BLW question

lyndsihutson · July 2013

So this may be a dumb question.. But I make my own purees and lately have been giving some meats to let her chew on but never unless im holding it and know that she cant get a bite of it and choke. Id love to give her strips of stuff but I am terrified of choking! How do you handle this if you are BLW? Is it okay to give her strips of food? She does GREAT with puffs and yogurt melts.

nanabanana06 · July 2013

Lots of people confuse choking with gagging. Which are not the same thing at all. If they are coughing or making any noise then they are not choking. You have to let them learn how to chew and eat by themselves some time. If you do it now or when they are toddlers you'll have gagging and the risk of choking. Age does not mean they suddenly learn how to eat real food. You'll be fine giving her real food. If she chokes then do the baby Heimlich. Just remember that gagging is not choking.

lyndsihutson · July 2013

Nana_Osaki06:
Lots of people confuse choking with gagging. Which are not the same thing at all. If they are coughing or making any noise then they are not choking. You have to let them learn how to chew and eat by themselves some time. If you do it now or when they are toddlers you'll have gagging and the risk of choking. Age does not mean they suddenly learn how to eat real food. You'll be fine giving her real food. If she chokes then do the baby Heimlich. Just remember that gagging is not choking.

Thanks! So if she starts gagging and coughing do I just let her be and work it out on her own? how big of strips do you do?

nanabanana06 · July 2013

lyndsihutson:
Nana_Osaki06:
Lots of people confuse choking with gagging. Which are not the same thing at all. If they are coughing or making any noise then they are not choking. You have to let them learn how to chew and eat by themselves some time. If you do it now or when they are toddlers you'll have gagging and the risk of choking. Age does not mean they suddenly learn how to eat real food. You'll be fine giving her real food. If she chokes then do the baby Heimlich. Just remember that gagging is not choking.

Thanks! So if she starts gagging and coughing do I just let her be and work it out on her own? how big of strips do you do?

Yes, if they gag then let them work it out on their own. Doing a finger swipe or anything else can cause them to really choke. At first do french fry size, then as they learn a pincer grip do smaller pieces.

lyndsihutson · July 2013

Nana_Osaki06:
lyndsihutson:
Nana_Osaki06:
Lots of people confuse choking with gagging. Which are not the same thing at all. If they are coughing or making any noise then they are not choking. You have to let them learn how to chew and eat by themselves some time. If you do it now or when they are toddlers you'll have gagging and the risk of choking. Age does not mean they suddenly learn how to eat real food. You'll be fine giving her real food. If she chokes then do the baby Heimlich. Just remember that gagging is not choking.

Thanks! So if she starts gagging and coughing do I just let her be and work it out on her own? how big of strips do you do?
Yes, if they gag then let them work it out on their own. Doing a finger swipe or anything else can cause them to really choke. At first do french fry size, then as they learn a pincer grip do smaller pieces.

Awesome! Thanks! here is hoping she doesn't shove the whole thing down!

pb_bride · July 2013

Just to echo what PPs said, gagging and choking are 2 different thing. Babies' gag reflex is actually located far FRONT in the mouth, so they'll gag on the food and spit it back out, with little risk of the food choking them. This is how they learn how to move food around in their mouth, as well as how big a piece they can handle.

DS gagged A LOT at the start of BLW. LIke every.single.meal. LIke multiple times per meal. when he gags, you 'll see the (too big) piece of food coming back out of the mouth. It took close to a week before DS stopped gagging all the time. Now he still gags like a couple times a week.

vettymama · July 2013

I recommend reading the book Baby Led Weaning by Maggie Meade. It really helped me understand and calm my nerves about gagging and choking.

brookemcalland · July 2013

If you opt for BLW, choking is a concern but it shouldn't be terrifying! You should read and follow these guidelines https://blog.earlystart.me/?p=218 and the fear will simply fade away!

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