Indiana Babies
finger foods for toothless babies
What are your favorites?
And is there an advantage to puffs over cheerios? I'm guessing that the puffs dissolve better, but do they have nutritional value? (not that a baby will really "eat" that many of either one)
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Re: finger foods for toothless babies
Something I always forgot before Ella had teeth was that her gums were hard enough to really chomp down on stuff.
I think puffs are great for helping babies learn how to eat, and to get them used to more flavors.
Yogurt melts are good for convenience, too. If you already have cheerios around your house, go for it! I wouldn't buy a whole box because you'll never get through them fast enough.
Good point!
We did Puffs - the neo told us Cherrios were a choking hazard. Andrew had enough problems so we stuck to Puffs. Not a lot of calories in either one. Same story with yogurt melts.
The first food he did well with was veggie sticks (trader joes) but they are more or less french fries.
Bananas were also a first major food for us that are easy to gum. Try canned carrots too. They hold their shape so are easy to pick up but are really soft. Maybe try little pieces of avocado or toast.
He did not (and still does not) do well with cheese or mandarin oranges. At all. He does OK with peas now but struggled with the skin when he was younger.
We've just gone through all this as well.
Puffs definitely dissolve faster than cheerios (which don't really dissolve actually...we haven't done those yet). The Target brand puffs are actually pretty good and have a shape that's easier to splint in half, which I did for awhile until I was sure DD could chew them ok. I think it took her a couple weeks of eatting them regularly until I really felt comfortable with it. Target sells Happy Baby organic puffs which are shaped like cheerios, but they take longer to dissolve so I probably wouldn't suggest them to use initially.
Puffs brand dissolve fastest, followed by Target brand and then Happy Baby (which also has the least amount of flavor).
They're mostly made of rice cereal and oats with a little bit of vitamins thrown in. Most have natural flavors. I don't think they're particularly really bad for kids, but I wouldn't give them for every meal. We do let DD snack on them at least once a day usually though....typically when she's fussy or we're trying to eat dinner.
We've also done the Gerber things that look like cheetos. She does well with those, but there's a ton of flavor in them (I think ours were garden tomato or something).
Other ideas...cooked baby carrots (in tiny chucks), thawed frozen peas, pieces of bread, mashed potatos/sweet potato. Mum mums are well liked in our house too, but they're messy and don't have a ton of nutritional value.