sensitive gag reflex, trouble moving on with weaning!

[clairec81]

Hi ladies, just a wee post to ask if anyone else has been in this situation and/or has some advice as i'm at a bit of a loss! My LO is 10 1/2 months and very small (only 13lbs) she is not a big milk drinker but is better with solids however the HV has told me (and I know myself) that she should be on to finger foods. However when i give her anything like that, toast etc she cant seem to process it in her mouth and opens her mouth and begins to gag. She was always sick which meant she lost whatever she'd had previously - not good for weight gain! I've been keeping at it with some things and she's sick less but always gags and now usually manages to spit it out. I'm worried she'll not be moving on to the next stage when she should and she's showing signs of wanting to feed herself - bats the spoon away! She manages what her dietician calls 'bite and desolve' foods, e.g. wotsits, skips, rusks, prawn crackers but thats not much of a staple diet! Sorry for long post but getting in all the info. Any advice would be gratefully received, thanks as always!

 

[Marleysgirl]

No advice but a whole heap of sympathy

Andrew suffers terribly from this. He gags on jarred stage2 foods, and the entire meal then gets vomited. So we haven't moved on, he can cope with Ellas Kitchen & Plum stage 2 pouches but nothing else.

The dietitian says she sees this alot in premmies, and wonders if it's anything to do with them having been ogt-fed at some point (Andrew was). It's as if their mouths are hyper-sensitive at the back.

Our dietitian has no suggestions other than perservering, and trying the melt-in-the-mouth foods like quavers etc. Andrew however hasn't really associated food in the hand with food in the mouth, so he's not keen.

I remember writing about this recently, and Sb22 said that her Alex suffered from the same thing but suddenly one day it all "clicked" and she now eats quite happily. I am hopeful for the same with Andrew

 

[AP]

^wss. Honestley, for us, it was an overnight thing. I fell to bits when neonatal (albeit a terrible doctor) told us that she should be eating "this this and this" and i was like "She CANT"

About 5 days later, Alex tried cocktail sausages out a baked beans tin, and spaghetti. We never looked back. :O Now there was no way she would have managed that the week before. No way.

 

[sleeping bubs]

I was going to ask about this lol Mckenzie has recently started to do this again and everything comes back out then he refuses to eat. I have gone back to stage 2 food again and melt in the mouth and small finger foods, as I am having to mash everything again, I wondered if it was tonsillitis again but he refused to open his mouth at the doctors so hoping dietition will help