Gagging/throwing up with finger foods??

[Brz04]

Help!! Our LO is a little over 8mo and loves puréed baby food (he eats 2-3 containers of fruits and veggies a day) so we decided to try finger foods the other day. I broke some of those Gerber puffs into tiny pieces and put them on his tray and he was able to get a few in his mouth but he gagged really hard a few times and threw up all the baby food he has just eaten He also did this with tiny pieces of mushed up banana a few days later! Is this normal for him to throw up and gag so badly at first with finger foods?? Should I keep trying or wait a while longer until he's older?? When did u start finger foods?

 

[twobecome3]

closer to age 1 for finger foods, the gagging bothered me too much at that age xx


ps. it is normal

 

[iiTTCii]

We are doing BLW so started with finger foods at 6 months. For the first few weeks, she gagged a lot and was sick, it takes them a while to get used to it. She's great now and will eat anything you put in front of her. I would keep at it and offer some finger food at every meal for him to get used to it.

 

[biglebowski]

We did BLW from 6 mo and our lo gagged initially but is a fantastic eater now. The gagging may seem scary but its totally normal, and their way of staying safe. Lo's gag reflex is much further forward in their mouth. Lo's will experiment with the food and learn how to work the food around their mouth, chew, amount to eat etc. Id maybe read up a little on it, and if you feel okay keep at the finger foods.

 

[MindUtopia]

Gagging and throwing up is normal. You're asking him to learn to eat in a way that thus far has been completely foreign to him. And he has to learn to do it and that takes time. Just like when he learns to walk, he'll fall down until he gets the hang of it, when he learns to eat real food, he'll gag and be sick a bit to start. This is particularly difficult when you've started on purees and are now making the switch to finger foods. We did BLW from 6 months and there was a bit of gagging for the first 2 weeks, but I think the transition was much easier as she hadn't been used to or expecting purees. One piece of advice would be to not break things up into small pieces. Give him a whole biscuit or a whole piece of banana (we always cut the banana into thirds so she has sticks of it that are roughly 3 inches long) or a whole mini rice cake or roasted carrot stick or whole steamed broccoli floret. It's much easier for them to eat finger food when it isn't so small they have to put the whole thing in their mouth right away. If you leave it big, he can hold it in his hand and suck on it and bite off pieces that will be manageable for him to eat. But really, it just takes time and you have to be patient and trust him to do it. I assure you, he can though. We did BLW, so only finger foods from the start and never a single puree. My daughter was eating pieces of toast, and those bananas cut into thirds, and whole rice cakes, and cucumber sticks, etc. from 6 months (and with no teeth).