BLW help I can't get past the gagging. It makes me so nervous that i want to do purees. But dd won't…

Gagging is scary, that's for sure. But it's a good thing. It means that baby is recognizing a new food/texture and learning how to eat it. It also means they are learning how much to bite off, how much they can handle at once.

If baby goes silent, looks panicked, lips turn blue, etc. that's when you need to take action. Otherwise, sit back & watch baby learn. I know that's much easier said than done.

They get the hang of it pretty quickly!

I'd recommend some softer foods that you can easily squish between your fingers (avocado slices, bananas, sweet potato, baked carrots) to start with ☺️☺️

What types of foods are you feeding her? How small are you cutting it?

Well she likes sweet potatoes, strawberries, pineapple, apples, blueberries. I'll have to try avocado again, she didn't like it the time. All purees she liked then stopped accepting them when i started giving her tastes from my food. Example, I'll hold a strawberry while she sucks on it. And i do that for a few foods. I've tried blw at 6m and she would gag every bite. She's stopped gaining weight. Breastmilk just isn't enough anymore.

What about like steamed broccoli, nice soft pasta, shredded chicken?

Will she eat anything off of a spoon? Like yogurt, real oatmeal? Maybe let her try to use the spoon herself? It'll be messy but she might respond well to that.

I wouldn't be too worried about her not gaining as much weight unless her pedi is. My son plateaued around that age since he was getting really mobile.

Eta: we tried blw around 7 months once he showed all signs of readiness but he was not interested in eating. He'd put stuff in and spit it out, play with it, smush it up. He didn't start actually swallowing a substantial amount until around 8 months, after we'd been giving him food for almost a month. So your daughter might be similar. And that's totally normal for blw.

I've tried giving her the spoon. She doesn't want it. I can't imagine her being able to chew shredded chicken. She only has two teeth. I've tried letting her use her hands in the puree but that doesn't work either. But if I'm holding actual food in my fingers she's all over it. But gagging constantly.

Edit to add- she has no interest in food unless it's a big chunk of something I'm holding.

My son just went through this. I started feeding him purees through a straw and he did much better. He absolutely refused to eat off a spoon. Now he's 1 and can eat almost anything.

We did BLW & gagging looks so much worse to us, if LO is happy to carry on eating after gagging a bit then it can't be putting them off. It's just them learning how to control food in their mouth. Like another PP said it's the quite chocking to watch.

Keep going, probably in a month gagging will be pretty much gone.

Anything you can squeeze between your fingers your LO can mush between their gums. Just keep experimenting & having fun.

Stick at it. As a toddler nursery are forever telling me what a good eater she is as she isn't afraid to try any new foods, she likes being in control of what goes in her mouth & hated being spoon fed unless doing it herself.

ETA babies actually have a stronger gag reflex than adults too. Which is s good thing as they don't push the limits too far.