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Choking on finger foods?!

Hi ladies - I was wondering how all the other Jan babies were getting on with their finger foods? Cam is fantastic with his pincher fingers and hand to mouth action but we're having a little bit of trouble with him choking! He's great with things like humous sticks & toast and actually ate and swallowed about half a slice this morning (the other half got sucked to death and discarded!!!) but his jaw is already really strong to when he's putting some harder foods in his mouth (like brocolli, carrot etc) he's actually breaking bits off that then go to the back of his throat and he subsequently chokes on them. My understanding before I started giving him finger foods was that babies had a really strong gag relfex and that to start with food didn't actually go back in their mouths it just came out the front and there was a bit of gagging. But Cam is more than gagging on his foods and on two occasions in the last couple of days i've had to pull him out of his highchair, put him over my knee and slap his back to dislodge food because he couldn't breath. I was completely terrified and when the food came out we were both in floods of tears! it was really really really horrible image After the 1st time it happened my mindset was to get back on the finger food horse and go for softer foods but then it happened again with a melon stick yesterday. Now i don't know what to do. If I continue I feel like i could be putting him in danger and possibly causing him to develop a negative connection to eating (he's been inconsolable after both incidents) but if i don't continue then I'm worried that he won't discover food/textures/colours and self feeding as I had planned. Any advice? xxxx

Replies

  • OMG how scary for you both. I don't really have any answers I'm afraid. I remember my dd1 choking quite badly, when she was a bit older though so she was able to bring it up herself, it was horrible though and I really had to force myself to try and not make a big deal out of it in front of her.
    I too thought a baby's gagging reflex was a lot further forward, I'm sure he is but is he sat upright enough and not recling at all? Ooh you've scared me a bit now as we plan to try blw so all finger foods, I was worried about if she manages to bite a chunk off before its chewed enough to mush.
    Did it come out quite easily when you hit him on the back or did it take quite a few whacks? Hope it doesn't happen again for you.
  • sarah-jb - apologies, I didn't mean to scare anyone and from what I have read this really isn't a common problem and there's mostly just a bit of gagging so please don't let this put you off blw because I think it's a great way for lo's to learn how to eat. He is sat properly upright in his highchair, in fact more leant forward as he is grabbing at everything off his tray! It took about 4 slaps on his back the 1st time and only one the second time (possibly overreacting this second time, but my nerves were a bit shot from the day before!) Mias-mummy - Mia sounds like she's got a better technique than Cam!!! xx
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