Watching Baby M eat over the last month I have been really impressed with the human body and just how well it is designed to eat. Shocking I know but it looks like a baby really can feed themselves and we didn't evolve with the need to be spoon fed.
I was confident from the outset that Baby M wouldn't suffocate due to the advice in Gill Rapley's Baby Led Weaning book and I had my first aid training as back up. I'm happy to say I've never had to intervene. Yes she bites off too big a chunk at times and yes she has gagged, coughed and even vomited to remove the offending item, but she hasn't been in the least distressed by this so neither have I. In fact as soon as she has removed the over sized piece she has continued stuffing the food in her mouth. In the first week Baby M would gag at most meals, but it got less and less and now after a month she rarely does.
In the Baby Led Weaning book it says that at around 6 months a babies gag reflex is further forward than in older babies. This means babies who are allowed to feed themselves around 6-8 months can safely learn how far back to put food in their mouth without any real risk of suffocation (I would include the page reference, but I returned the book to the library).
To ensure safety I would recommend:
- Always feed your baby sitting up, ideally secured in a high chair, and not reclining backwards.
- Never leave your baby to eat unattended
- Use some caution about what you offer your baby to eat in the early days eg whole grapes and peanuts are more likely to be a choking hazard
- Go on a baby first aid course if it makes you feel more confident. Hopefully you will never need any of the skills you learn, and I suspect you wont when your baby is sitting in their highchair, but you might at another time. There are even some free courses that cover the basics eg the British Red Cross normally give a short demo at the Baby Show
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