Hi Lyndsy and Janelle,
I'm with Bryony. Don't worry about the choking issue, they have a gag reflex and they'll just spit stuff out. They will gag, but don't worry about it, they'll even gag when they're swallowing. When Alice gags, I know she's eaten something.
Foods, try to start with food that can mush easily, so they get used to that and then move on to tougher foods. It just may be that toast is not right yet. You can put pureed fruits etc onto toast and spreadable cheeses. There is a post feeding solid foods, at the top, Recipes and there are finger food ideas for younger babies. My Health Visitor put me on to this form of weaning and she said that you can give them whatever food you want, just avoid the foods you avoided during pregnancy unless there are allergies in the family, then avoid the foods which can cause allergies.
Alice has had, mashed potato with peas, avocado, pear, banana, plum, rice, pasta, toast, bread, petit filous, roasted courgette, carrot and sweet potato. I'm going to try her on kiwi fruit too at some point. We're back to the mushy stage after a nasty tummy bug stopped us from BLW for three weeks, while her poos went back to normal.
I put the spears on to her tray one at a time and let her suck at it or smear it on the tray or over her face. I use a normal bib under a full bib with arms. Also I put a shower curtain on the floor to collect those stray pieces.
I'm not going to cook her any dishes until she's more practised at eating, because she's not actually consuming a great deal, you do need to be very patient. My HV told me it can take months for them to really get the hang of it.
I love the fact that we both have breakfast and lunch together and I don't have to sit with a spoon and feed her.
Hope some of that has helped.
Pauline
People are coming up with ideas all the time on this board, so keep watching out for the odd recipe idea. One thing that someone mentioned a while back was apple rings, because they're easy to hold. Or baked apple. I
