Feeding purées only

Please note gagging is not the same as choking. In fact, gagging is good because it means that your baby’s body is automatically protecting their airway. You will know baby is gagging and not choking if you can hear sound and if baby is working the food out quickly. Choking does not involve sound (no air = no sound). Most babies gag frequently for a few weeks when starting BLW. Fortunately, as they get more proficient at bringing the food to the side of their mouths to chew it before swallowing, gagging greatly reduces. Essentially, as your baby practices and learns that they cannot just swallow whole food, they will gag less as and lateralize/chew more. The more gagging and practicing they do, the less they will gag in the long run.

Start with smaller and softer foods

Eggs avocado fries cooked carrots. I do both puree and blw. Really want him to get accustomed to different flavors and textures. Go at your pace mommy you got this

Food before 1 is just for fun! And we had an episode where she couldn’t stop throwing up (some kind of virus) so I have been very nervous about feeding as well. Tried some purées recently and she flat out wouldn’t eat em! I’ll keep during purées for awhile probably- she gags a lot. I would suggest watching some YouTube videos about feeding/gagging. It helped me a lot to not feel so scared!!

How old is your little one? It’s fine to do just purées but it all depends on how old your little one is. Maybe start on fruit cut them into small pieces and let your baby play around with them see how they get on. Try different things like grapes, strawberries, berry’s, small pieces of food eg toast, avacardo and weetabix is a great one my little girl was obsessed with it when she was around 7 months. You’re learning just as much as they are. Do little bits here and there don’t just stick to purées as they’ll get use to that texture and won’t want to try other foods. Melty puffs arnt really the best my little girl gaged on them all the time so I just stopped giving her them and gave her fruit x

The lady above my comment is correct gaging isn’t choking. Silent and no noise,changing in colour, no moment and looking very drowsy and floppy is choking but gagging is just noice and is them preventing it from getting stuck like we do when we get food stuck at the back of our throat. She is absolutely fine and all baby’s who are new to food gag xx

Also just starting BLW recently for the same reason. So far banana, strawberry and kiwi work well.

We've been crazy nervous about feeding her solids too. She is getting some exposure though since daycare has been offering her stuff. We mostly do purees at home but will occasionally offer squishy stuff like bananas or if we think she can handle whatever we happen to be eating for dinner.

@Maddy how old is your little one?

I think Jan 2024 we are all around the 8-9 month

@Wanyu how did you prepare those fruits? How old is your little one?

Yeah, 9 months on 10/10

@Maddy have you done any finger foods yet or just purées?

Just purées! I downloaded Solid Starts but looks like it isn’t free so I may just use the web version. Need a lifevac before I start finger foods lol

My LO is 8 months old. I mostly follow the book ‘how to wean your baby’ but still blend everything lightly to leave a bit of texture. In terms of finger food I mentioned (banana, strawberries etc.) I just hold it for him and that’s it, no prep needed! He likes it a lot actually and has (finally) started to hold food by himself.

@Wanyu does he just suck the fruit? Or try and bite some off?

He just sucks into it rigorously 😆😂🤣 I would pay attention if a big chunk goes off but I noticed that he would spit it out by himself

I did try BLW and had to back track. My baby did choke not just gag and it scared the hell out of me. She has also had some reactions so we're taking things really really slowly.

My boy is 8 months tomorrow and we have been doing only purees until a week or so ago. My anxiety is awful and I’m home alone most the day so I never want to risk it. But, we have given him some fruits and steamed bell pepper, and he eats Little Bellies Organic Pick Me Sticks. They are crunchy but dissolve very easily, so far he hasn’t even gagged on those.

One of the first non puréed things my baby ate well and on her own were the long teething wafers. I know they look intimidating because they’re so big, but they go soft instantly, that was out gateway into solids. We had tried rice and couscous and fruits and she would eat them but would take forever, but once she got comfortable she eats at a better pace.

Start with soft foods and make sure it’s in really tiny pieces that he can’t choke on , like eggs , or pancakes , my babygirl tried chicken the other day and loved it! I literally break everything into the tiniest pieces so that she couldn’t possibly choke, sometimes it’s so small she’s like wtffff 😂😂😂where the heck is it ??

@Maddy I’m using Solid Starts as well. The full program isn’t free, but you can look up individual foods and how to safely prepare them for free. It’s been a great resource!