Attachment Parenting
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BLW-Nervous Starter
So I did my research and love the idea of BLW. I'm ready and just waiting for DS. Recently though, all I've heard from my friends in my mom's group is how when their LO started solids (non-BLW) they choked on food and it terrified them. They aren't telling me these stories to scare me they've just come up in solid conversations. Now I'm losing my confidence in BLW. If you did BLW did your LO choke at all? I need some success stories!
I think they may be confusing gagging with choking, but it still scares me. TIA
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Re: BLW-Nervous Starter
Gagging is how babies learn to move food around in their mouth. Choking is much more rare because the gag reflux is further forward in their mouth as babies.
DS gags on a regular basis, but he hasn't choked in 4 months of BLW. And for the past month or two I've offered him whatever we're eating for dinner.
One of the theories behind BLW is that babies will actually choke less. If they are able to control the food & how much is in their mouth, they are less likely to choke.
Ari gagged a ton the 1st week & rarely gagged after that. And you're right - what they call "choking" may actually be gagging or coughing. That's totally different than actual choking & a normal part of learning to eat solids.
I will say that Ari had a habit of stuffing massive amounts of food in his mouth (he's much better about this now), so we would only give him a piece or 2 at a time. He caught on pretty quickly though - babies are quick learners if you let them be.
I remind myself that I have friends with 9 and 10 months olds who gag all the time on new foods, even after 5 months of practice with purees. I don't think it's any more or less scary at 6 months instead of 10 months. In fact, I'd guess if M had been eating "solids" for 4 months and gagged on table food, it might scare me even more because of different expectations.
I do think gagging varies a lot between LOs, much like adults have very different gag reflexes. I also agree with webmistress that "you're right - what they call "choking" may actually be gagging or coughing. That's totally different than actual choking & a normal part of learning to eat solids." It's not to say gagging isn't scary sometimes, but if you really read up on it, it's not so bad.