BLW and choking??

[Cue]

DD (6.5mo) isn't taking to solids too well. She's always struggled to gain weight and we've been advised to try to get some good fats into her to try to help boost her calorie intake. I'm sort of doing a mix of BLW and spoon feeding but neither work too well. Occasionally she seems to get into it (a lamb chop of all things and today a piece of grilled eggplant was a winner) but she only sucks it, she doesn't try to chew or anything. If a bit of food breaks off and is in her mouth, she holds her mouth open like she's confused about what to do. If it starts making it's way down she starts choking and often throws up.

The choking scares me!! Is this typical for BLW? Am I doing something wrong?? She's cows milk & soy protein intolerant so I give her as much as I can of 'normal' foods.

[Elijahs Mum]

She's not choking she is gagging! Perfectly normal, learning to chew and swallow takes time, my DS took about a month before he actually started swallowing decent pieces of food and then he became a eating machine!
As you are also spoon feeding she may be a little confused ( purees don't get chewed or gummed they just slide down so she may be used to this?)
Just make sure you keep her formula up during this learning time do she gets her calories and nutrients
Cucumber sticks were great as a learning food for my son, with the skin on ( wash thoroughly!) she can easily hold them and gum the soft flesh off one side ( also use as a dipper stick and put some avocado on it as these are great fats for her) plus steamed broccoli , leave the stalks long so she can hold them and she will gnaw off the tops!
Have you read Gil Rapleys BLW book? It explains it all :)

[Mum2Lil13]

DD was the same, she gagged for about a month until she learnt how to chew properly. We kept going BLW and now she loves her food and eats everything :)

[Cue]

She's not choking she is gagging! Perfectly normal, learning to chew and swallow takes time, my DS took about a month before he actually started swallowing decent pieces of food and then he became a eating machine!
As you are also spoon feeding she may be a little confused ( purees don't get chewed or gummed they just slide down so she may be used to this?)
Just make sure you keep her formula up during this learning time do she gets her calories and nutrients
Cucumber sticks were great as a learning food for my son, with the skin on ( wash thoroughly!) she can easily hold them and gum the soft flesh off one side ( also use as a dipper stick and put some avocado on it as these are great fats for her) plus steamed broccoli , leave the stalks long so she can hold them and she will gnaw off the tops!
Have you read Gil Rapleys BLW book? It explains it all :)

I haven't read that book, my clinic nurse explained it to me and encouraged us to use BLW over purées. Maybe I'll stop the spoon feeding altogether but she does like shoving the spoon in her mouth! I just put a little mashed food on it.

I've tried broccoli sticks, cucumber, grilled eggplant and pumpkin (with olive oil for fats), avocado, lamb cutlet, steamed carrot sticks, zucchini... It's hard finding stuff she'll hold on to.

Oh well, we're back to the clinic today to check her weight so I'll see what they say.

[Elijahs Mum]

Other good first finger foods that are easy to hold are:
Watermelon cut into thick strips
Pear cut into 1/4 ,s
Peaches cut into 1/4,s
Banana
Roasted or steamed sweet potato sticks
Roasted parsnip sticks
Steamed asparagus or the bok Choy stalks
Avocado wedge ( leave skin on half so she will be able to hold it and gum the inside flesh)
Egg pancakes cut into strips
Rice cruskits ( DS had from 7 months and are also great for teething !!)