Won't eat purée at 7 months, choked on BLW

[Violet's mom]

Hi!  My LO is just over 7 months old and we are having a lot of trouble getting her to eat.  Se really enjoyed feeding herself a banana until she choked on it (not gagged) so I am hesitant to do BLW but also have been advised by my pediatrician to do soft finger foods cut up very small.  He suggested sweet potato or any other soft food.  I tried puréed food after that and she liked it until she had an allergic reaction to peaches and now cries when she sees the spoon.  I think V would happily BF forever but she does reach for food and I am feeling a little anxious - going to work in a couple of months and would like her on 3 meals a day at that point (when she's a year old).  And she seems to have trouble with gas (her NW have increased since we started solids due to gas).

Can I have some suggestions for BLW foods that can be cut up that she won't choke on?  What about egg yolks?  And foods that won't cause as much gas?

Thanks everyone!

[15milner]

carrots, broccoli, ripe pear

[Lolly]

My two did really badly with banana until they were closer to 1 - it goes quite sticky and hard to manipulate in the mouth when you are just learning!

I wouldn't do finger foods cut up small, they are more likely to choke on small bits and she won't have the dexterity to pick them up easily yet. It's a better idea to give her pieces that are big enough to hold in her hand with a bit sticking out for her to get into her mouth, so finger or wedge shaped pieces work well. When my two were this age they had things like steamed carrot sticks, sweet potato wedges, broccoli florettes, pasta twists, bread and toast fingers - anything that could be cut into fingers or wedges really!

I would give the BLW another go, especially if she is refusing the puree and let her go at her own pace. Baby-Led Weaning


Laura

[weaver]

The key with BLW is the shape as Laura says.  Chip-shaped everything to begin with.  When she's bigger, she'll develop the pincer grip and the mouth dexterity to be able to eat really small things like peas, sweet corn, etc. Apple can be tricky raw but slices fried in butter are rather nice and easy to eat. The one exception to this, for mine, was grated cheese.  Loved grated cheese, as opposed to cubes.  Who knows why!

And the other thing is that it will look like she's eating nothing to begin with.  It takes a lot of concentration not to freak out about that, just remember she's learning with every meal time and 'food is fun until they're one'.

[Violet's mom]

Lolly - Ok when you make sweet potato wedges (she actually liked puréed sweet potatoe a lot) how do you make them?  And how will I know if she isn't eating it correctly and is more likely to choke (terrified after the banana incident)? 

Weaver - She has a dairy intolerance so I can't fry apples in butter but is olive oil ok for babies?

Yeah I thought things cut up small was a bad idea - let me rephrase that - he said mashed actually. 

Thanks so much ladies!

[Lolly]

What actually happened with the banana? If they are making noise it's generally gagging which is actually ok for them to be doing. It's scary for us but the gagging process helps them to learn how to manipulate foods in order to protect their airways.

For sweet potato chips I just cut the sweet potato into wedge shaped chunks, sprayed with oil (olive oil is fine for babies!) and baked them in the oven until they were soft. You need them to be firm enough to hold so not too soft! Their gums are really hard so they can deal with a lot of things you wouldn't expect them to. Brocolli is good, just steam it gently and they can hold the "trees" by the stalk and eat the top - my two still love broccoli!

I can't say how to tell if she is eating correctly! You just need to be there with her to keep an eye on her. My two had some great gagging sessions, made themselves sick a few times but it's all part of learning how to manipulate food and swallow. You  should check if there are any baby first aid courses locally so you can learn what to do which will give you more confidence!

Baby led weaning theory is that if they have the skills to get food into their mouths then they have the oral skills to cope with it!

Laura

[weaver]

Yes, olive oil is fine. 

When I do sweet potato wedges, I chip the sweet potatoes and roast them (olive oil again).  They cook really quickly and you can do ordinary potatoes alongside so she has a choice.  You can make more than you need and keep them in the fridge, they keep really well and are lovely cold.  Dipped in hummus!  (Laura may have other suggestions!). Sweet potato is very soft when roasted so hopefully she'll be fine.  Grab hold of your nerves with both hands, though, she will sense if you're scared for her and that will make her nervous.  Hugs for that, it's more than tricky.

Posted with Laura!!

[Violet's mom]

Ok I think I will try carrots next and the sweet potato chips.  I'm sorry for all of the questions but when you say to slice them in chip form do you mean like thin?  or should they be like fries? 

yeah I am certified in CPR/AED for work - she wasn't getting air and I had to pick her up and do back blows, then she threw up. 

Thanks ladies!

[Lolly]

Yes, UK - chips, US - Fries! But chunky not skinny, so more like wedges or finger shaped!

Laura

[Violet's mom]

Haha ok I'm so not worldly unfortunately!  Never had the funds to leave the states!  I've made what we call sweet potato chips here and they are slices and very yummy and crispy.  Thanks again!

[creations]

Mmm I like the sound of sweet potato chips/crisps, what temp did you have the oven because I only make chips/fries (fat ones) and not chips/crisps (thin sliced ones) - wow this is confusing - I tried to make beetroot crisps/chips once and it took hours and turned out terrible.  But there is a shop bought pack of vegetable crisps/chips which are soooo yummy I'd love to make some like that but at home, oven baked and less salt but I think it's hard, no?

[Violet's mom]

Actually zucchini and squash make the best ones and only take an hour at 450 F.  Sweet potatoes take a little longer - slice em thin, brush them with olive oil and whatever seasoning you want.  Pat dry and let them cool.  Trying carrots today - DH is arguing about softness with me so we shall see.

[creations]

I'm going to try them out at my next opportunity.

WRT finger food though, steamed carrot batons are good, firm enough to pick up, soft enough to gum (although as pp said things don't actually need to be soft to gum, their gums can hack away at anything - honestly mine was chomping on beef without any teeth, toast, bread sticks, crackers - and if she starts teething you'll probably find she wants something harder to gnaw on as it gives pain relief).
A couple of posts back you asked about apples.  If you have the oven on anyway baked apple wedges are great (also pear), what I liked about them in the early days (as with most chunky cut wedges/batons done this way) is that the outside dries out making a dry easy to hold surface, whilst the inside goes soft making a yummy finger food.
You can steam apple or pear wedges too if you were having a non-oven day, don't do them too long they are done so quickly, and these are great too, only thing is they are quite wet for picking up so harder to grip.  Because of this you may find rings or half rings more suitable (fat slices and remove core, making a ring) the hole (or with the half ring, the crescent shape) makes a good grip handle for LO.

[Violet's mom]

She sucked on some pineapple today but wanted nothing to do with the carrots - do you think some babies like strong flavors?  Can I add spice at this age at all? 

Thanks again!

[creations]

You can use spices and herbs, just avoid salt (and salty things like soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce etc).  Mine was prob around 8 months when I made some potato wedges (skins on, baked in the oven) with garam masala seasoning sprinkled over them.  He LOVED them, however within  1 min of starting to eat his hands, wrists, and face came up in a blotchy skin rash, everywhere the garam masala had touched he reacted.  I gave him a thorough wash as fast as I could and didn't offer any more of that food, waited the rest of the day watching for any sickness but he was fine, it was only an external reaction. I must admit i avoided that particular spice mix for a long time after but he is just one LO, I am sure heaps of LOs are fine with it.  He loves curry and now he is older even helps me cook curry for the family.
So, yes I think some babies do like strong flavours and have taste for certain groups of foods too, mine loves carrots, sweet pot, courgette, aubergine, capsicum, green beans, mange tout, asparagus...but will not eat cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli.  I often hear many kids like broccoli, I think they have a taste for it or they don't.  Either way, offering the same food many many times will eventually lead to a taste of it. I found it helped mine to have foods cut into the same shape as he recognised them this way.