Hello ladies

Can i have some advice please. I am starting to think about weaning and which road i may take when the time gets here. I am interested in the BLW way but i have a phobia about choking

When i was 8 my brother who was 3 chocked on a sweet that i had given him. It was awful. My mum tried everything to get it out and he ended up going blue and collapsing in my mothers arms. Luckily my mother with no other option stuck her fingers down his throat and made him sick. I can still remember the smell of the hospital and the look on my parents face like it was yesterday.

I have successfully weaned 3 children and thought i was over it. That was until Ella my DD started to choke on food aged 3 she is 6 now and still doing it It has brought it all back. I have lost count of the amount of times i have had her over my knee dislodging something or another.

I have been dreading weaning this little one. I don't let my children know about my phobia as i don't want it to affect there eating habits. I have to keep my fear inside as they chomp away on apples e.c.t

I would just like to hear some successful BLW stories and go from there really.

I saw a clip on youtube of a baby of 6 months eating a chicken leg. I nearly fainted lol.

Thanks for listening ladies

first of all hun big that must of been horrible what happened and i can understand why it has given you a phobia of choking

for us blw has been amazing, we've only had 1 instance of gagging and no choking. the general rule is if there is noise as you think they are gagging/choking it means they can breath so the object is not lodge in their throat. as babies gagging reflex is further forward than older childrens it means they find it easier to deal with moving the lump around their mouth. also because they have control of what is going in their mouth they learn what to do quicker rather than a spoon being put in their mouth (especially going from smooth to lumpy purees)

when chloe did it she was making noise but oh wanted to jump in i made him wait even though it was hard for me and sure enough out came some bread and then she carried on eating like nothing has happened.

if you try it with softer foods etc that have less chance of choking you will be pleasantly surprised how well your lo deals with it.

its not for everyone though and i understand some people dont like or cant imagine doing it, but most people give finger foods along wth purees so its not much difference, just you dont have control over how much they eat, which allows them to judge when they are full etc

if you need to chat about it at all feel free to pm me

Thank you so much for the reply charli

I would definitely like to give BLW a go. My other 3 were feed the conventional way so this would be a nice experience for me and isla i think.
I think i will just take things really slowly and see how we go. I think i may combine the two until i feel completely comfortable with BLW.

My DD who is off school with a tummy bug has tried to start the process for me today. I went off into the kitchen to grab my cuppa off the side. When i came back in i was horrified to find Isla with a rich tea in her hand apparently she asked for a bite. Ummm very clever my 5 month old lol.

awww bless your dd for the biscuit thing, i guess kids love to try and help lol!

definitely sounds like a good idea mixing the two to build you confidence up, you may eventually then be able to stop with the purees and only do finger foods. we even given mash potato as a finger food, it goes everywhere but she gets some in

We've only just started blw and so far she's only gagged twice and that was on avocado, i don't think she likes it anyway though as she never goes for it anymore yet we tried her on some pasta and cheese yesterday and she didn't gag once, i was more worried about the pasta but it seems i had no need they do learn to chew quite quick and any bits they can't deal with they will gag/cough and it will come out of their mouth. I'm starting on really soft foods like strawberries, she eats the pulp and spits out the skin lol and pear etc x