choking on finger foods

So my girls are starting on different foods and have been receptive to alot of things I've given them. My problem is that I'm SCARED to death about them choking! I am by myself so this multiplies my fears I'm sure - but I even bite / break their dry cheerios in half! I don't want them to "suffer" from learning how to feed themselves because of my fear - but I just can't get over it! If I cut the food into pieces I feel comfortable with, it's too small for them to pick up! What would you do? I mean how big of a piece of food can they choke on? could they choke on a whole cheerio? soft mushy stuff I'm not as worried about as they can really mash and chew good, and are they old enough at 8 1/2 mos to have scrambled egg? that would be something I can try and feel comfortable with! TIA!!!!!

 

I still fear this! At 8.5 months, I tried puffs, but was scared of choking. I also tried breaking them in half for them. What I liked giving them was small pieces of soft bread, pancakes. I did give them cheerios. I'm trying to remember if I still broke them in half at 8.5 months. I believe I started giving it to them whole, but I did break it up for a while. I would try it and see how they do. I did give them smaller cheerios. If I noticed that a cheerio was "fat" I would eat it and give them another one, one that was smaller. crazy I know.

 

I am sooo with u. I have this fear as well and they do well with cheerios and than my DD seems to choke on it and than I go about breaking em in half for a while and than back to the whole. It is scary I agree. Even puffs I find they will choke every once in a while so I break them up a bit too. I think I am just overparanoid but I feel safer that way

 

I'm so paranoid, my boys haven't even tried Cherrios yet!!! Just a few weeks ago, I got comfortable enough to give them whole puffs!

Each day, I try to be a little more brave...we've tried broken up pieces of whole wheat bread and today - shredded cheese! The love it all, of course, by their crazy mommy needs to be broken in to letting them eat more grown up food! :lol:

 

QUOTE(2boysforus @ Oct 12 2007, 03:30 PM) [snapback]447896[/snapback]
I'm so paranoid, my boys haven't even tried Cherrios yet!!! Just a few weeks ago, I got comfortable enough to give them whole puffs!

Each day, I try to be a little more brave...we've tried broken up pieces of whole wheat bread and today - shredded cheese! The love it all, of course, by their crazy mommy needs to be broken in to letting them eat more grown up food! :lol:

omigosh - thanks for the laugh! I needed it today! Shredded cheese!!! :rotflmbo: can they pick it up?? this sunds right up my alley....glad to know I'm not a total freakazoid paranoid momma!

 

I love the cheese idea I might have to try that. Havent done toast tho to scared for that one. Maybe this weekend I will be brave and try it out.

 

I was very afraid, too! But, after a while, I watched them eat and they did a good job so I kept trying more foods. I still worry, but they gagged and coughed things out - it is amazing how smart they actually are when they are eating (among other things!LOL)

Keep the pieces soft, not too chewy (Like a chewy piece of meat), and small.

 

I was TOTALLY paranoid when I first started finger foods. I'm still a little bit nervous with certain things but you really do eventually get over the fear. I really don't think it's necessary to break cheerios in half or puffs for that matter. Puffs melt pretty instanteously with their saliva and cheerios pretty quickly as well. I read that at their age the food should not be bigger than the size of a marble so you could use that as a standard. Also, someone helped me to get over a lot of my choking fear by telling me that there is a difference between gagging and choking. The gagging can be scary but that is simply their reflex at work and some have a more sensitive reflex than others. My one dd, Arwen had a much more sensitive gag reflex and I swear my heart used to stop when she would do it because you think they are on the verge of choking. So far, they have never choked. Just continue to give them foods that they can moosh up with their saliva and gums. I used to always try things in my mouth first to see how well it would dissolve or use the gums in the very back of my mouth to see how well it could be gummed. You'd be surprised how strong their jaws are for gumming foods. Your fear is totally normal and rational and it just takes time and more and more experience with giving them table foods to get over it (maybe not TOTALLY over it but enough to not have a mini heart attack everytime you put something in their mouth )

ETA: Just wanted to let you know that with the cheerios, when they are not feeding themselves, you could soak them in a bowl of formula (or bm, I guess) for a few minutes and then spoon feed it to them. They get really nice and mooshy and it was a helpful way for me to get more formula in them when they weren't drinking that much from their bottle.

 

I'm glad you posted this, I feel the same way. Actually my 5 yr old almost choked on an animal cracker when he was 2, and just a few months ago on a piece of hard candy (my husband did the Heimlich on him)! Our pedi told us there's nothing wrong with just feeding them mushy baby foods til 1+, so I'm sticking with that to maintain the little sanity I have left.

 

i'm right there with you! I broke puffs in quarters the first week, then i realized it was okay whole! I think the big thing after making sure pieces aren't too big, is just to give them a few pieces at a time so that they don't cram a whole bunch in their mouth without swallowing..i think that's more of a choking hazard.

Luckily i took a CPR class in the NICU that also went over choking, but I want to take it again because it feels like that was forever ago, and I defnitiely need a refresher!

 

^_^ Oh My! I am so happy I not the only one who fears this. I am always saying "not so many on thier tray, they will choke" They do gag quite a bit and that freaks me out. I think I am going to take a CPR class refresher so I don't panic about it all the time. Mine do okay with whole cherrios and puffs, they do better then I do