Mom Feels ‘Pressured’ to Try Baby-Led Weaning with Her 8-Month-Old. Then She’s ‘So Scared’ of.

A mom is looking for advice on how to move past her anxiety around baby-led weaning.

In a post on a parenting subreddit, the original poster (OP) said her baby is 8 months old and still eating mostly purées. Even when food is prepared properly, she wrote that she’s “so so scared” of him choking.

“I know it’s very important for him to learn different textures, but I just can’t,” OP shared. “I really wanna overcome this fear because I want to be able to give him different foods without me panicking and taking it away after 2 seconds.”

In the comments, other parents offered a range of suggestions — starting with building confidence through preparation. One person encouraged OP to learn what to do in an emergency before introducing more solids.

“Complete a course of first medical aid, watch YouTube tutorials on what do in case of choking, and do some practice with a doll or baby,” they suggested. “Introduce solid food when someone is at home with you and can help you if needed. Everything will be ok, don’t worry.”

Another commenter reassured OP that she doesn’t have to follow any one approach if it’s causing intense stress.

“If it helps, I don’t do baby-led weaning either. It gives me far too much anxiety,” they wrote. “I felt really pressured to do it because everyone else around me was doing it. But at the end of the day I had to do it worked best for my baby and me. I didn’t want him to have stressed eating… I just break everything into chewable chunks or if I have any questions I look it up online.”

After reading through the replies, OP updated her post to thank everyone and said the encouragement made a real difference.

“Thanks so much everybody who replied. It really helps,” she wrote. “I’ve been really scared of everything for a long time, but I don’t want that to effect [sic] my kid in the long run.”

She also shared a small win: she tried offering omelet strips, and her baby was a fan — even though she had to work through her nerves.

“I tried to give him omelet strips today, and he loved it,” she wrote. “I was super scared, but sat through it. He was gagging a bit, but I reminded myself it’s natural and a good sign. I really hope I can build this up with more foods. Again, thank you all for the feedback.”