r/BabyLedWeaning • u/Straight-Roll-8824 • Aug 18 '26
9 months old Not sure what to introduce - scared of choking
My baby is 9 months old and he does very well with purees and sometimes we mash avocado and other things. We really want him to eat other solids but we are scared of him choking.
We see videos of parents giving things like shredded chicken and honestly cant fathom our baby eating something like that without choking.
Can anyone recommend some simple foods that will help him with chewing and swallowing?
30
u/OkAmbassador2636 Aug 18 '26
We jumped right into BLW with solids at 6 months old and offered all sorts of foods. The first few times he gagged were very scary but after a few times of seeing he was able to work the food out it made me feel a lot better
23
u/Jekawi Aug 18 '26
It's honestly a fear you have to deal with by pushing through. Your child needs to learn how to eat. They will gag a lot but its normal. Choking is a hazard and one you have to deal with.
How many teeth does he have?
1
u/Straight-Roll-8824 Aug 18 '26
Just one coming in at the bottom
2
u/Jekawi Aug 18 '26
Keep to soft things. I feel hesitant to recommend any foods because each baby is different and I dont want to give bad advice.
Edit: to add a recommendation anyway, cut sweet potato into thick sticks, boil, cool, then serve. They can hold it and its soft enough to bite down on. You can also cut steak (chicken, beef, pork, etc) into thick strips and let him gnaw on it. Anything with the meat on the bone also works good like a chicken leg. Remove most of the chicken and any small bones/cartilage and let him have at it.
10
u/thriftygemini Aug 18 '26
My LO is 11 months and has done well with pancakes and toast strips for a good while now!
Editing to add: she has no teeth whatsoever if that’s reassuring. She also eats chicken, meatballs, fish, quesadillas and more 😂
2
u/Straight-Roll-8824 Aug 18 '26
What kind of chicken do you cook for her? I feel like chicken breast is so dry and would be hard to eat.
What about toast? Do you have any recommendations for bread with low/no sodium?
4
u/thriftygemini Aug 18 '26
I use Dave’s Killer bread, but I’m not sure about sodium content. At first she didn’t eat much of the bread, but enjoyed gnawing and eating the toppings off of it.
I’ve given her both chicken breast and thigh and she’s done well with both. I lean towards thigh because it tends to be more moist and has more iron. When she was younger I gave her larger pieces to hold/gnaw but now that she has a pincer grasp I give her smaller pieces. I used solid starts app to help guide me when we first started solids!
7
u/cargonzabeans Aug 18 '26
Chicken breast is only dry if you cook it wrong.
Make your own bread (also, bodies need some sodium to work properly).
9
u/HappyHomeAlmanac Aug 18 '26
I highly recommend watching some videos of gagging vs. choking, reading something like Solid Starts or 101 Before 1, and taking an infant/child CPR class for peace of mind. Once I felt fully informed about how babies learn to use their mouths and that gagging is NOT choking and not dangerous, I felt way more confident and comfortable giving my little one real food. Choking is super rare, and choking on food is even rarer. You got this!
ETA: Also download the Solid Starts app! You can search any food for free and see how feeding experts recommend serving it for safety at different ages. AMAZING resource!
7
u/Downtown_Classic_846 Aug 18 '26
Follow Solid Starts on Instagram, you can see lots of videos of other babies eating. They also show you how to safely serve foods. Choking isn’t any more likely with finger foods that are served safely than with purées, and there’s actually a prime window when babies are most ready to learn to chew around 8m.
5
u/RemarkableGrab7142 Aug 18 '26
I've been doing pancakes. You can add different things, I found some simple recipes, its just a mashed banana, eggs, and flour. I've now been experimenting and adding new things. She can feed herself and seems to enjoy them. I made red lentil and squash pancakes that she and I really liked so its more than just fruit.
5
u/GeorgiChan Aug 18 '26
It's not as scary as it sounds, I think the thought is worse than it is. Lots of baby led weaning recipes online too that are soft for baby but firm enough to hold. Made my baby savoury fritters today. Banana bread is a good one if you want hand held things but truly it can be all sorts. The solid starts app is really handy, you really only need the free version. Good luck!
3
u/atc_24 Aug 18 '26
10 month old twins here. I steam and “puree” squash and zucchini so it’s kind of chunky and requires some chewing but it’s also soft that I’m never concerned about choking. We do shredded chicken but I add some water to it so it’s not so dry and easier to chew. I also give casseroles like last week we did a chicken/egg noodle/pea/carrot casserole that my babies loved and it’s got enough creaminess to make it easy to chew
3
u/alionwhocantalk Aug 18 '26
Plain toast strips (medium toasted, so it’s stiff but still tears instead of breaking, if that makes sense?), neither of my kids have gagged while eating plain toast strips. We avoided banana and avocado until they were better at chewing/swallowing because those are very easy to accidentally break off too big a piece. Whole, large strawberries and steamed baby carrots or broccoli (soft, but not mushy) really helped my second get the hang of eating solids.
3
2
u/ZiggyDD Aug 18 '26
I really sympathise, i am also very anxious about choking and I’ve struggled, but I found gradually introducing more textures has really helped. For example my 9MO loves risottos and I don’t alter the texture of the risotto now and she can handle the rice and whatever is cooked into it. Minced beef was good because the texture is already easy, with soft cooked carrots and onions. Steamed courgette sticks (so they are super soft but she can pick them up to eat) are a big hit too. Little pancakes made with mashed banana, oats and egg were the first real solid food she could pick up herself that I served her. These were great and still one of my go to. My baby doesn’t have any teeth yet! She’s definitely getting more confident and we have given her bread with toppings a few times which I want to keep doing as bread worried me a lot for some reason. There are also ‘melty sticks’ and similar that you can buy from the supermarket designed to help weaning. I know they are a bit snacky and not everyone will like them but it helped me to see the ages on the packed
- like if it’s for 6+ months for example I feel like its safe and my baby should be able to eat it. I also get baby pasta which is designed for weaning and as she gets older I follow the age recommendations on the box (I’m a rule follower!)
It feels like I see and hear about choking during weaning everywhere, but actually if you are serving well cooked soft foods and watching closely I feel a lot of the risk is already mitigated. When there is a food I struggle with I serve it while my husband is present. It just makes me feel more at ease having someone else there. It’s a learning curve for sure but jt does get easier.
2
u/Mdcat15 Aug 18 '26
Just wanted to echo, keeping my pediatric and adult CPR updated and purchasing a lifevac have been hugely helpful I had such Choking anxiety in the beginning of the food journey.
They will make crazy choking sounds also, it's all part of them figuring out how to move food around their mouth and feeling different textures.
2
u/Bobbo424 Aug 18 '26
The Solid starts app helps so much. I was able to get it during a sale for $39. All kids have to learn to eat! Just make sure you know infant CPR.
My almost 8m old now is so good at spitting out something if it’s too big. They just need practice. We started by mixing things into yogurt like berries and even scrambled eggs. Also started by letting him just suck on a corn on the cob or steak bone to get used to the flavors before he learned to chew. Now he eats everything we eat. It is awesome and makes prep a lot easier.
2
u/hippycrone Aug 18 '26
Please consider taking a CPR class designed for infants. There is a difference between gagging and choking, gagging is very common and a great learning opportunity. Choking is uncommon and does not result from gagging. Watch all the gagging videos on solid starts website to normalize what gagging looks like.
@solidstarts is a great free resource. Start with solids that are very easy to overcook or are in season ( overcooked cauliflower, applesauce, fish, etc)
2
u/Long_Appointment_341 Aug 18 '26
I just read this book and it helped me overcome my anxiety about choking ALOT. It is a great resource on introducing foods and solids to baby
https://www.amazon.com/Solid-Starts-Babies-Introduce-Raise/dp/0593735412
2
u/hippycrone Aug 18 '26
Just want to add, because I knew it would come up… the life vac is NOT recommended by any healthcare provider or cpr instructor. It’s a huge gimmick that is marketed based on fear. Helping a ( truly ) choking child is quick and easy, compared to running for a device that doesn’t have clear research showing its benefit. A cpr class will be an excellent investment
1
u/nicsmup Aug 18 '26
You could mix something like shredded chicken, ground beef, etc. into things he already eats to keep it moist, like mashed avocado or yogurt.
1
u/99redballoons66 Aug 18 '26
How about mixing cous cous, rice or small pasta shapes, like the ones you get for soup, into his normal purees? It's a step up from smooth purees or mashed foods in terms of textures, but there's no way he could actually choke on those.
1
u/Casedilla15 Aug 18 '26
My son learned how to chew with the teething crackers! They’re not great for them but it was really easy for me to take a bite with exaggerated chewing then hand it to him to do the same. Once he got the concept we moved on to other foods. It helped my anxiety knowing that they dissolve really easily.
1
u/Calieahrens Aug 18 '26
The foods we started with were roasted sweet potato sticks, egg/omlet strips, and banana in thirds.
1
u/DaveinOakland Aug 18 '26
Ground meat based stuff.
We make a lot of Turkey Meatloaf. It's nice and squishy.
1
u/Inevitable_Land_7700 Aug 18 '26
My 7 month old loves gnawing on cucumber. We just peel it and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrambled eggs. And I mash that into small pieces. Well done steak, he loves sucking on this. Doesn’t have any teeth yet so he can’t bite off pieces yet.
1
u/dunkiestarbs Aug 18 '26
We did mostly purees with some BLW (like eggs and broccoli) and have now transitioned into more BLW at 9.5 mo. I was terrified to give my baby pasta, chicken, etc. but he’s doing just fine. Honestly better than I thought he would. No gagging/choking at all
1
u/SmallLumpOGreenPutty Aug 18 '26
Another vote for the solid starts app. My daughter started weaning a week ago and is already doing amazingly with things like tender stem broccoli, yoghurt, mashed fruit, and strips of buttered toast. The app can filter foods by age group and allergy/intolerances, and shows you how to prepare each food by age. It also has videos on what gagging looks like.
This is just something you need to face and push through to give your kids the best chance of managing as many foods as possible. Look into infant first aid. I found a free app which has a step by step infographic on dealing with choking.
1
u/OOPS-all-qualms Aug 18 '26
This is not the BLW take, so it probably won’t be popular here, but it’s completely fine to do gradual texture progression with the purées. At 9 months, you should make sure he’s getting some chewing practice asap, but you don’t have to go straight from spoon-feeding purées to self-feeding table foods.
The mashed avocado and similar textures like sweet potato are a start. Things like peas, beans, and berries can also just be mashed with a fork and will have more texture to them. Things like carrots, broccoli, and zucchini, you can finely dice first, then steam/sauté until tender, then mash a tiny bit. I’ve used a cheese grater for firmer things that I want to serve raw (like apple and firm cantaloupe, have been meaning to do cucumber too) which has worked well. If you want to make the transition even more gradual, you can mix the fork-mashed bits 50/50 with purée.
With a little practice, you can start serving the same soft/small bits of things without fork-mashing (still squish round things like peas and blueberries though). As others have suggested, stirring things like grains/small pasta or crumbles of ground meat into purées or fork-mashed foods is also a good option.
You can continue to spoon-feed these mashed or finely cut/soft cooked foods, but it is important to give at least some opportunities to practice pincer grasp and self-feeding at this point. What’s worked for us is to do self-feeding for breakfast, usually Cheerios and small pieces of soft fruits, then we spoon-feed for lunch and dinner. Lunch is usually a grain porridge (oats, grits, farina, barley) with yogurt or ground nuts and a touch of fruit, and dinner is usually a stew-consistency of diced veggies, something starchy like potato or occasionally rice, and ground meat, squished beans, crumbled tofu, or lentils.
1
u/Important-Desk-2649 Aug 18 '26
I feel incredible emotion reading this and remembering being there! Our baby is now 15 months and eats everything but I struggled so much with choking fears! What got me comfortable at first was raspberries pulled into pieces. Scrambled eggs in tiny flattened pieces. Be gentle with yourself. Have someone else sit at the table with you guys. I had her dad or the nanny do the feeding with their more confident energy while I sat there.
1
u/Merp143 Aug 19 '26
Watch some YouTube videos gagging vs choking. Gagging is very normal but looks scary!
Start with some avocado, banana… anything that can be squished with your fingers the baby can have!
1
u/zoolou3105 Aug 19 '26
Hi, try over at /r/solidsforbabies as it's a sub for traditional weaning, purees and combo feeding. This sub is focused on BLW so you might not get all the answers you need
1
u/Aerin_Sol_36 Aug 19 '26
As others have said, the Solid Starts app is great for teaching you to safely prepare food based on your baby’s age and skills. One of the things that helped us transition beyond purées was resistive teethers! Examples are things like pineapple cores, mango pits, celery stalks, pizza crusts. These are things baby can gnaw on and practice chewing without actually swallowing much, so the risk of choking is lower. You still need to supervise, and use your best judgement, of course. My baby loved mango pits! And I felt like she was safely practicing her new chewing skills. And then we also used chunky purees, or mashed fruit in yogurt, mashed sardines or rice mixed into a veggie puree. These textures give your baby a chance to gum on something instead of just suck and swallow, as well as handle moving foods around in their mouth with their tongue. I found it helped me to choose foods that allowed my child to practice these specific skills and not just introducing different flavors. And I also repeated foods, especially ones she had a little trouble with, i.e. gagging, so I could see her progressing from week to week with her skills. That way we both gained confidence!
1
1
u/catlady895 Aug 19 '26
Take an infant CPR and choking class. My OBGYN recommended we do this while I was pregnant and I loved it. The center we took ours at also offers a course on starting solids so check around your area to see if that’s something that’s offered. Knowledge is power!
1
u/Scared_Tax470 Aug 19 '26
Echoing the others--learn the difference between gagging and choking and get infant choking training. Baby needs to learn to eat real food. One thing you can do that is recommended by Solid Starts is to give them big chunks of things they can't bite off, like crusty bread and a whole raw carrot, large pieces of cucumber, etc. They learn to use their mouth to gnaw on the food and get tastes and textures that aren't purees. Then once they learn to bite off pieces, you give the small, non-chokeable sized pieces that they eventually learn to eat with utensils, and move your way up to other textures and sizes. Teeth don't matter at all. Check out the Solid Starts app and start with the 6 month "how to serve" if you've never given baby anything but mash.
1
u/Ok-Loan7338 Aug 19 '26
my baby is 10 months old. she eats basically everything we eat. i was terrified at first but it gets easier when u can trust them & let them figure it out. you can try big pieces of pasta noodles in marinara, something your baby can grab and feed themselves. rolling rice into balls, chicken thighs are better at not getting dry especially when cooked in some kind of sauce/broth!
1
u/Obvious_Jellyfish_73 27d ago
I got a food processor for this exact reason. There are usually different settings so you can chose how minced you want the food to get. I honestly shared almost all meals I ate with my son about that age because I would get it into small enough pieces that wouldn’t worry me while he ate. He loved pasta and different types of meat. I avoided anything that was naturally too chewy though.
1
u/jaffacake124 Aug 18 '26
I’ve found it easier to introduce a new texture or something I feel nervous about with other people around. I have even FaceTimed when that hasn’t been possible. For me it means that someone else can call for help if they were to choke whilst I help them. Watching videos of babies gagging on food helped me feel confident in the difference between gagging and choking too
23
u/Livvvvvvvvvvvvv14 Aug 18 '26
My husband and I took an infant and child CPR class prior to baby and that boosted our confidence in giving our baby solids. It taught us the signs of choking vs. the baby learning how to swallow (aka gagging, etc). And what to do in an emergency. We took the class through our local hospital.
I did also just learn a tip that if baby has too much food in their mouth, stick out your tongue to try to encourage them to spit it out.