Finger foods safe for BLW?

[adzuki]

I am interested in starting a bit of BLW with Miss M - I like the theory behind it, but I am TERRIFIED of her choking on something. So far almost everyone in my family has had an incredibly close call with choking, so I am a bit nervous.

Are there any finger foods that are less likely to cause choking than others? I've heard about soft cooked broccoli spears, but couldn't she choke on the little beady things?


A

 

[purple_socks]

sorry u got scared off from that thread. its gone quite off track which is shame...i guess its hard to talk abt the pros to BLW (and the reasons we all chose to do it) without people feeling like its a dig at TW. its gone slightly off on a tangent tho coz the debate is actually abt the 'old fashioned' 'correct' method of TW which lots of people have adapted so the debate is fairly moot really.

i'd def reccomend reading the BLW book by gill rapley if ur thinking of combining/ moving over to BLW...it addresses choking a lot because thats parents main concern with BLW.

i'll give u a brief bit of info but she explains things better than me.

Lots of parents confuse gagging with choking and panic (understably so coz its still scary) abt gagging which is completely normaly and actually a good thing (yes i know that might sounds weird). chokeing is silent because there is no air getting through where as gagging is coughing, retching and sometimes even sicking it up (kians done that a couple of times).

Gagging is a natural reflex that brings food back up and stops it getting stuck in our airways. Babies gag reflexes r further 4ward when they r younger so it kicks in earlier as a safety thing so food will be 'gagged out' before it gets anywhere near the windpipe. as they grow up the reflex moves backwards towards where an adults is...when babies first try finger foods they will always bite off too much or shove something to far down because they r still fine tuning their motor skills and learning abt what does and doesn't work so they need the gag relfex to help them when experimenting. It is far safer to experiment when the gag reflex is further 4ward and food is less likely to get stuck... learning how to bring food back up if its gone down the wrong way is a very useful skill!

also if u put solid / finger foods into ur childs mouth then they r more likely to choke so the concept of BLW is to actually help with preventing choking. If done correctly it is statistically less dangerous...

anyway to answer ur question i'm not sure if there is a food that u can choke on less? anything can get stuck in ur throat i think...the stuff Kian has gagged most on is soft things like banana (we had a bit of that come back up with a pool of sick )

rice cakes seem to b less gag inducing 4 us because he can hold them easily and they go mushy when wet.

also green beans seem to work well because they don't really break up or 'flake' and they r long enough to get a good grip on but having said that,becuase they don't break up he doesn't actually 'eat' them...he just sucks them for a while then gets bored.

u could try some roasted verg like aubgerine (its called egg plant 4 u i think) and potato...we started with things like that. they r hard enough to hold and the insides r soft. also they can b cut into easy to hold shapes.

Kian gagged quite often when we started but even in the short space of time we've been doing it he barely gags now.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

The little bits of broccolli are too small to be a choking hazard. That was the first food we tried with Ruby and she never even gagged. She still gags sometimes, on harder foods such as raw apple, but has never choked.

Some pointers - cut small round fruits in half (such as grapes) and peel tangerine segments, not give nuts obviously, and give toast rather than bread, as bread can go into a ball and stick to the roof of their mouth.

Come and join the support thread. We're all very very nice, we were only defending ourselves in the other thread, hope you're not scared of us now

 

[Lu28]

I think generally the softer the food the less chance of gagging but I have one of those babies who's still constantly gagging - she's a bit greedy and keeps trying to get too much food in her mouth!! I think Claire's advice is great as far as choking goes but there's no real way to stop gagging and it's something they need to learn at some point.

Come join us on the support thread, we're really not all that scary!

 

[TigerLady]

A, there is definetely no way around gagging. Otter does it frequently. He even gagged on his brocolli spears last night, which he has never done before. But he has never choked.

Have you seen the video on my FB account I posted of him eating watermelon? It is there if you haven't seen it. He gags a bit at the beginning.

I can't seem to guess what he is most likely to gag on. It seems to vary depending on his mood and method of trying to eat. However, I will say he seems to have the most trouble with things that get sticky or mushy (like bread and toast).

We started off with things like steamed carrot sticks, brocolli spears, sweet pickes, raw cucumber sticks, steamed sweet potato sticks, etc. And he had a pretty easy time with them. He would gag, but not with bits. He would have the spear in his fist and simply stick it too far back in his mouth, causing him to gag. It was solid enough that a piece wouldn't break off and he would just pull it back out of his mouth. Maybe start with something like that.

Before you do, if you haven't already, make sure you know exactly how to deal with a choking incident. I don't think Miss M is all that likely to truly choke, but you might be more relaxed about it if you are confident you would know what to do IF she does.

 

[adzuki]

Thanks guys! You all have some fab advice, and TL, I think it will really help to check out that video - will go look fo it. I think I will still do mostly TW - because that's my comfort level, but I do worry about accidentally "force feeding" her. She does this thing where she looks away at the TV or Y or something else that has caught her interest, then looks back at me and opens her mouth a little. I am guessing that she wants more food, but I don't know for sure - has she turned away or just gotten distracted? I figure that I could get to know her likes and dislikes if she could show me them, IYKWIM.

So I think that next week I will try steamed broccoli, sweet potato and carrots. Do you bake the sweet potato in strips. or?

Thanks guys - I really appreciate your frankness and support!!!

xoxo
A

 

[TigerLady]

I have done both baked and steamed sweet potato. If you bake them, make them bigger than you think they will need to be as they shrink. I have a steamer basket that I use in a sauce pan. Basically, I steam any veg that I want him to have (incl potato) in that and it works just fine. I can get it just soft enough to gum without it being mushy.

The two important things to start will be size of the food and you NOT helping her. Don't put it her mouth, don't "show" her how to do it by guiding her hand to her mouth. Leaver her to it totally by herself. That will be the best way to avoid choking.

Also, if you want an idea of size, there are pics on my FB of Otter with different foods. There is one with sweet potato where he looks all grumpy and mad, you can get a good idea of size from that.

 

[adzuki]

Awesome!!!! Thanks! I'm excited! I think she'll be happy with it - she knows exactly what to do with her baby mum mum's and when I give her a spoon to play with, she sticks the spoon end in her mouth - they are smarter than we think sometimes, I think!



What aboutfruit slices like apple - should they be steamed too, or raw?

Thanks for all the info!

A

 

[TigerLady]

I give them raw or baked (with skins left on). But you can steam them, too. Try different ways until you find what Miss M likes best.