Hmm, I'm not sure about the being sick
. Does she actually gag and then vomit like stuff is coming out of her stomach, or just gag and spit out what she was eating?
The gag reflex in babies is VERY sensitive, so it is a safety mechanism to ensure they do not choke. It can look very dramatic, but when they are gagging this means that their body is doing the *right* thing and is not anything it itself to worry about.
We weaned ds straight away onto finger foods after reading up a lot about baby led weaning (there is a sticky thread on this board about it....it's quite 'mainstream'!!), where we skipped purees altogether and always gave ds foods he could pick up himself. The trick is that they have to be the right sort of foods, particularly when they first start - otherwise it can be quite hard for the lo's to eat properly. So ideally food should be able to be 'gummed' to a pulp so they can eat it easily, shaped like a fishfinger(!) so they can hold it easily and chew off the right amount, and also obviously healthy! We found that soft toast or bread made ds gag as it got too 'thick' in his mouth - whereas more crunchy toast did not. Things like sweet potato cut up and roasted, or any veggies cooked until soft are great. Half a roasted apple or pear is great (i even used to microwave them....and let them cool for *ages* - but just to soften them). There are lots of ideas on the thread mentioned before.
We never had any problems weaning this way - and in fact the one and only time we have a worrying incident was when we gave ds a jar of lumpy baby food (as I had been given one)....and he almost choked. Whereas when he was eating his finger foods he was more in control and knew the texture of the food in his mouth and how much he had to chew it before swallowing.
HTH, and I'm sure you'll get some great advice on this board
Claire xx
