Finger food size

yellow1daisy · May 2016

Hey BLWs or anyone who has started finger foods. I just wanted to ask why babies tend to start with larger handle sized soft foods rather than very small dices of soft food? Is there a drawback to doing the small cuts?

When I give my daughter bigger handle sized foods she tends to gag and it scares me. But small dices she eats beautifully and I feel like it's better in terms of practicing with her fingers and her dexterity. It's harder to get those small pieces.

Would I be doing her a disservice somehow by continuing with the tiny dicing rather than giving her big pieces?

Thanks!

shelbydd · May 2016

I actually did it that way, too, and have worked up to larger sizes. It's worked out well for us. We had the same problem with LO gagging if the pieces were too large. I started with really small pieces of pasta, broken up puffs, and smaller pulled meats (pulled chicken) now he's got it down well enough that I can give him whole pieces of pasta and the little Gerber graduates (I have no idea what they're called but they look like Cheetos just to be honest) and he will feed himself. He bites off smaller pieces and eats them instead of trying to put the whole thing in his mouth at once.

ForeverEverAfter · May 2016

We did BLW, and started with long spears at 6mo because she had to grab with her fist. Now that her pincer grasp is developing we do a mix of tiny things for dexterity practice, and long things so she continues to work on managing bite size. I've never bought puffs or packaged baby food for my littles. Bread crusts are handy for teething-something to gnaw on!

Growingapepper · May 2016

I do both, smaller cubes and long handle shaped pieces. I thought that the reason you are supposed to start with handle sized was because maybe they would choke on the smaller cubes. But that doesn't make any sense because all the big pieces would get squished into cubes by either her hands or her mouth. And the only time I was scared of her choking was when she shoved almost a whole handle shaped piece of food in her mouth. So really, I think if smaller pieces are working better for you then it's probably the best way.

yellow1daisy · May 2016

Thanks ladies! I hadn't thought about managing bite size. I'll do the occasional big piece but I think I'll do mostly small pieces.

Growingapepper said:

I do both, smaller cubes and long handle shaped pieces. I thought that the reason you are supposed to start with handle sized was because maybe they would choke on the smaller cubes. But that doesn't make any sense because all the big pieces would get squished into cubes by either her hands or her mouth. And the only time I was scared of her choking was when she shoved almost a whole handle shaped piece of food in her mouth. So really, I think if smaller pieces are working better for you then it's probably the best way.

Yes with the small pieces she just picks them up one by one puts them in her mouth and chews it's adorable and feels safer. With big pieces she always tries to shove the whole thing in her mouth and I feel like I have to watch her like a hawk. She's ended up gagging every single time. Not to mention it all gets smashed into smithereens by her little mouth and hands anyway. Big chunks as well as little tiny pieces.

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