S/O baby food (finger foods)

olga1311

The topic about baby food brought this on. I am probably the only person on here that did not start LO on finger foods. Its still purees only in our house. 

I am just so paranoid about choking and I am home alone with her all day. I know I should just go ahead and do it since she has 2 small teeth and third one cutting. What foods you suggest I start with? Should I do thicker purees first and then offer finger foods or should I just dive in and give her finger foods straight away. She does like munching on baby carrot (using it as her teether) but she cant really bite off pieces so I am not as worried. Any help appreciated for this paranoid mama

michelle7482

I'm also paranoid with choking and do mostly purées. But DD does get puffs , yogurt melts, small pieces of banana, and pastina mixed with butter and a touch of milk. I have given her a French fry before that I cut up really small.

olga1311

I gave Dd cooked pasta cut up real small. She chewed and swallowed it, drank some water and threw it all up 2 minutes after drinking the water. Is this something to be worried about? Does this mean she is not ready ? I am trying to avoid puffs and yogurt melts as she had similar reaction

Zoly1103

We started just breaking off little pieces of things like chicken and veggies to give to him. I tried the larger foods early on and he just wasn't getting it but now he does things like mini waffles. I give him the whole thing and he is able to figure out what to do. Just remember that the gagging is good even if it's scary. E has never really gotten into the puffs or yogurt melts. They get "the face".

AlejandraN2

Puffs are great. Also mini pancakes. They munch on them and they melt. And if you do burgers or meatballs or something, cut it in tiny pieces that they can pick up and eat. It's already ground so less likely to get stuck and more likely to dissolve. Also, one of my friends gets the Laughing Cow cheese wedges. Those are pretty much cream cheese in a wedge - so baby learns to pick up and eat but they are soft so not choke-friendly. 

olga1311

These are great ideas! Thanks everyone

smilingeyes2308

I'm about in the same position as PP's. My LO will gag on anything to big but she gets frustrated at trying to pick up small pieces. A tip I learned was to sprinkle in some Cheerio "dust" so that the pieces have some grip to them! I heard you could try wheat germ as well but we haven't tried that.

munchkinsmama

When I first tried DS would just mush stuff in his mouth then spit it out. He eats like a champ now. I do a mixture of finger foods and ground up foods. We started with puffs and the mmm mmms. He does really well with them. Cut up jar/canned peaches and avocado worked great in the beginning too.

trinjamba

I was nervous to start table food too because I feared choking. I started by first giving her thicker purées (thickened with oatmeal) and then started mashing some of the foods with a fork instead of putting it in the blender. When she got comfortable I movedon to puffs which I broke in halves and then easy to chew foods like cooked rice, whole wheat bread, steamed or baked fish, cut up avocado for example. You don't have to do a big meal in the beginning just a couple bites until your LO gets the hang of it. I should also mention that I give her a small amount of water with each meal as I find it minimizes the gagging. Now she eats a lot more variety and prefers table food to purées. She has 2 teeth too and does fine. Ultimately do what makes you comfortable.

AlejandraN2

Legitsince86 would you judge me if i said that i actually use an organic blueberry pancake mix? I add real blueberries in it too. 

thedash

We started with sweet potato. I peeled one and sliced it then roasted the slices flat on a pan. Each disc was somewhere in between a purée and solid. I mashed some with a fork and fed it to her with a spoon and cut some into tiny cubes for her. She loves it!