Choking on puree

[bekkie]

It's happened twice now... once with carrot... and once with sweet potato (we make our own)

first time with carrot it happened with my OH, today with sweet potato it happened with me... scared the living daylights out of me... and it put a quick end to that feeding...

Has this happened to anyone else? I didn't water it down or anything, could that have been the problem?

 

[K_babybump]

how long has he been eating solids for? If he is just new to it give it some time. It is such a new experience for them. Try watering it down a bit. Jack took a while to get use to the different textures of different food. He usually gagged a bit on the food at the end of the feed when he had enough.

 

[kiwimama]

You probably mean he's gagging. It's pretty normal as they get used to solids. Just give a really tiny amount on a small spoon and touch it to his lips and he can suck and lick it off. It will happen again and again when you introduce more foods. Ella still gags sometimes when she hasn't chewed her food enough or is over eager!

 

[velvetina]

hi hun, try making it runny to start with so its easier for him to swallow and savour the new tastes, then gradually you can make it a little thicker as he gets used to it. My dd will take purees thicker than my boys did to start so they are all different. I know the gagging is scary, I have a choking fear but keep going it does get easier. x

 

[bekkie]

he's been eating solids for about a month, normally cereal, banana, or apple puree - I don't know what the difference is between gagging and choking... all I know is he wasn't breathing and his eyes started to water - we had him weighed today and was basically told that he needs to eat more solids, my breast milk isn't doing it for him I guess as he's dropped quite a bit on the percentiles, we'll keep trying though thanks!

 

[Eala]

I never understand this thing which health professionals spout out about babies "needing solids". Puree'd vegetables do not have more calories than breastmilk or formula. Baby rice is bulkier, so it'll make baby feel full, but they're not actually getting anywhere near as many calories. In reality, it's the other way round - your breastmilk is probably doing just fine, but your baby maybe isn't taking so much, as he's full of other things!

A baby's gag reflex when they are young is much nearer the front of the mouth than an adult's. This is to stop anything which could choke them from getting near the windpipe. What you described sounds like gagging rather than choking. My LO sometimes still gags on things, and yes, her eyes water and it looks like she's holding her breath while she clears it. Gagging is nothing to be worried about, it's normal!

I was sure that someone at some point posted a video that showed the difference between gagging and choking, but I can't find it at the moment. Hopefully someone else will be able to!

 

[OmarsMum]

Omar gagged & threw up today when I tried to give him mashed potato (real one not baby stuff). He's good with lumps & he rarely gags, & he's been eating real food with no puree since he was 6.5 mnths. But he hated the taste of the mash & kept it in his mouth until he gagged & threw up.

 

[bekkie]

thanks so much for explaining the difference Eala it puts me a lot more at ease!! He hasn't really been eating a lot of solids, it's been 90% BM and 10% solids (1 meal a day most days, sometimes 2 with some watermelon in a fresh food feeder to help with his teething)

We still feed BM on demand and he will drain one (or both) breasts every 2 - 3 hours (day and night)

the nurse actually suggested putting ranch dressing on vegetables to add fat - which there is no way in heck I'm doing.

she also said that now that he's 6 months old he isn't getting enough iron from my BM so he needs meat in his diet?

 

[Eala]

The iron stores which babies are born with do start to get used up at 6 months. But it's not like "at 6 months they are gone", they just start to run low (as far as I remember from the Gill Rapley book). I'm not sure what they recommend for BF mums, as my LO was FF, but iron doesn't just appear in meat! Loads of vegetables have iron in them... peas actually have more iron than spinach!

I don't even know what goes in ranch dressing, but I'd imagine most shop-bought varieties would be quite high in salt. If you want to add something to get more fats in, then cream or unsalted butter is a good place to start For example, I mix a spoon of cream in with my LO's porridge in the morning. And even if I'm putting something sticky on toast or bread (like banana), I'll still put butter on as well.

Sounds like you are doing just great! Believe me, I know what it's like to have health "professionals" nagging at you, but your Mummy instincts are usually right

 

[hivechild]

Full milk yogurt is another good one for fats (i like greek yogurt as it's thicker and high in protein), and avocado as well.

 

[bekkie]

thank you Eala for the reassurance and both of you for the food ideas!

We're going to start mixing in some butter with his sweet potato at dinner and we picked up some avocado which should be ripe tomorrow and we're going to try it as a finger food.

 

[Eala]

You're welcome

The first thing my LO ever tried to eat was avocado on toast Just be warned - avocado is a slippery little thing, my LO has trouble with it even now (she is BLW'd). Maybe try putting it on toast, much easier to grip that way

 

[Nel]

I know I'm a bit late responding to this but if you are worried about choking perhaps you could do an infant resuscitation course? I did one organised by my local children's centre. It only cost £3 and gave me the confidence to know what to do if my LO ever did start choking.

The PPs are right, though, gagging is often mistaken for choking and is perfectly natural. In fact gagging is the safety reflex infants have to prevent choking so it's actually a good thing! It wears off quite quickly though.