Finger foods

[Starfish25]

Hi, I'm looking for ideas of finger food tea that I could give my little boy, he is nearly 11 months with 2 teeth at bottom but teeth up top coming through soon so I'm very nervous of what I give him. At tea time he screams blue murder when I feed him and I'm sure he can't be getting much to eat when he feeds him self, I don't want him going to bed hungry. Any ideas would be appreciated

[CatsCantFlyFast]

There's very little you can't give him - teeth are irrelevant (my dd1 fed herself solids from 5 months with no teeth until after her first birthday).

Fruit and cooked vegetable sticks are a good start - thing things the size of your finger so they are easy for them to pick up and hold in a fist. Eg brocolli, cooked carrot, baby sweetcorn etc By 11 months dd1 was eating what we ate with very little exception so there's not much you need to avoid. If he can't use a spoon yet he'll soon use his hands (might be messy!) but he'll enjoy handfuls of pasta and rice too!

If your concern is choking remember there is a difference between choking and gagging. As a baby learns to chew and move food around their mouth they will gag - this is not a reason to panic. You can google what to do if your child actually chokes and watch some videos but gagging is fine and a normal learning reaction.

[Starfish25]

Thank you for the reply. I was worried about him choking as he does gag at some food so I panic. I have some fresh broccoli in so I will try him with that see how we get on. So with the pasta I give it to him full? Now I would be a bag of nerves with that x

[CatsCantFlyFast]

Yep, just stick it on his plate/tray and let him make a mess with it

Some great info here

[CatsCantFlyFast]

And this is a great resource on the difference between gagging and choking, and how puréed food is actually a choking risk too

[Starfish25]

Thank you very much I'll check it out

[unicornpoopoop]

My daughter decided she didn't like a spoon for a while. But as she struggled to feed herself properly, she liked me to pull bits of bite size pieces off for her and pop it into her mouth