I think it might be interesting to compare experiences, as 'fear of gagging/choking' is the most oft-quoted reason not to do BLW.
Taking the first three months of BLW, let's say, because by nine months Babybear really wasn't gagging any more (or was doing it so efficiently that I didn't notice) I reckon she maybe did it once a week for the first while, maybe. And I think i may be over-exaggerating that in order not to under-estimate it, if you know what I mean..?
So that's twelve times, tops. And as for choking, I can only remember once with a damned apple but my beloved says he thinks it happened twice. In any case a slap on the back sorted her out without resort to any more complex resus techniques. I don't remember her ever looking scared while she was gagging, whereas the image of her trying and failing to get the blinking apple up will forever be etched on my memory... hence my personal 'no raw apple until she's old enough to hold the whole thing' rule. Imagine my surprise when it turned out she could do that at nine months...
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So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
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Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Jeni
on Fri 02 Mar 2007 14:32 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
for the first few months josh gagged i would say at virtually every meal, now he just coughs and splutters for a minute to bring whatever it is back to the front of his mouth and hey presto, he carries on eating it. as for choking, josh has never choked on anything, its always been just gagging.
Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Alison
on Fri 02 Mar 2007 15:21 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
LittleE has never choked on anything. Occasionally she has a fit of coughing (I wouldn't call it gagging though), and she usually laughs afterwards. I don't make a big thing of it, just offer her some water and carry on with the food. She has started doing a 'fake cough' because I think DH has responded a few times to the coughing!! She is 8 months now and I can honestly say BLW has been completely stress and hassle free!
Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Rowan
on Fri 02 Mar 2007 19:44 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
Munch has never choked either, she did gag repeatedly on nectarines and peaches, I think it was something to do with the skin. My mum (believe it or not a mother of 5!) did panic ('Darling, she's choking, she's choking, darling, quick, help her for gods sake') but calmed down when I pointed out that she wasn't, actually!
And with the 'fake coughing thing' I am in the same boat here, I laugh when she does it so she thinks its funny and now she expects hilarity when she does little pathetic girlie coughs.... Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
Babybear coughs when anyone else does, or even when someone mentions the word. You can't offer someone a 'coffee' round our way without Babybear dissolving into a round of crowd-pleasing 'ack-ack-acks'.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Loll
on Fri 02 Mar 2007 20:52 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
Grizzles has only gagged 3 times, on a nectarine every time. I worked what the culprit was, eventually, so they're off the menu for a while. No choking, touch wood, but she's got the hang of eating now so hopefully we're in the clear.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Eleanor
on Sat 03 Mar 2007 09:59 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
We've been at it for less than a month, but so far Piglet has never choked and only gagged once (pear). She has the odd cough or splutter when spitting out a bit too big to swallow, but I wouldn't call that gagging - I'd say gagging is when something goes to the back of the throat and they have to retch a bit to hack it out?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Eleanor
on Sat 03 Mar 2007 10:05 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
... and I don't think she splutters any more often than friends' babies do as they eat their purees!
Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
scary
on Mon 05 Mar 2007 20:47 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
Minimoo does gag, he kind of pulls an "I'm going to gip" face and out pops the offfending article. It has never bothered him. He has a minor choke once, although thinking back it was probably a major gag really. He cried for a minute then was fine. But that's all in nearly four months.
Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
tracyj
on Wed 07 Mar 2007 15:41 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
Pumpkin has only gagged a handful of times and no choking, fingers firmly crossed. Although my mum would probably disagree as she (Pumpkin, not my Mum) gagged on a piece of broccoli on Christmas Day and we had the whole "oooohhhhmyyyygooooddd, she's choking" panic. My Dad launched himself out of his chair at the speed of light, by which time Pumpkin had cleared the broccoli and was wondering what all the fuss was about.
Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
tracy
on Sun 18 Mar 2007 21:43 GMT | Permanent Link
Only when eating mince. He can handle raisins, dried apricots, pears, chicken and lamb. But give him mince and he gags and gives up on it! So when he has spag bol I will puree the mince into the sauce.
Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
ah, the mince thing. dd coughed a bit on spag bol mince in the early days and i found that the solution was to not break up the mince very much when you are cooking it, so by the time it's ready you've got two or three baby-sized meatballs.
Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
tracyj
on Mon 19 Mar 2007 07:56 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
I gagged on mince until I was about 12 at which point my mum and dad decided I just didn't like it so he has my sympathy! Haven't eaten it since....
Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Anonymous
on Sun 24 Jun 2007 20:45 BST | Permanent Link
My son always, always gags on lettuce (and he's nearly 11 months old now). No problem with anything else since the early days. It's a shame because he really seems to like it, especially lamb's lettuce, but always ends up spitting it back out again with his eyes watering. Don't suppose anyone else has found this?
Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
LOL, my daughter, 18 months old, just gagged up some spinach salad today. must be the first time she's gagged in near enough a year... she's fine with crisp lettucy things but i wonder if the fact that she doesn't have all her molars yet makes it difficult to grind raw leaves up?
Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Sophieh
on Sun 24 Jun 2007 21:17 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Maybe that's it... he doesn't have any teeth at all yet!
(Didn't mean to be anonymous by the way; it's my first post here, not sure what I did wrong) Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
welcome to the site, sophie. i have vaue recollections of centrifuging a dark green leaf in biology class so we could look at cell structures... they're tough little things.
Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Bunny
on Mon 25 Jun 2007 08:06 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Mine only gags on water (strange child)
Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Tinkerbelle's Mummy
on Mon 25 Jun 2007 12:06 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
The breastfeeding lady that got me into BLW said that you nearly always choke on liquids.
Tink strangely took to BLW better than a lot of babies, yet she has a between one and two gags a fortnight. Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Cornish smiler
on Mon 25 Jun 2007 20:28 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Just early days for us (day 6) but The Samster is already not gagging as much as he was. He actually chewed a breadstick and I almost passed out with excitement (well, perhaps not but it was good to see!!!) If he does gag he just coughs, splutters, shivers and spits out the offending bit of food. I'm more relaxed about him gagging now as I know it goes with the territory. He used to gag much more on a puree than he does now.
Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Quokka
on Mon 25 Jun 2007 20:41 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hi Ali
Glad you're getting on well - we're making progress slowly - Fidget isn't eating much but enjoying playing with the food. We went to a friends for a roast lunch y/day and he loved the butternut squash - very messy though, he ended up licking it off my fingers - not quite baby led, but we didn't have a highchair for him. Today we did sweet potato wedges - very tasty. Ali Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Cornish smiler
on Mon 25 Jun 2007 20:51 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
That's great Ali - at this stage it's just all about letting them feel textures etc, taste the different tastes and have fun isn't it. I was eating a gingerbread man (that my daugher left, good girl!) at a friends house yesterday with The Samster on my lap and these pudgy little hands shot up from nowhere, grabbed the biscuit and proceeded to eat almost all of it. Very messy but very good fun!!!
Glad it's going well. Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Alice
on Tue 14 Aug 2007 22:31 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Another new girl - Littleun' has been at this on and off for about 3 weeks and only properly for about a week. I'm amazed how little he's gagged (Daddy's main worry when we discussed BLW and I showed him the GR article). Littleun' loves rice cakes and when his much older - puree eating - friend (a whole nine months to his nearly 6) ate a rice cake at ours last week she gagged and was sick at least twice. I think some babies gag lots and some don't - thankfully mine don't. I'm not convinced that the BLW has anything to do with it.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
well... practising has something to do with it, definitely.
the gag reflex moves back in the mouth over time and with practice (there is a disgusting example i could give you but i'm sure you can work it out) so a baby allowed to eat finger food should get over their gagging quickly. however, where the gag reflex is at 6 months is dependant on the individual so you definitely get children who are more sensitive to food in their mouths than others and who will gag more often. Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Nutmeg
on Wed 15 Aug 2007 02:05 BST | Permanent Link
Elias gagged constantly whenever there was any food in his mouth at all for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks (okay... maybe i'm exaggerating a tad, but it was a good month and a half). Then one day he just got over it.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Eli
on Wed 15 Aug 2007 09:37 BST | Permanent Link
Munchkin has only gagged twice period in over 3 months.I think this may be partly down to the fact she used my finger instead of a dummy from birth so her gag reflex is probably quite far back anyway. I think this may also apply to thumb suckers (from my own experience, my gag reflex is so far back I can't actually reach it, 20 odd years of thumb sucking!)
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Mij
on Wed 15 Aug 2007 10:39 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Generally about 1 minor gag per meal for the first month or so, rapidly decreasing thenceforth. Now, at 14 months, IzzyMouse only gags on skins - tomatoes in particular - but not always, some do go down fine, and satsuma segments, but then if she will try to shove 5 in at once, what can she expect... Probably related to lettuce etc mentioned by PPs, its the big stringy things that seem to still occasionally trouble older babes.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Alice
on Thu 16 Aug 2007 13:29 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Thanks - that's interesting; littleun' has sucked his thumb nearly continually since he was ten weeks so perhaps that helped... on the other hand his brother (nearly three) still has a disgusting dummy and I don't remember him gagging on finger food - tho' it's a while ago now and I'm fully aware what havoc hormones have played with my memory.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
Funny I just realized that DD (11mon, BLW since 6) has gagged very rarely (lettuce was the main culprit) and choked once (breadstick while running, must sit now to eat!). However, she gags nearly every day during BF - must be something about where it hits her mouth. Strange huh!
That said, I really need to step up the food on offer. I've been pretty scared of choking and so really limited in what we offer. Reading through this site is a good reminder that she's a big girl, with 8! teeth, and excellent pinchers. Let her at it! Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
adammum
on Sun 14 Oct 2007 10:55 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
really wish I had read your rule about raw apple before this am. Was having one after breakfast and Adam reached for it. Thought I would see what he did with it. He got a bit of it off and started coughing and chockinhg...What a fright. Think my rule will be until he is five!!!!
Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
oh dear, what a shock. i really think raw apple is dangerous, it's too liable to break off in chunks and if you think about it you could keep it in your mouth for a long time and it wouldn't break down. same for carrots, really, but they're easier to chop into smaller pieces. still, i tend to slice them rather than hand over big lumps even now. and she just takes the whole apple, has done for ages.
Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
by
Arifa
on Wed 04 Feb 2009 21:44 GMT | Permanent Link
My baby gags almost every time I eats something bigger than a grain of rice. I took this as a sign that he's maybe not ready (even though he's 8 months).
Re: Re: So How Often Does Your Baby Actually Gag, Then?
some babies do really seem to have very sensitive gag reflexes, it must be an almighty pain in the neck whether you're feeding with sticks of carrot or with purees. from what i've seen people on the forum say, one day it just... stops. no rhyme or reason, it just seems to sort itself out. have you asked on the forum, a bit of moral support might not go amiss in any case.
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