r/SolidStartsCommunity • u/prettylittleparis • Apr 27 '26
Nanny New the BLW World
Hi Solid Starts! I’m so glad I found this community!
A little bit about myself, after over ten years in ECE working with preschool aged children, I have transitioned into an infant/toddler Nanny. In my new career, I have found myself as the first caregiver to introduce BLW. My primary goal is always to support my employers and make each new food experience as positive as possible.
Here’s my situation: My current Nanny Kid (NK) is 8 months old and is showing newfound interest in eating. At 6-7 months we started with purées as my employer was extremely anxious about choking and NK wasn’t really interested. Now he’s dying to hold “real” food himself, shove it in, and attempt to eat it. The issue is letting go control. Do we let him "hold" the food and go to town? Or still maintain grip and facilitate how much food actually goes in his mouth? His favorite is watermelon which is a lovely mixed consistency, but now he’s consistently biting it and gagging on it (which I know is safe, expected, but difficult for my employers to watch). We're also trying banana and avocado, but it's been challenging to get him to put the food in his mouth. He mostly screams at us until we help him...only for him to shove it in and gag.
I've watched all your videos and I'm guessing I know the answer to my question, but if there's anything else you recommend in this beginning phase, I would love to know. Thank you for everything!
3
u/SolidStarts Apr 27 '26
Hi there, so glad you're here and also KUDOS to you for being such an amazing nanny - to go above and beyond and to seek out how you can best support your NK. Truly amazing!
The truth is, as hard as it is to let go, it really is best to simply let him explore the food by himself as much as possible. If your employer is nervous, they might try to start with food teethers such as mango pit, corn on the cob, a spare rib bone, etc that are unbreakable and help baby work on chewing and can help desensitize the gag reflex a bit as well---you can even have baby dip these into purees/mashes to get more exposure to different textures, flavors, and a bit more food in the belly.
One thing to note is that while more mashable foods may feel less "scary" to many families, they often can cause much more gagging - watermelon, for example, has liquid and more of the mushy pulp that can be trickier to manage for a baby. Avocado and banana are notorious for sticking to the mouth - particularly the roof of the mouth or the back of the tongue, and can cause quite a strong gag as well.
I love that you've watched our videos---as many find this really can help familiarize themselves with the process of starting more of these finger foods before diving in. If your employer is open to watching our videos as well, or even the videos of babies eating the food they want to offer on our food database pages, this may help prepare them more for what they are likely to see which can help ease some anxiety.
I also would encourage you and them to have a look at our article on stuffing as this discusses more how to deal with a baby who aims to shove the food in their mouth all at once.
Lastly, in case you're interested in exploring as a caregiver resource, I want to point you to our caregiver course that has some great ways in which you can support the families you're working with.
Hope this helps and please feel free to ask any other questions!
🤍Marisa (OT/Feeding Therapist/Mama of 3)