BLW & gagging (8 mo. old)

[ommom]

our DD seems to gag (& throw up a bit of curdled breast milk, that often helps get the food in the mouth out) whenever there's anything solid in her mouth other than of a liquid or very pureed texture, including if we give her something like apple to knaw on & a piece breaks off.

for those of you doing BLW, what self-feed play foods worked best & how much gagging did you let 'em do? is the gagging a cue to hold off a bit longer?

she definitely is very curious 'bout food and loves to knaw on carrot, celery, apple, watermelon; suck juice out of a piece of orange; etc.

thanks!

[dawncayden]

I would give steamed (cubed) carrot, broccoli, peas as first foods. We have allergies in the family and these 3 were the base of most meals. From there I added in banana, apple, potato etc.

I would do a trial with small cubes to eat as well as a large chunk to chew off bits.

Peel an apple or pear and give it to her to use with both hands. Or try making a chunky apple sauce and place on her tray as cooked cubes of apple.

[CookAMH]

Reviving this thread as this is my 7mo. He has the signs of readiness (sitting up, pincher grasp, interest, no tongue thrust) but gags at any hint of a chunk of food. He lapped up some banana-y breastmilk from a spoon and grabs and licks at chunks but does the exact thing above. I'm curious why soft pieces of food would be better? He seemed to be gagging at the presence of the food but he wasn't gagging at the food in his throat. Then he'd look at the tray of some food and start gagging...poor guy.

Food is mainly for interest and exploring at this point. I think I'll just offer some food once a week or so and let him play with it and try it out. No rush.

[leaves]

I would personally hold off on the solids. There are these Munchkin Fresh Food Feeders, which are essentially a little mesh bag with a plastic handle - you put the food in it and they chew on it, getting tiny pieces of the food. I haven't used them yet, so I don't know how good/not-so-great they are, DS is only 4mo.

[lifeguard]

We started ds on foods that he could hold/pick up but were slightly softer like cooked carrots, sweet potatoe, banana, avocado, well cooked meat, etc. Ds has been very late getting teeth so things had to either be tough enough he couldn't get chunks off or soft enough to be "chewed" by his gums otherwise he would get bigger chunks & gag some.

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by leaves

I would personally hold off on the solids. There are these Munchkin Fresh Food Feeders, which are essentially a little mesh bag with a plastic handle - you put the food in it and they chew on it, getting tiny pieces of the food. I haven't used them yet, so I don't know how good/not-so-great they are, DS is only 4mo.

We use them and DS loves to eat banana out of it...he only recently started eating bits of softened apple...