11 month old still gags frequenlty on finger food

I'm a bit concerned that DD isn't quite at the right stage with her solids.

She's a great eater, always has been, but she still gags on finger food. I'm too scared to give her certain foods as I'm worried she'll choke! She has a lot of lumpy food, most of it I cook myself, but she somtimes eats the Rafferty's Garden 10mths + sachets and loves them.

I try to give her finger food as much as possible and she does well with banana, Cruskits, rusks and some soft vegies. She's not too bad with toast but is terrible with bread - bites off a huge chunk then ends up gagging on the massive dough ball she's created!! I know they have a good gag reflex but it really freaks me out. Does she just need to just gag on some food in order to learn? She only has 3 teeth so will it improve when she has more teeth to help her chew?

We had a picnic with friends on the weekend and two of the mums were giving their 8 month olds celery and carrot sticks from our nibbles platter to chew on. Is that OK?! The babies seemed to cope OK but I just thought that was a big no-no, especially at that age. Some of the kids in my mum's group are eating sandwhiches for lunch now which seems unbelievable to me too. Am I just too paranoid? Should I be experimenting more with DD's food? :dunno:

Recognising what she is struggling with physically is a good start.
You say she can handle many finger foods, but the bread is tripping her up - then stick with toast and smaller pieces of bread.
Is she having anything on the bread? Butter will help keep it moist and less doughy and smaller pieces - ie bite size - will stop being able to bite of more than she can chew so to speak ;) You can also try other types of bread - black bread or pumpernickle, which is much firmer than regular white breads.

As for the celery and carrot - that is obviously where they are up to. Charlotte was feeding herself with a fork adn spoon by that age, and people used to give me funny looks for not feeding her...horses for courses sometimes.
But there is no 'right' place to be at this age - she is doing really well and is exactly where she should be for herself.

The teeth will be an issue - you will find the more teeth she gets the more she is comfortable with other foods - Charlotte had NO interest in meat (unless it is was bol sauce or meat pie) until she had a few more teeth - and she didn't cut a single one til she was 9 months old - so let her lead the way.
Have a go with some pasta - like penne or farfalle (bows), some different textured veg - like steamed zucchini sticks, eggplant, fennel, swede... See how she responds and leave the bread alone for a while. Perhaps try giving her only crusts too, they are less doughy and she will have to chew (read: gum lol) them more and get used to the chew chew swallow notion.


HTH :) And good luck - and btw, not giving her food she is routinely gaggin on = good stuff, not paranoid ;)

Gagging is just a reflex and she is learning how to handle food, so there's not really any harm in letting her manage it. Obviously, if she chokes you'll need to intervene.

Those who follow baby led solids would routinely be offering their babies whatever they would eat (we did this), so celery, carrot, sandwiches are all part of that. Babies learn how to chew and swallow food (with or without teeth!) by trying things. Cruskits, rusks and toast are all fairly substantial, so it sounds like she knows what to do with harder foods, it's just she's not used to some of them.

Dealing with food is a developmental thing though, so there's not really any point comparing babies of the same age. They won't all walk or sit up at the same time, neither will they wolf down a roast dinner on the same day. It sounds like your DD is doing just fine.

Thanks for your advice and thoughts girls, I really appreciate it :)

I'll continue with what we're doing then and gradually offer more interesting (scary! :lol:) finger food as we go and when she shows interest.