has your lo ever choked?

zazzu · March 2011

I'm so nervous about lo choking on finger foods. He gagged on a piece of mummum and now I'm paranoid. I know gagging is a part of learning to eat and not the same as choking, but I find myself reluctant to offer finger foods now.

IkesHawaiian06 · March 2011

Yes. She was able to work it out herself. Once was a piece of pizza that we had cut up into smaller pieces. And a few weeks ago, DH gave her this bean dip thing he makes and she choked on the melted cheese a little.

It's super scary when your baby is choking. I'm sorry that it happened.

cmcmillan · March 2011

Yes, about 2 weeks ago I had given W broken pieces of Annie's Honey Bunny cereal for him to snack on while I cleaned up from breakfast. He completely had one little piece stuck. He was making an awful noise, with complete fear in his eyes. As quick as I could (and it seemed forever) i tore him out of the highchair and threw him head down so I could swat his back and swip his mouth. He came up screaming and we were both crying. It was scary!

MissLauraQ · March 2011

Yes - Alex as a toddler on a Cheese It - I was freaked out - he couldn't make a a sound and I did the kid hymlick

Zista · March 2011

Isaac gagged a LOT when he was first learning to eat. It's really uncomfortable to watch, cuz he would turn red, his eyes would water, and he'd make these aweful mouth movements and noises. A lot of moms would confuse that with choking, but it's actually best to stand back and let them deal with it... a finger in the mouth or a pat on the back breaks their concentration.

Truly choking is SILENT, and they begin to turn blue. Nope, never had that, but after Isaac's other non-breathing blue issues, I took infant CPR/First Aid and learn what to do if he ever actually chokes, which makes me feel much more comfortable.

If it helps, they usually only do the heavy gagging the first week or two. Now Isaac only does it occassionally when he forgets and shoves too much food in his mouth.

Zista · March 2011

Also, remember that baby's gag reflex is much more forward in their mouths than adults, so if he's gagging, it means that the food is probably no where close to choking him. It's a defense mechanism. Hopefully it will help to repeat these things to yourself when he's going through it... I literally had to sit on my hands a few times because I was freaked out, even though I knew the facts.

Mama_v2.0 · March 2011

I had to do the heimlich on my first twice before her 1st birthday. Ironically my son who shovels in the food has never really choked.

KNemo · March 2011

Max, never. However, I did have to do the heimlich on a 1-year old when I was a preschool teacher. He had put the gravel from outside in his mouth and was truly, silent choking on it.

I agree with everything Zista said. Babies will gag a lot at first, and they will have food go down the wrong way, get slightly lodged, etc. If it truly worries you, take an infant CPR and first aid class. That will at least ease your mind.

mishquiche · March 2011

No choking yet, but we've had some gagging as expected. If you haven't already, I highly second those who said to take an Infant CPR class. Both DH and I took one before DS one born and it makes me feel a lot better now that he is starting to eat finger foods (although I pray that I will never, ever need to use it).

sunmountain · March 2011

So I was nervous about it w/ my son but not as much w/ DD who finger fed herself at 7 months. I was much less nervous the second time around. That said, she also had more choking recovery opportunities I guess you could say that were totally okay and yes, I had to watch her closely and fish some stuff out of her mouth on occasion but she has also started to get teeth at 6 months and now is on her way to the molars so she's pretty good at mashing things up w/ what she has and w/ her gums. I still cut grapes into 1/8ths and other stuff fairly small but she does fine. Just watch DS and they will learn through the process of what they can handle. If DD can't handle it, she spits it out now.

EllaB_04 · March 2011

Yes! W choked/seriously gagged on a little bite-sized piece of toast. I ripped her out of the high chair and thumped her back so hard she lost the toast plus the rest of her dinner, poor baby. I felt so terrible. I cut back on the dryer, harder foods for a few weeks and went back to very steamed, mushy chunks of fruits and veggies. It didn't take her very long to get alot better at chewing her food though.

kaskade · March 2011

Just some serious gagging here, but it was still scary. She started to turn red and couldn't get a full cough out. I knew to do back slaps and chest thrusts if necessary, but she worked it out before I even had her out of the high chair. Her cough reflex kept kicking in and finally she coughed it out.

Another rec for infant CPR - it really is helpful to get to practice on the baby Annie doll so you know what to do. For me I felt better practicing and thinking through exactly how I'd hold K. I have performed CPR multiple times on adults [two saves!] and practice made each emergency go smoothly.

And yes, I still stay close whenever we're doing finger foods; it was an important reminder to me that things happen fast and you need to stay near when trying finger foods.

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