I want to start finger foods, but I'm worried she may choke. She doesn't have teeth yet. Sue Gilbert Sue is a consulting nutritionist. For many years she worked with Earth's Best Organic Baby Food, integrating nutrition and product development. She has written numerous articles on children's health and nutrition for parenting publications.
Parents often mistake choking for gagging.
Gagging is very common and is part of the process of learning how to chew and swallow. Gagging occurs when some pieces of food fall to the back of the tongue and trigger the gag reflex. At times this will cause food to fly out of the mouth or cause vomiting. Even mouthing toys and getting them too far back into the mouth can cause a baby to gag. Choking occurs when food is too hard to chew, or too slippery to position in the mouth and it slips into the back of the mouth and down her throat and gets caught in the windpipe.