Babies: 9 - 12 Months

chokes on BLW

I really should have gone the BLW route from the beginning because I feel like we've lost that "window of opportunity". I have the book and have been reading it and I feel great about it, but when I give him pieces of food he still chokes - not gagging. I want to keep trying, taking it slow but my H is not on board. He is terrified. So am I, but I feel like we have to start at SOME point, right? the idea is for babies to be off mashed food by the time they are a year, right? We have a baby well check up coming up soon so I will be discussing this with my doctor about how to move past purees and mashed food. In the meantime, DS eats anything we give him with a spoon, he eats everything and lots of it too (chicken, sweet potatoas, chick peas, apple, pear, carrots, peas, yogurt, bananas, turkey), which also makes me think we should just stick with what works. Not sure how to approach this now. thoughts? suggestions?

Re: chokes on BLW

  • Honestly, your son probably isn't really choking. Gagging and such is needed to learn how to chew. They really have to learn somehow and sometime. Relax and give him the proper sized pieces, soft foods, and relax.
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  • Honestly, your son probably isn't really choking. Gagging and such is needed to learn how to chew. They really have to learn somehow and sometime. Relax and give him the proper sized pieces, soft foods, and relax.

    It's choking. There's no sound, no coughing, his face turns purple. He has gagged before. I do give him sift foods, but he bites it off with the bottom teeth and doesn't mash it down enough
  • Have you tried really soft foods like black beans? We also have had luck with the peaches fruit cups and jarred mango. Small and soft enough that can't be choked on.
  • I don't think they have to be off of mashed food by one, they have to be weaning off of formula. My pedi said between 12 and 15 months they should get most of their nutrients from real food and have milk instead of formula. So that's not saying anything about the consistency of the foods.

    I say just give him more time. I did gradual with T, not BLW although you could say that's what we are doing now. He is starting to learn bite size. If something is too big he will spit it out.

    If he is eating all of that by spoon I'm sure he's doing ok. Did you start with pea size or give handheld chunks? Have you tried rice or pasta? Rice, beans, and peas were the first sizes we tried for whole foods and as long as they don't get too many in there they aren't going to choke on them. My only advice is to keep offering many different foods to try. I'm sure he will get it eventually.
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  • Have you tried any puffs or crackers that dissolve? They don't have much nutritional value but might be a good transition to a different texture and chewing for your LO.
  • Honestly, your son probably isn't really choking. Gagging and such is needed to learn how to chew. They really have to learn somehow and sometime. Relax and give him the proper sized pieces, soft foods, and relax.

    It's choking. There's no sound, no coughing, his face turns purple. He has gagged before. I do give him sift foods, but he bites it off with the bottom teeth and doesn't mash it down enough
    Try to adjust the size of the food. Your probably giving him too big or too small of pieces.
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  • Oh and you might want to try doing things like puffs, mum mums, and yogurt drops that dissolve. This reduces choking and teaches them chewing and biting. If your kid has done purees before now then he has no idea how to chew since before now all he had to do was swallow. Which is why he's swallowing pieces too big and not chewing. He never learned to chew.
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  • I find that overripe pears (maybe even steam them to make them softer) or boiled butternut squash are great super soft foods. We did BLW so she's a good chewer now, but when we give her bite size pieces of these, she can literally just smoosh them with her tongue and gums.
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  • Oh and you might want to try doing things like puffs, mum mums, and yogurt drops that dissolve. This reduces choking and teaches them chewing and biting. If your kid has done purees before now then he has no idea how to chew since before now all he had to do was swallow. Which is why he's swallowing pieces too big and not chewing. He never learned to chew.
    Agreed on this. Keep trying things, very soft in finger like pieces and help him learn to chew. He will get it though, right now he's still learning what he can handle. Eventually he will know exactly what to do, it's really quite amazing actually. He will soon know how to bite and chew so that he will swallow instead of gag(or choke) it back up.  I second the puffs, mum mums and yogurt drops. Also try the overripe pears, mango, banana, avocado in finger like strips. Meatballs (turkey or lean beef) are good too, baby can "bite" off a piece.  
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