https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 03 May 2026 07:21:08 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291961 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 15:28:09 +0000 JoJoGirl 1291961@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Chastenet: Yep I remember my dad saying that as a kid. NEVER hit a kid on the back who is sputtering/gagging on their food... if there is noise, air is getting through. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291901 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 15:05:56 +0000 Chastenet 1291901@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T.H.O.U.: Yup, you're right about that. Actual choking doesn't make any noise. The airway is completely obstructed preventing any noise/air from exiting or entering. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291801 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:25:50 +0000 T.H.O.U. 1291801@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would also look up the difference in seriously CHOKING and GAGGING. From what I understand their gag reflex is in a different place at that age (center of tongue) so many things make them gag and they haven't learned how to move their tongue to move the food off that spot. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291771 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:17:06 +0000 regberadaisy 1291771@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were lucky in that LO was very good about knowing her own limitations. If she bit off more banana than she could handle she would fish it out with her hands, bite a smaller piece, chew, repeat.<br /> Because of that I never really had to cut small cubes.</p> <p>You should just cut it into small pieces for LO then. They should be practicing their pincer grip anyway at that age. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291759 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:13:51 +0000 hilsy85 1291759@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaMoose: I would also try only putting a few bits on the plate as well, and keep the others hidden til she finishes what's there!</p> <p>I would definitley try smaller pieces of food--in order to get the pincer grasp, they have to practice! If it's soft enough for you to squish between your fingers, your LO will be able to gum it and as long as she gets chewing (you see her making a chewing motion with her jaws) she should be fine. Of course gagging happens and is normal. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291505 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:09:28 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 1291505@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaMoose: I am probably too laid back about it! I just let it ride or give him a sip of water. He drinks from a straw so it is fairly easy to slip the end of the straw in his mouth. My husband totally flips out. I agree that doing a mouth sweet unnecessarily feels like adding gasoline to a fire! We have gone back to putting only a few bites of food on his tray at a time too. Which is annoying because it means I have to constantly check back to see if he needs more bites. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291341 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:19:24 +0000 brownie 1291341@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had/have a lot of gagging but he learned to work it out. And part of learning now is that their gag reflux and tongue thrust is still very shallow. So learning now learns it before it is actually in their airways. </p> <p>Even now (closer to 3 than 2), he just vomits instead of choking. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291330 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:17:32 +0000 Greentea 1291330@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: this happened to me :/ we tried half a banana but she is teething and just bit off a huge chunk... that I took out of her mouth... we are doing purees instead! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291327 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:14:07 +0000 Chastenet 1291327@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Sketchbook: Agree 100%. Gagging is part of learning, it's how they move food around in their mouths at first. We never had any issues with actual choking. At first we were very mindful of giving her soft, steamed veggies that were cut in fat fry type shape so she could grab them easily and they would be very easy to chew. Once she got the hang of it and was better at chewing her food we diversified the textures/shapes etc we were giving her. She's now 16m and the only things I still cut up are cherry tomatoes and grapes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291313 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:06:57 +0000 MamaMoose 1291313@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Sketchbook: How do you handle the million pieces of food in the mouth at once? My LO does this. But if I try to take her plate away and get her to chew what's in her mouth before taking more she freaks out and starts trying to launch out of her high chair to get the plate back from me and I feel like that just creates MORE of a choking hazard. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291304 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:02:09 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 1291304@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Silva: lol I remember when we first introduced solids we were at the beach with friends and he was like, mouthing a banana and my friends thought we were insane for calling that a "meal." Actually my LO dropped some in weight around that time because he preferred solids to milk and I had to start limiting the solids around 8 months to encourage him to gain more. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291291 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:57:36 +0000 kiddosc 1291291@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>That sort of choking/gagging really freaked my DH out, and he refused to give E any large chunks of food. We cut everything up into dime sized pieces. It wasn't until after he got molars that he really got good at biting off chunks of food that he could chew well. I really wanted to push BLW weening more at first, but after a while I came to the realization that it wasn't a big deal. It's not like he'll go off to college, or even kindergarten, needing us to cut his food up into tiny pieces. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291285 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:56:53 +0000 Silva 1291285@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Sketchbook: yeah, now that we are doing pieces of food she eats way, way less than with purees. I know that it's totally fine, and she will eat what she wants....but it's hard not to worry! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291281 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:54:28 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 1291281@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Silva: I guess it depends on the child's age/size? At six months mine could barely get his mouth around a banana )I mean a half a banana, not one cut into rounds or spears), and by 7-8 months he was eating small pieces of food. Also sweet potato I did rounds cut across the potato and he would just mouth the edges. </p> <p>I would also say BLW is big on the whole food before one= fun, so for a hardcore BLWer, the ideal would be to hold off on certain foods until baby is more able to handle them? Again, that is hardcore BLW though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291272 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:53:26 +0000 pinkb 1291272@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO choked on a piece of banana because she wanted to take a bit all by herself, I had to fish the piece out when she started to choke. So after that and a couple other incidents I cut everything into small pieces. For banana I would cut coins and then each coin was cut into 4 pieces. She never had an issue with those, and could pick them up easily. I cut everything into smaller pieces I never did "stick" until now at 12months and she still tend to stuff it all in and gag. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291264 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:52:41 +0000 blackbird 1291264@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jojogirl, well I've always given her a few seconds to dislodge whatever is in there and she's always managed to cough or spit it up. But I've poised my hand over her back a few times before, ready to grab and flip. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291257 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:50:48 +0000 Silva 1291257@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Sketchbook: this is what confuses me....everything I've read about blw says long and thin, like bananas halved length wise or spears of sweet potato. Wouldn't a round of banana be easy to choke on? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291255 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:50:32 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 1291255@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Silva: yes I agree. Thanks to BLW my LO had a pretty good pincher by like, 8 months so that middle time only lasted a short while. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291253 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:49:58 +0000 plantains 1291253@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: also, with the choking etc i always just reached into her mouth and fished the offending piece of food out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291250 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:49:14 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 1291250@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Try a mesh feeder!</p> <p>But really, we did pieces that were very large, like a whole roll or a whole piece of very dry toast, or the bottom half of a banana, a half avocado, or one half of a pear, or one cross section round of a sweet potato. Nothing long and skinny.</p> <p>I think it is important to see gagging as a sign of learning and no to think of it as being the same as choking. Of course that is easier said than done! We did BLW and didn't have any choking issues. The closest we have had is now him shoving a million pieces of food in his mouth at once! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291249 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:49:02 +0000 plantains 1291249@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>BLW did not work for us because of this, but with banana, it was always easier for us to give her the whole banana, trim the some of the skin leaving a bit of banana sticking out and let her bite bits off herself. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291242 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:47:57 +0000 Silva 1291242@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Like I said on the other thread, I just cut things into super tiny pieces, like pea size. She can grab them well enough to get some in her mouth. If I give her some on her tray, and then have something like soup to feed her she will eat bites of the soup/purée in between awkwardly trying to shove tiny bites in. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291240 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:47:30 +0000 JoJoGirl 1291240@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@blackbird: But she was actually choking, as in the banana was blocking her airway... you just let E figure it out?? That seems scary.... I need to brush up on my baby Heimlich.. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291232 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:46:23 +0000 blackbird 1291232@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Um, mine does this. Crams it in, then barfs it up because she FLIPS OUT when there's a chunk of food in her mouth. She likes the flavor, not the texture. Maybe it's part of the learning process? We've just been letting her torture herself =\ </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/blw-and-choking#post-1291226 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:44:39 +0000 JoJoGirl 1291226@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO decided last night at 7.5 months that she's had *enough* of mommy feeding her and is going to do it herself (FINE! Just go to college while you're at it!). She started reaching for the spoon and putting it in her mouth, or trying to grab the food off the spoon with her hand. We've been doing purees up until now as BLW didn't go over well when we started solids.</p> <p>Sooooo I cut up some long banana spears and put them in front of her. She picked up the first piece with her hand and brought it to her mouth (woohoo!), shoved it as far back in her throat as it would go, bit down, and immediately started choking. Eek! After a couple of seconds she was able to regurgitate the enormous piece and i fished it out of her mouth.</p> <p>How do you avoid them from doing that with BLW? I want to give her smaller pieces of food, but don't think she will be able to pick them up as easily... where is the balance? </p>