I don't see any reason why you shouldn't let your daughter feed herself.  Babies choke on food and start learning from that experience how to eat properly.

You are the one that needs to learn that it happens, nothing we can do about it, and we can't keep our babies babies for ever (no matter how much we wish we could!).  let go of your fear, and let her gobble the banana or biscuit herself.  Might mean you can have a more peaceful cuppa too!

your best bet is to cut everything up into sizes that she cannot possibly choke on and then remind her constantly to "chew, chew, chew." It is so scary. 

I have a 11half year old little girl and she will eat any thing I was giving her what i thought she could eat  she was having fruit at the time..  A few weeks ago she started choking going blue and not breathing I paniced and even know I am a nurse I still couldnt put any thing into action.  So I rang the amdos and by the time they had got here she had started screaming thank god.  But they still checked her airways and her lungs.  I have now brught ,Im not real sure what they are called but it has a round circle that she hangs onto  and then there is like a mesh bag that joins to it with little holes so now i put all her fruit in this you can buy them at woolworths they are great.

Hope this helps lisam

at that age (9 months) i would feed the banana to him i would use a soft banana that is well done and get a spoon and scrape the banana onto the spoon (by this stage the banana is soft and not lumpy) by doing this the baby gets used to the chewing motion but there are no large pieces for bubs to choke on

also i would make sure that he ate what was in his mouth before giving him more.

i would also use a processor to make home made soup which contained various vegies but there were no lumps for baby to choke as he got older then i wouldnt puree it as much and leave it slightly lumpy then again when he was comfortable with this i would leave it lumpier still

this might take a few months but i was never "rushed" i took it at his pace

cheers annie

Hi there!!! Not a silly question at all!!! When my girls were learning to feed themselves I would cut up everything into bite size pieces, as I became more confident that they were not choking on the little pieces, we up-graded to hand held portions, bananas are a great starter because if they are quite ripe, they are very pliable and easy to move up/down to clear airway. Thus bigger bites are not so scary.... cooled steamed carrots, arrowroots are also good.

I believe that all children should be supervised at mealtimes until they are atleast 2.5yrs anyway, but I also believe they need to develop their gag reflex. It is important that they learn to have control over the muscles in their throat to enable them to dislodge obstructions.

You will be surprised how quickly she develops the know - how!!!!!

i know just how you feel. dom would always try to take bigger bites. and he has choked a few times. (it was very scary). i put my finger to a length that is alright for him to bite it off. hes been ok now.  i give him bars, but make sure i am watching him when he bites it, to make sure its not big. you just got to try and show your daughter eating only small amounts, maybe show her by eating little bits yourself

If you are going to let your baby feed herself, you must cut everything up into little bits because they WILL take big bites if you don't. So cut up the banana - it's not so easy for little fingers to grasp, I know.

I let my 10 month old twins feed themselves and give them veggies. I steam the veggies up so well that it actually falls apart when you hold it. This way I can leave pieces big but yet not worry about them choking.

Also, I suggest taking an infant/child CPR class. This will ease your paranoia.  When my son fell and hit his mouth on something and bled a lot, I was hysterical. But after my husband and I took an infant/child CPR & First Aid, I wasn't so hysterical anymore.  It's not that I know how to handle everything, but now I know when something is not serious and know when something is very serious.

Good luck to you. This is not a silly question!