Afraid of BLW

[mommy24babes]

I have not read the book. We do at around 7-8 mos dime size hunks of soft cooked carrot ,sweet potato, avacodo, soft cooked fist size broccoli spears.
At 9 mos she eats pretty well what we eat.

Try not to panic and don't shove your fingers in her mouth if she starts gagging on something. That's how they learn to move food around their mouth.
You may push it further in unintentionally.
In 4 kids fed this way I have yet to have anyone really choke on anything.

[Huxley]

Thanks so much guys. I wish I had a husband to just sit next to me while I fed her. I know I only worry so much because it is just me and her. I'll get over it soon enough. She did great today. She didn't eat anything but she had food in her mouth. I know we will do great. She is only six months so I still have plenty of time.

[Hungry Caterpillar]

I actually still have some fear with this and have hybridized my approach. A good first one for me was peas, because they are already small and easy for them to pick up themselves. No adulteration needed.

I personally was uncomfortable with banana because my DS loves banana and just wanted to shove it in his mouth. Easy ones for us were apples, nectarines, peaches, pears, etc, with the peels completely removed but then left whole. My DS examined them, licked them, shaved off pieces with his teeth, and got used to the feeling of putting things in his mouth to eat. I never gave super ripe fruit because that was easier to get huge chunks off. This gave both me and him a chance to get used to it and lessen the fear. We then moved to ribs, because if you don't slow smoke them they don't fall off the bone. He could grasp easily and get in his mouth and move it around, but not get chunks off. I also do mushy pasta in tomato sauce and purposely choose really small pastas that I don't have to cut. I overcook them. Is this true BLW? No. But, this helped me get comfortable venturing into true BLW.

[bea2269]

It may also make you feel more comfortable if you find a class on infant cpr. They teach the heimlich as well. I've had one child get choked bad on grilled cheese. Like blue choked bad. We were able to get it out with the heimlich. In hindsight, it was totally my fault. I wasn't watching her close enough, and she shoved too much in. The key is tiny pieces in the beginning. Other times, they've gotten anything up on their own.

[made4this]

As some others mentioned, I'd recommend the book. I was really reassured that if I started in time, before the gag reflex moves backward in the mouth, he'd have plenty of time to learn to manage the food before there was danger.

A couple of other really good tips from the book: Cut food into "sticks" about 3 inches long, because when they are that age, they don't have access to whatever's inside that little fist. And make sure they are always sitting upright when they eat, so if they gag, the food will be able to fall out via gravity.

We didn't do BLW with DS1 or DS2, but it has been a great experience with DS3, and I am planning to do it again with DS4, sue in Feb. Have fun!

[sandhillcranes]

I bought a couple blw'ing books for my ipad. Read them. Digested all the info, thought THIS SOUNDS GREAT. DD is super eager to eat what were eating. She had all the "signs" of readiness. Wanted to hold food, putting stuff to her mouth, sitting up. Will even snatch food from our hands if given the chance. But everytime I try to give her something on her highchair tray, I watch her take it to her mouth and instantly freeze. It stresses me beyond belief. I have done cpr training many times for work as a teacher. I dont care how much I read. I will not be able to do blw. I think it sounds awesome and I know lots of friends who have done it with great success. I als think it probably helps keep kids from having texture/sensory issues with food. BUt---I just dont think its for everyone. I think its great if you can be relaxed enough to do it. I understand all about gag reflex. It wasnt for us.

[dani_p]

We LOVE BLW!! At first, our daughter gagged constantly. It used to terrify me... Now, at 10 months old, she's a professional eater. She rarely gags and most of the food makes it in. She has a voracious appetite and loves any food we dare to give her (even spicy food!) I love that we can sit down to eat as a family and she can feed herself exactly what everyone else is eating... No stopping what I'm doing to feed her, no preparing her special food... It's SO worth the couple months of super messy gagging baby.

I agree with the others who suggested a baby CPR class. Also, if baby is gagging, look at their chest, not their face... If its moving, there's air getting in/out

[isabelsmummy]

In general gagging makes a noise, choking is silent.

I didn't do BLW because I'd never heard of it. Not sure it had a name in 2004? Both my girls were self feeding table food by 9mos. It just seemed a normal progression from food in the blender, to mashed and to table food.

[Fairycat]

I found that giving kids bigger pieces of food and letting them work on them tended to lead to way less gagging. My friends dd gagged all the time, but my friend gave her little pieces, when I suggested trying larger pieces her dd tended to do much better. We loved blw it worked so well for us, and our friends who tried it.

[c&rmom]

I'm new here, so I'm not sure this is how these forums work, but I'm copying part of a message I wrote about BLW in response to someone else that you might find helpful:

About your choking concern, the book explains that babies don't have the ability to push large chunks far enough back in their mouth to choke, so when it sounds like they're gagging, they are actually just pushing the food to the front of their mouth so they can get it out. I think that's the basic idea, so no need to fear choking (though it's always scaring to hear your baby gagging). The first few times it happened with us, I was afraid, but tried to stay calm and my babies have always been able to push the food out, so I'm a believer