Baby Led Weaning - Starting Solids - Page 5 « Back to Group Discussions

[birdhappy85]

I'm sooo hijacking this thread... but since Amanda mentioned babies passing things from one hand to another, it got me wondering... Can you tell at this early of an age whether your child will be right or left handed? I've been curious since if I hand something to Sora in her right hand, she often passes it to her left hand and seems to like holding things in that one better. These kiddos fascinate me...

[TalkToMeNow]

Hmmm... I'm not sure that you can tell for a while, but I could be wrong. I feel like it was closer to 2 yrs when I could tell that a definite preference was established. I imagine that those moms here with younger kids would know more. 

[seraf]

Shay favors his left hand, too, but I think that will change a few times as he ages.

[CDsMom1031]

Conner favored his left hand when he was younger, but now that his hand/eye coordination is better, I notice that he's preferring his right hand. If I hand him something from his left side, he'll reach over with his right hand and grab it... He didn't used to do that.

[Jaimee]

Joanie, hand preference can change for years, but I think it usually solidifies by the time they are really writing- like 3-5 years.  Avalon appeared to be a lefty until she was 2 and then clearly favored her right while eating.  But she switched off often enough while drawing, throwing, etc. that we weren't sure.  She's definitely a righty now.  Austin sucked his left thumb and usually eats with his left hand, but he's drawing with his right hand at this point.  He's almost 28 months.  So, basically, no, you probably can't tell at this point.

[wellforth]

No, just gagging!  Sorry about that--definitely got that terminology wrong.  I'm glad we don't have allergies in our family, but it's good to think about taking it slowly.  The more I read, the more confident I feel.  I really would rather wait, oh, another six months, but the boy is pretty demanding about food!

As far as the germs thing, Luca sticks his hands in my mouth all the time (tries to, though I discourage it because of the fingernails), likes to chew on my fingers, knuckles, and the side of my hand, and so on.  I didn't realize this was a bad thing.  He's got a pretty health immune system, as his dad and I do.  He had minor sniffles for a couple of days, and that's been it as far as sickness.  I'm fighting what feels like the flu now.  I'm thankful I'm not getting any worse, but I sure would like to be better.

carey

[Jaimee]

I totally feel you on the gagging thing... it can definitely feel scary and wrong.  But gagging is normal- a necessary part of the learning process for most kids and a protective mechanism.  The younger kids are, the more often they will gag b/c the reflex is so close to the front of the mouth, but as they get older and more experienced, this will lessen and disappear.   A child should be allowed to gag so the food will be forced forward in the mouth.  Interfering with gagging can push the food past the reflex and down into the throat where choking could occur.  But it's totally reflex on the parent's part to assist a child that is having difficulty so it can be a bit anxiety producing!  Again, if a child is allowed to hold and bite off his/her own food, they tend to only get safely sized pieces in their mouth anyway, which greatly reduces the risk of choking, though gagging could still occur as the child pushes the food around in his/her mouth, gumming it.

[SoCaliMommy]

How do you get past wanting to fish food out of their mouth when they start to gag? Last week I gave Harlan a unbreaded chicken nugget thinking he'd suck on it well he got a good piece off of it and then I got it out of his mouth and then a few seconds later he sorta coughed and then drooled out another small piece of it. I wanted to give him a big spiral pasta noodle the other day and mil took it off his tray saying how I shouldn't give him table food til he's 1yr old.
Edited by SoCaliMommy - 4/27/12 at 10:46am

[Jaimee]

I guess by seeing that they can gag back up food all on their own.  If they seem to be gagging a lot, though, maybe notice what tends to be gagged on and how it has been prepared.  Personally, I would not offer meat that this age, but that's me (vegetarianism aside!).  I know everyone has very different ideas of what is an appropriate food at an appropriate age and I'm particularly careful b/c of the allergies that run in our family, but meat is difficult to break up, too, and wheat is highly allergenic.  Sticking to things like banana, pear, avocado, steamed squash and sweet potato that they can hold and take bites off of cuts down on the possibility of gagging on large chunks, but still promotes chewing and swallowing.  Again, just my personal food philosophy!

[wellforth]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience, Jaimee.  This is definitely a foreign area for me.  I did exactly what the dr said to do, starting rice cereal at 6 months, followed by jar food purees when my daughter was this age.  She's an incredibly picky eater now.  I want to do things differently with Luca.  It was weird seeing him gag, but actually, I did not feel the need to "help" him, figuring the gagging would get it back up.  He did manage to gum off a piece of bagel yesterday before I could get it away from him.  He apparently swallowed that with no problems, because I didn't find it anywhere...

[Jaimee]

Here's the Joneja Allergy chart for anyone is interested in the allergenicity of specific foods: http://www.allergynutrition.com/resources/FAQ/15/Foods%20Most%20Frequently%20Associated%20with%20Allergy.pdf

[seraf]

I give Shay meat. He likes to suck on it, but can't get anything off yet. Haven't given him much ground meat yet, tho. Just little strips to suck on.

Shay gags most on steamed carrots do I try to smush them more now. He does well with steamed apples and ok with greens.

[LunaLady]

So as r has been eating more solids I'm noting more... chunks... in his poo. And it's very obviously sweet potato, bell pepper, etc... This says to me his not really digesting those things well. Not sure where I'm going with this, but it has me thinking! 

Edited by LunaLady - 6/25/12 at 10:58pm

[Jaimee]

Christina, this is not uncommon when babies are not thoroughly chewing their food and it therefore does not get broken down fully in the digestive system.  I personally wouldn't worry at this point.  Later on, though, this can be an indication that there is an issue with digestion.

Though maybe this is more modern thinking?  What would GAPS say about it?

[Abraisme]

Christina, that's totally normal ime. 

[LunaLady]

Thank you for the reassurance, Jaimee and Abra. I think I'm just going to cut back a bit on the solids and just do a few tastes here and there instead of lots of bites. I think I was just so excited and gung-ho but you all were right and it is a lot of extra thought and I'm just fine with him waiting a bit longer to really start more solids. He's not showing quite as much excitement over foods these days compared to several weeks ago, anyhow. I'll let him decide.

[seraf]

Christina, S is doing the same thing with poos. I take the fact that it's brown and solid to mean some of it is being digested. The little bits that are left whole don't make me too nervous. S lives him some food, most mornings I just throw some apple slices, carrot and whatever else in the steamer and then spread it out through the day.

[jill the pill]

The whole idea of this is very new to me but I'd like to try it.  Audrey is very interested in food and we have given her rice cereal, avocado, banana, and applesauce.  I'm still a little nervous that she might choke.  I've read the articles posted on this thread but I'm still a little confused on how small to cut up their food or if I need to cut it up at all.  The ped told me the other day she needs rice cereal for the iron which I know isn't true.  I'm not giving it to her anymore but I keep getting so much conflicting information and I don't really know where to start!

[LunaLady]

Jill, I've been giving R egg yolk for iron. He's had 1 egg yolk every morning for almost two months, now! He loves it! I just fry the egg in coconut oil without breaking the yolk. What's that called? Over easy? Something. Anyway, then I can easily spoon feed it to him. 

We've had a lot of choking over here. I've taken to pretty much pre-chewing all of his food in the last week or so because he'll choke at almost every meal. Like gagging, eyes getting red and sometimes even lips getting blue choking. Never had to give him the heimlich or anything, just pat his back firmly and sweep a finger into his mouth to remove the food. I've been (I think!) following the BLW by giving him large pieces of things for him to play/chew on, but that just isn't working. He's biting off chunks and then choking.

Any advice on what I'm doing wrong, here?

Edited by LunaLady - 6/25/12 at 10:52pm

[CDsMom1031]

I have no advice because I'm too scared to feed Conner "real" food. He eats Mum Mums and Cheetos Puffs though, because they dissolve, so even if he breaks off a piece, it dissolves.

Other than that, he's just on baby food that he's spoon fed.