Well, I guess it was inevitable: Buttercup had her first dinnertime gag/puke (at 16 months). She was happily munching on a plum, and a piece of the skin got hung up in her throat. It didn't help that she also had a cold, so it was really congested and slimy in there. But, she vomited a little bit. She didn't seem scared or freaked out at all, so I just let her deal with it. Then, I calmly pushed the "rejected" foods off her tray into a paper towel and gave her fresh food, which she proceeded to eat as if nothing happened.
The thing to remember is that gagging is a normal part of the learning-to-eat process (for all babies, not just baby-led solids babies). I was never worried that Buttercup was choking, because she was still making noises, and didn't look scared. The best thing to do in those situations is to stay calm and let them move the objectionable object out of their mouths by themselves.
What are some of your gagging experiences?
Research and experiments in baby-led solids
Our little guy gagged and threw up EVERY time the first few days, so we put it off a month and restarted at 7 months... same thing happened, so we put it off and restarted again at 7 1/2 months. Suddenly, he was ready. :) He got into the habit, though, of gagging up anything he didn't like the taste of, and it was such a mess to clean up, that we started working with him on just opening his mouth spitting it into my hand... he does so well with that now. If he doesn't like something or he bit off too large of a piece, he just opens his mouth, leans over, and let's it drop out.
ReplyDeleteThe gagging in the beginning was a bit frustrating because people watching were waiting to shout "I told you so!" in my crazy blw face, lol.... but I just reminded them that this is BABY led weaning, NOT six months-led weaning. He obviously wasn't ready to eat solids, and actually, I'm so glad we didn't do purees because I doubt his body would have signaled us in such a way with the message that it wasn't ready.
We had a gagging experience before we start BLS. The first times I tried to spoon feed him when we were just starting solids he gagged then puked on everything. It's one of the reasons we started BLS. He hasn't gagged and puked since.
ReplyDeleteMuffin's about 10 months old and has been working on finger foods since about 6 months (at her insistence--she likes oatmeal and yogurt but was never interested in purees). She gags and coughs occasionally, but she's never actually choked, so I just stay calm and let her work it out. She gets very excited when something is yummy and she eats too fast to chew and swallow properly.
ReplyDelete