Finger foods

dmd0830 · March 2016

I'm so nervous to give my son anything other than purées! People keep mentioning I should give him finger foods but how do I know he is ready and what is a good finger food to start with? What do you all do and how did you know your baby was ready?? Thanks!!

n3na94 · March 2016

I feel like my baby wants them but I'm nervous he isn't ready also. I hear puffs are easy to start with!

AKOL0 · March 2016

Puffs are really easy to start. They dissolve easily and my baby loves them. From the beginning she was able to pick them up, but she won't put them in her mouth. I've also have done rice crispy cereal because they are smaller, however they don't dissolve as fast.

SnarkasaurusRex · March 2016

Watch to see if LO is getting the pincer grip down - that's the biggest cue that they're ready for finger foods. Puffs are good to start with because they dissolve quickly. Cheerios are also a good choice, since they have a hole in the middle and are less likely to completely block the airway if LO tries to immediately swallow it and doesn't give it time to get soggy.

JenFeltri · March 2016

Since my daughter doesn't like the spoon we transitioned to finger foods fairly quickly. I was scared and disappointed that she would not take baby cereal or veggie and fruit purees at 6 months (she is 7 and 1/2 months now and still refuses a spoon), but she has always been on exclusively breast milk and I did not want her to not get any practice with new foods and flavors just because she refused a spoon. Now we have tried avocado, squash, teething rice crackers (two brands are: https://happyfamilybrands.com/product_lines/happy-baby-teething-wafers/#banana-sweet-potato and https://mummums.com/), sweet potato, green lentil pasta (elbows are small and have a hole in the middle to reduce choke hazard, I cut them in half), chick peas (cut up with skins removed, not whole) and some other softer fruits like banana (make sure pieces are small, because it can be a choke hazard) and nectarine. The main thing that I do to reduce a chance of airway blockage is cutting the food in very thin matchsticks (or into small manageable pieces in the case of the chick peas or pasta), so that the baby can pick them up but they will not get a large clump of food at once. I make the matchsticks approx. 2 mm wide and no longer than an inch (sorry for the awkward use of metric and inches together, but it was the easiest way to explain the size I found works well for my daughter).

erinkaydonnell · March 2016

I started with avacado and egg bites about the size of a pee. he loved it. We do chicken potato pasta. He eats what we eat almost but he loves a good purée I think because he can eat faster

acciocoffee · March 2016

We started with puffs. We are now doing sweet potato fries. She struggles but it works!

dunn1678 · March 2016

We never gave our LO purées, we are doing BLW, baby led-weaning. She does really well with food that is long enough to grab, so I would suggest cutting food into sticks. it's easier for them to grab and put in their mouth.

The best part about babies is they have a built in gag reflex that is pretty shallow in their mouth so they will be able to dislodge most foods before they can actually choke on them, assuming they are bigger than a dime!

Good luck, your baby will do great!

irohspupil · March 2016

dunn1678 said:

We never gave our LO purées, we are doing BLW, baby led-weaning. She does really well with food that is long enough to grab, so I would suggest cutting food into sticks. it's easier for them to grab and put in their mouth.

The best part about babies is they have a built in gag reflex that is pretty shallow in their mouth so they will be able to dislodge most foods before they can actually choke on them, assuming they are bigger than a dime!

Good luck, your baby will do great!

Gagging part I can verify ^^^
I gave my LO just a tiny bit too-big piece of teething cracker and she started choking. A second later she was throwing up. It was a terrifying experience but completely my fault.
You're LO will be okay if you follow these ladies' suggestions.

NewMumzy25 · March 2016

We started with the baby mum mum cookies and broke it into pieces not too big but not too small he loved it would just suck and nibble on it. Then we did puffs and hubby was scared cause of the gag reflex baby boy went to add his fingers and gagged himself hubby thought it was on the puff and wanted to stop them I had to calm him down (this is our first child and I am more used to feeding babies used to work daycare and practically raised my sisters so he gets scared faster than I do I just do the finger sweep of his mouth when I'm slightly worried and we try again lol). While I'm mashing his banana I will share one with him so he gets little pieces of mine. Our son is 8 months on the 10th and will eat just about anything and has his pincher grasp down and his hand to mouth coordination is really good so we started the cookies and puffs about 6 months but started having thicker cereal at 5 months he preferred thing he could try to chew to the full puree.

It's all about your comfort and how advanced his pincher grasping is, but finger foods are a perfect way to get those better. And the puffs and cookies disolve really fast. My son will try to put one after the other in his mouth and the first is pretty much gone by the time he is shoveling the second one in lol.

Next is cooked egg yolk pieces and little potato pieces

good luck

VToman · March 2016

We've given her puffs, teething cookies, and scrambled egg. I am afraid to try much else so far.

corndogrobot · March 2016

Yogurt drops also dissolve easily.

KAR8706 · March 2016

LO loves the yogurt drops and the little cheese puffs. We started giving him baby mum mums this week and her loves them. I break 1 in half and let him eat it. I have been wanting to try eggs, might try tonight.

Melis222 · March 2016

LO loves the puffs!! She's progressing quickly with how well she can grasp and put it into her mouth! We also tried avocado cut up small.

bblais8 · March 2016

Puffs or Cheerios are great to start. My guy had trouble picking up avacado but loves to eat it. I knew he was ready because he got use the pincer grip and he was trying to eat everything in sight!! He pretty much eats everything now!

fridley6 · March 2016

My girl does not want purees, did cereal for about 2 months but when introducing new purees barely ate any after many attempts and tons of varieties. We started with puffs and it really helped her develop her pincer grasp. Now I give her banana cut pretty small, chicken, strawberries, pasta and anything as long as its mashable and soft. She did super well, and I think most babies would!

corndogrobot · March 2016

We cut blueberries in half and they are a big messy treat!

mrssylvester · March 2016

You know they are ready when they start trying to take food out of your hands! I was eating chips and my son grabbed one right out of my hand. The next day, we started him on puffs.

dmd0830 · March 2016

Thanks everyone! I've introduced him to puffs, yogis and those yum yum tether wafers. He's loving it!! He has a harder time picking up fruit and veggies bc they are slippery but even though he ismt really coordinated enough to get it in his mouth yet I'm offering him something to pick up at every feeding now. It keeps him busy if nothing else!

mrsrep123 · March 2016

I've been SOOOO nervous... But finally started puffs... We still need to help get them into his mouth since they end up just sticking to his wet, drooly hands. Then I cut up a banana into really small pieces and that went okay.

I I really just don't feel confident in starting new foods like the ones mentioned here...

also, when do we start water???

KAR8706 · March 2016

mrsrep123 said:

I've been SOOOO nervous... But finally started puffs... We still need to help get them into his mouth since they end up just sticking to his wet, drooly hands. Then I cut up a banana into really small pieces and that went okay.

I I really just don't feel confident in starting new foods like the ones mentioned here...

also, when do we start water???

At my LO's 6 month check up, his DR said to give him a sippy cup with some water in it daily.

fridley6 · March 2016

A tip for slippery fruits like bananas is to ground up some cheerios and coat the bananas in it! Works wonders! ☺

AKOL0 · March 2016

KAR8706 said:

mrsrep123 said:

I've been SOOOO nervous... But finally started puffs... We still need to help get them into his mouth since they end up just sticking to his wet, drooly hands. Then I cut up a banana into really small pieces and that went okay.

I I really just don't feel confident in starting new foods like the ones mentioned here...

also, when do we start water???

At my LO's 6 month check up, his DR said to give him a sippy cup with some water in it daily.

Mine said the same. She said no more than 4oz of either water or juice a day. However, I never count and just let my LO drink whatever she wants while eating.

n3na94 · March 2016

mrsrep123 said:

I've been SOOOO nervous... But finally started puffs... We still need to help get them into his mouth since they end up just sticking to his wet, drooly hands. Then I cut up a banana into really small pieces and that went okay.

I I really just don't feel confident in starting new foods like the ones mentioned here...

also, when do we start water???

I've started my son with water, he is EBF, but when I drink water during the day, I give him water also in the same cup. I also bought a smaller cup for him for when he eats purees or bits of food, after a few bites I also give him water. Our pediatrician also told us at our 6 month appt, to start him off if I wanted to with a couple ounces, even though he is breastfed. He loves it though!! He asked for more when he is done with a sip lol and it's I think helped a lot with normalizing his bowel movements! Keep us updated mama!

KAR8706 · March 2016

He doesnt get much water, I fill his sippy cup halfway and he drinks a couple oz from it, usually after a jar of food or some snacks. Mainly like others have said, it is to get him used to the sippy cup. BTW LO has gotten used to the munchkin 360 and prefers it over the tommee tippee now.

mrsrep123 · April 2016

Wow! I'm sooooo behind. He is gonna start getting water TODAY!!!

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