Baby Led Weaning: When Baby Won’t Swallow

Your baby might love sucking on steak, peppers, and slices of fruit... but then you notice that she’s not swallowing much or maybe anything at all. She just leaves food in her cheek and you notice food still in her mouth 20-30 minutes later. If you are worried about choking, this struggle with food is probably making you super anxious. I don’t blame you!

You might have thought you were rocking this transition to solids - just know this is a really common struggle and you can help your baby along!

Pocketing, or holding food in the cheeks, is pretty common with the transition to solids. With so many more parents starting with a baby led weaning approach, it is likely that some babies need a little more practice before they can manage more challenging food textures.

There are a couple of key things to consider if you are offering strips, bite-size pieces, or whole foods to your baby.

• Make sure your baby’s sitting in a high chair with the right kind of support! She should be able to bend her knees and as she gets older/bigger, have a place to rest her feet.

• Avoid feeding babies in Bumbo or Sit-me-up floor seats - those do not offer the support your baby needs while chewing.

• If your baby’s on the smaller size, use towels or blankets to fill in the space around her hips. You don’t want your baby thinking about holding her body up while trying to chew!

• Make sure the foods you offer are the right texture. Use the “smush test” to figure this out - if you can easily squish the food between your index finger and thumb, baby should be able to break it down with her gums. (Myth: babies need teeth to chew!)

• Foods with skins or fibers (like celery) are more likely to be pocketed. To take out the guesswork of good foods to offer, download my FREE “first foods” chart HERE.

• Babies do need some time to figure out how to manage table foods in this transition, but if your baby doesn’t seem to make progress by 8-9 months old, reach out for more support so you and baby can keep moving. Head to the “Book a Session” button above to learn more about one-on-one sessions offered both in-person and virtually.

  If baby led weaning is not going as well as you expected, check out my Introduction to Solids webinar and get back on track!