# 5 Tips to Avoid This Frightening Habit When Starting Solids

**Creator:** Emma Hubbard
**Platform:** youtube
**Duration:** 5m
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU

## Summary

Introducing solids to infants can be challenging, especially when parents confuse gagging with choking. This video outlines common mistakes in spoonfeeding and offers practical solutions to help babies manage food safely and comfortably.

- Gagging is a normal reflex in infants, often triggered by too much food on the spoon.
- Use only small amounts of food on the spoon to prevent overwhelming the child.
- The temperature of food can affect gagging; slightly colder food helps infants manage it better.
- Allowing babies to mouth safe stick foods helps desensitize their gag reflex and develop tongue movement skills.
- Choose small spoons for feeding to avoid overloading and ensure proper fit in the baby's mouth.
- Encouraging babies to explore their food can reduce gagging by familiarizing them with textures and temperatures.
- Proper highchair support is crucial; babies should sit straight with feet flat to focus on eating rather than maintaining balance.
- Adjusting highchairs can help ensure a comfortable and safe eating position for infants.

## Transcript

[[0:00]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=0s)
- Seeing your little one do this when you're introducing solids is alarming for a lot of parents. But while it looks like he's choking, he's actually gagging, and it's happening because his mother is making one really common
mistake with spoonfeeding that can cause children to constantly gag and spit out the food. And as you can see,
when this is happening, it makes introducing
solids really difficult. Luckily, it's an easy one to fix. The gagging you just saw is happening, because young children
have very small mouths, which means they can only manage a very small amount of food at a time.

[[0:36]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=36s)
Their gag reflex is also much
further forward on their tongue and much more sensitive than ours. That means if you place
too much food on the spoon, they become overwhelmed by it, and struggle to manage the
large mass in their mouth, and move it back to swallow properly. This then leads to
triggering their gag reflex, and them spitting it out, which is what we're seeing in this video. So a simple way to avoid
this is to make sure you only place a small
amount of food on the spoon.

[[1:05]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=65s)
By doing this, you're
ensuring that when the food does enter their mouth, they
can effectively manage it and move it back to swallow without triggering their gag reflex. But even with tiny amounts
of food on the spoon, you might notice your little ones still gagging on some foods. And that's because there
are a few more common causes that we're going to
walk through right now, which can trigger the gag reflex starting with the temperature of the food.

[[1:29]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=89s)
Often we feed our babies warm
or room temperature foods. And while this is a logical choice, the mild temperature of
the food can cause babies to actually lose track
of it in their mouth. And when they lose track of
it, it's easy for that food to move further back in
their mouth unexpectedly, which then triggers their gag reflex. Making the food slightly
colder can help your baby keep track of the food in their mouth, and move it to the back of their mouth in a controlled way to actually swallow it without triggering their gag reflex.

[[1:59]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=119s)
Something I also recommend
when introducing solids is regularly offering
your baby items to mouth like safe stick foods such as steamed or roasted sticks of carrot or potato, teethers, toys, or spoons. Allowing your baby the
opportunity to place these items in their mouth helps to
move their gag reflex from the middle of their
tongue to the back, as well as make it less
sensitive and harder to elicit. In addition to desensitizing
their gag reflex, another thing that I think is pretty cool is that when you let your little one mouth these stick like items, it
helps to develop their ability to move their tongue from side to side.

[[2:34]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=154s)
And this is a skill that
they need to develop when eating solids because
they need to be able to move the food from the middle of their tongue to the side of their mouth, to then chew and then swallow that food. So by letting your little one
mouth these stick like items, as soon as they place
that item in their mouth and touch the side of their tongue, it actually triggers a reflex, which causes the tongue to curl up and try and follow that item.

[[2:58]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=178s)
So naturally, as they
move it from side to side, the tongue follows it. So this helps to develop their ability to move that tongue from side to side, and master that skill
required for safe eating. Now, as I said, using
a spoon is a great way to desensitize their gag reflex as well as encourage that
tongue lateralization skill. But unfortunately, I see so
many spoons on the market that look really nice and are marketed really well as baby spoons, but they're actually way too big.

[[3:25]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=205s)
When a spoon is too
big, it doesn't fit well in your little one's mouth,
making it really difficult for them to eat from and
it also encourages you to overload the spoon with too much food, leading to the problem I talked about at the start of this video. So just make sure that
when you are buying spoons for your little one, you choose ones that are really nice and small. Doing this really does
make a big difference when it comes to spoon feeding or even self-feeding at this point.

[[3:52]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=232s)
If you're interested in
seeing which ones I recommend, be sure to check out the link
in the description box below for my free Mealtimes Essential Guide. In it, I share with you
all my favorite products that make mealtimes easier
and slightly less messy for both you and your little one. Speaking of mess, it's
essential to let your baby touch and explore their food before eating it, as allowing your little one to touch and explore their food before eating it, can significantly reduce
the chances of them gagging.

[[4:18]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=258s)
When your baby handles the food, they can familiarize themselves with its temperature,
texture, and consistency. And this familiarity helps
them feel more comfortable when they finally taste the food, making them less likely to gag. Something else that's really important when introducing solids
is to make sure your baby is well supported in the highchair. If your baby's legs hanging
down without any support causing them to lean to one side, or the tray or table is at the same level as their shoulders, so they
can't actually see the food, or the highchair itself tilts backwards, your baby won't feel balanced,
secure, or comfortable.

[[4:56]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=296s)
And in this unsafe position, your baby will struggle to focus on eating and instead devote their attention on maintaining their balance and posture, increase in the likelihood
of them actually gagging or choking on food. Therefore, to minimize the
risk of your baby gagging or choking on food, you must ensure that
they can sit up straight and centered on that highchair with their feet flat on a stable surface. Now, unfortunately, most babies
cannot achieve this position in a highchair without
significant adjustments.

[[5:27]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BzChb7mcU&t=327s)
So make sure you watch this video next, where I show you how to adjust
your little one's highchair using everyday items around the home. By taking the time to
get your highchair set up to support your baby at the start, you're actually ensuring
that they can focus on the skill of eating
and helping to ensure that each mealtime is
successful and enjoyable.