There’s a difference between choking and gagging.
Gagging is a normal reflex as your baby learns to chew and swallow solid foods. Gagging is loud. Your child’s skin may also look red when they’re gagging, but redness can be harder to see on brown and black skin.
Choking is quiet. If your child has white skin, it may begin to look blue (cyanosis) when they’re choking. If they have brown or black skin, their gums, inside their lips, or their fingernails may begin to look blue.
Choking: what to do
If you think your child is choking and cannot breathe properly:
- shout for help
- get them out of the high chair
- support their chest and chin with one hand and – with the heel of your hand – give 5 sharp blows between the shoulder blades
Gagging
Your baby may gag when you introduce solid foods – this is totally normal.
It happens because they are learning to regulate the amount of food they can chew and swallow at one time. They will eventually learn to cope with different textures and harder foods.
If your baby is gagging, this is what may happen:
- your baby’s eyes may water
- they might push their tongue forward (or out of their mouth)
- to bring the food forward in their mouth – they might make a retching movement, or they may vomit