7.5 Month old + finger food

xzanti

My Son is 7.5 months old now and according to the weaning guide I should be starting to give him finger foods now, the only thing is, anything I give him he tries to ram straight down his throat and ends up gagging and often starts throwing up it frightens the life out of me..

Is there anything I can do to help him get used to it?

I bought one of those little safety nets that you put pieces of fruit etc in, but I find he doesn't get very much out of them.

He has his developmental check in a couple of weeks and I'd like to be able to tell the Nurse that he's doing great with the finger food..

He's a fine big healthy baby and is thriving, he has a great appetite but just doesn't seem to have any concept of taking little bites at a time when handed food I guess his eyes are probably bigger than his belly..

Thanks.

quozl

Ours gagged fairly regularly at the start but it seemed harmless if occasionally freaky. The gagging has pretty much stopped but they still fit so much into their mouths that they look like hamsters.

I wouldn't worry, but I would make sure you know what to do if your baby starts choking. It's unlikely but it's good to know anyway just in case.

January

Their gag reflex is still so strong that it's unlikely he'll choke, it's scary when they do it, but if you panic he'll panic so try to stay calm.

Don't worry if he doesn't take to it straight away, they don't have to hit all their developmental milestones correctly! The public health nurse probably won't even ask about finger foods, she'll be happy if he's just feeding correctly.

Saoirse's favourite was toast or pieces of cheese!

Oh, and don't worry if he's not getting much into him! Food is more fun than nutritious for them at this age so he has plenty of time to develop getting it right!

sillysocks

My little girl is 7.5 months as well and we haven't given her much finger food really. I find peaches in the little net thing great-there's hardly anything left when she finishes!

What I did get is a liga type thing but it's made by the brand Organix (picked that because it was the only one not to have large amounts of sugar in them). She does break off quite big bits but they dissolve very quickly in her mouth so they don't make her gag as easily as other food.

Moonbeam

my 6 month old likes rusks,I only give her the gluten free ones and about 1/4 at a time but she loves sucking on them.

Lola92

What I find is that if you cut it to a size that they would be able to pick it up but it is still quite small then they are much less likely to choke and gag. Also if they do begin to gag it is really important to stay calm and try to let them get it up themselves or I found my little one would get quite upset if I panicked.

For food ideas have you tried squares of soft brown soda bread? Cheese cut into bits, grapes cut in half, softened apple sliced (cook In a pan until softened slightly and allow to cool), banana discs, avocado, peach/plum/pear, mandarin segments, cherry tomatos cut in half or regular tomato slices, scrambled egg chunks, toast squares, cooked pasta shapes etc.

Tbh honest it is just a case of trying various things until something works and going from there. Luckily my girl (8 months) is quite a good eater now but I know how stressful it can be to try getting them eating on their own.

How Strange

I've read up on Baby Led Weaning and we ultimately decided that as I'm going back to work a combination of BLW and spoonfeeding is the most practical as my son will be in a creche.

I've given him slices of roasted red peppper, steamed carrot batons, broccoli florets most of which ended up on the floor. This morning I gave him fingers of toast and my heart was crossways watching him ram in all into his mouth.

I've read the book, I've chatted to other mums who've successfully weaned using finger foods and have tried to prepare myself for the gagging however nothing prepares you for when your own baby fills his mouth with food and starts making choking noises.

My son is 6.5 months so I mash his food rather than puree it so there is always a bit of texture. I'm going to stick with finger foods too and I'll repeat over and over again that he won't choke as we'll have to get used to gagging at some stage anyway.

One tip I was given was to always check their mouth after eating finger food as they can keep a little in their mouth and that is a choking hazard.
As regards your phn, just nod your head if she asks and say yes he's doing great with her finger foods.

xzanti

Thanks very much for all the advice.. feel a lot better now

Das Kitty

I remember one time I was meeting a friend for lunch and the small guy was with me. He was used to finger food but had regressed a little and was shoving things back his throat again.

Spoon fed him and then gave him a rusk to nibble on and he stuck it in his mouth and immediately threw up his lunch. Went and cleaned him up, came back and gave him is bottle. Next thing you know he'd grabbed the rusk again and repeated what he'd done earlier. I had to take my jumper off and use it as a makeshift babygro. My poor friend had to witness all that and we didn't even manage a chat. Boo!

Moonbeam

My "big girl" was baby led weaned mostly because she was a starving baby and I couldn't eat near her because she would rob my food!
My 2nd got to 6 months with out crying when I ate near her,now everytime she sees us with food she wants some too:)

Pugins

Started off following Annabel Karmel with my son cos it had worked so well with my first. But from about 7.5 months he just stopped eating from a spoon for us, just wanted to feed himself. So I switched to baby led weaning by default. He used to finger feed himself everything from weetabix to mashed potato! Only thing he will take from a spoon is yoghurt.

So in response to your question-give them all sorts of finger foods. Gag reflex is strong but only way they will learn is to practise. Good options-trimmed celery sticks, raw pepper sticks, steamed mangetout,raw sweet peas, chunks of avocado, cucumber sticks, sliced mushrooms, cubes of cheese, fingers of toast, pitta breads spread with hummus etc,

Make sure you know what to do in case of choking but don't rush in if baby starts to make gag, give them a second and they'll hopefully fix it themselves. As I said my son had basically had only finger food since quite young and he's never choked.

Hannibal Smith

+ 1 on the Annabel Karmel book...it was my bible for nearly a whole year.

Everyone was telling me to try carrots and apples and stuff and I just knew my kid just wasn't ready for it. So I read that book, and got loads of different ideas from it.

I think I started him off on rice cakes, because they were soft and maybe some liga and he just went from there.

Lola92

Hi xzanti, I'm just back from Ellas developmental check with the PHN (She's 8 and a half months now). She was really surprised that she is mostly self feeding.

Apparently at this stage they say it should be mostly spoon feeds and just the odd finger food snack, fruit and veg pieces, rusks, little bits of toast and things. So your little man isn't far behind. Just thought I would let you know

xzanti

Thanks Lola92.. 'preciate that

implausible

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

I think I started him off on rice cakes, because they were soft and maybe some liga and he just went from there.

+1 on this. Unsalted plain rice cakes are fantastic, my 14 month old still loves them - they soften in their mouth, are easy to pack into a baby bag, contain absolutely no additives and are really cheap.

A friend of mine saw my wee buck tearing into one one day and asked me was I putting the poor creatur on Weightwatchers already. That's all she associated rice cakes with:)

taz70

Something to keep in mind is that gagging is a GOOD thing, even though it may seem scary. A baby's gag reflex is quite far forward on the tongue and it alerts the baby to the fact that the food is too big to be swallowed. So the baby moves the food back to the front of the mouth or even spits it out.

The WORST thing you can do is panic when your baby starts to gag and try to dig around to take out the offending piece of food. There is a large risk that you will force the food further back on the tongue and actually cause a choking incident.

The best thing to do when they start gagging is to sit on your hands for ten seconds - they will have usually resolved the issue by then. I've never had to count past about three before the food came straight back out at me. The benefit is that your child learns to handle the food and to manipulate it around their mouth with their tongue.

Our son has eaten finger food since he started on solids at 6 months, and it does take time for them to learn the process of eating. It really helps just to relax about it, offer small amounts at each meal and above all eat with your child, so that they can model themselves on you.

xzanti

Thanks taz70 definately going to try those methods

xzanti

Tried him with some Baby Organix soft rusks today and same thing again.. He started to gag, I sat on my hands and then he started vomiting so had to whip him up out of the highchair.. Lost most of his dinner onto the floor I'd say very frustrating..

January

Maybe he's just not ready for lumpier foods... leave it a week or so and try again. Especially if it's upsetting you or him.

Das Kitty

Those soft rusks break off in big bits (those were the ones involved in my tale of woe above). Rice cakes are brill because they stick together and dissolve.

xzanti

Das Kitty wrote: »

Those soft rusks break off in big bits (those were the ones involved in my tale of woe above). Rice cakes are brill because they stick together and dissolve.

Thanks Girls..

Yeah rice cakes sound ideal but I don't think he'd be too interested in them.. I fear I may have spoiled his pallet already with strong flavours like Peti Filous and C&G berry custards etc.. I suspect he would just spit a rice cake back at me.. I know I don't like them myself.. they taste like nothing

I will try though

Das Kitty

My lad eats strong cheese and he loves rice cakes. I've grown to like them myself too.

implausible

I don't know if my wee fella likes rice cakes for the flavour, I think it's the texture that he enjoys - he can tear them, bite them, suck them and carry it around in his hand.

xzanti wrote: »

I suspect he would just spit a rice cake back at me.. I know I don't like them myself.. they taste like nothing

Be careful not to presume your baby's tastes are the same as your own - I nearly have to hold my nose feeding him bananas, but he loves them. My other half objected to me giving him fish because he doesn't like fish!

Hannibal Smith

I thought exactly the same with the rice cakes...I thought there was no way he was going to go for them....but I think it was more the independence he liked. It wasn't the fact of what he was eating, it was the independence of being able to feed himself and they were so soft that they were safe.

There are different flavoured ones you can get, you can get apple flavoured ones etc. But try the regular ones first, they are actually nice!

xzanti

Quick update.. he's getting a lot more adventurous..

I've been giving him buttery toast soldiers, banana disks, cubes of cheese and Organix cheese & herb puffs the past few days and although most of it ends up squished between his little fingers a good bit of it has made it's way into his mouth and he seems to be enjoying it

I think the key was to just give him small bits of things so he couldn't jam them down his throat..

Thanks for all the advice.