FTM- Am I doing okay?

[Ladybuggz]

Hey ladies,
I'm a first time mum and currently tackling food with Oscar who's just over 7 months. I honestly feel like I don't have a clue what I'm doing! We started our food journey around 6 weeks ago now, starting with baby rice and moving onto pureed fruits/mashed banana. I wasn't really sure on the amount to feed the little guy, pretty much feed him till he's lost interest. At the moment he eats an egg cup full of food at lunch and then the same amount at dinner. As of tomorrow we'll be increasing his meals to three a day.

I got Oz weighed yesterday and spoke to the health visitor who said he should be eating food off our plate by now, including halves of grapes, cucumber sticks, wheetabix and even sausages. She advised we start right away as 'it will be a steep learning curve for the little guy'. I went home and imediately gave him a quarter of a grape which he choked on and tried him with a cucumber stick (which he wasn't sure about). I really don't think he's ready for the foods she suggested yet.

Should I continue going slow with the feeding or take her advice?

p.s. Not sure if this makes any difference but I breastfeed Oz every two-three hours during the daytime.
Thanks for reading ladies!

 

[tublet]

I think your HV is being a little harsh saying your baby will have to undergo a steep learning curve, I think you sound like your doing great! All babies are different, mind wouldn't have purées so we had to just move into finger foods!

Grapes are sausages are notorious choking hazards, not what I would say are good choices for finger foods!

I started off with breadstips and dips, toast, carrot sticks. Doesn't matter if they don't eat just let baby play and gum with it. They will get the hang of it in their own time!

I would also recommend a baby first aid course or watching videos on you tube if you haven't already. Made me feel much more confident with choking and gagging and what the difference is.

Don't best yourself up your doing great!

 

[liz1985]

Sounds like you doing great.

I agree and disagree with your hv. I do agree you should start giving finger foods. The longer you leave it to introduce them the longer it will take them to get used to it. However grapes and sausages are 2 of the worst choking hazards there are so don't know why she picked those out as examples, plus sausage id full of salt.

We did blw so had finger food from the beginning but good finger foods to begin with are things like toast, sticks of cheese, soft fruit such as pear, mango or banana cut into finger size peices, veggies such as sweet potato or butternut sqaush again cut into finger size peices. Anything easy for them to pick up.

You will probably find that he does gag a little at first, they have a very strong gag reflex to stop them from actually choking and this helps them learn how to chew and swallow.

It might be a good time to start making his food more textured as well, maybe try mashing instead of puree.

It can be scary and hard to believe they can handle all this food but its surprising what they can actually manage.