking on him.
Try cooking the food a bit longer. If that doesn't work, stop solids for right now & try again in 2-3 weeks.