when to start fruits (not pureed)

arheins

When can i give my LO strawberries or bananas, etc without mashing them up? She is 24 weeks and so far we have just done the oatmeal cereal.

blu-eyedwife

We never did cereal, but started with all real foods - fruits, meats, veggies, carbs at 6 months.  The first week we did solid food he had watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapefruit, honeydew, apple, pear, and orange slices  (and green beans, pork, chicken, broccoli, duck, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pancakes, etc.)

arheins

did you mash them up or just give them to him whole?

blu-eyedwife

We gave them whole.  Mashing them up kind of defeats the purpose of giving table foods.  I should rephrase, we didn't give the kid an apple or melon or anything, but cut the fruit into sticks/spears/slices so he could hold them in his fist.  Make sure the fruit is long enough to stick out of the fist.  Then my son would gnaw/gum them.

Robi1

We also gave all foods whole but cut either into sticks as mentioned above, or eventually cut into bite-size pieces once she was good with her pincer grasp. We give most things raw, even hard stuff like apples. Bananas and strawberries are soft, so they're good ones to start with, but may be harder to hold on to because they're slippery!