To be totally confused about finger foods

[soontobeamum1982]

Talk to me about good first finger foods! We began weaning a week ago but my baby hates all homemade purees and will only actually eat fruity Ella's Kitchen ones (which I have only used twice and do not want to encourage). I think she'd probably do better with a more baby led approach but I am terrified about choking.

What are good first finger foods to offer that can't cause any issues. She already has two teeth at six months so things like cucumber, which most babies just suck and gum, I'm worried she could bite off in a big chunk and choke.

One baby said rice cakes with avocado on, but rice cakes seem quite hard as well.

What worked best for your babies when they were starting out? I need ideas! I think I'm going to take the leap today.

Rice cakes are fine because they go soggy very quickly. Both my dds started with things like bananas, toast with butter, fruit cut up into small bits.

Following as also struggling with this. I give dd strawberries cut up and carrot sticks but terrified of chocking.

The do this really scary choking thing when they're gag reflex is developing which scares the crap out of me, so I puréed everything for a bit.

Once they get the hang of it it's fine but I was so worried at the start. I think we begun with breadsticks, cooked brocolli and bits of cheese. I puréed loads of stuff and froze it...how about mashed potato with carrot in? You don't have to give them finger food or purée, you can put a blob of mash in front of them and they're developing the same skills.

I used to give dd the crusts of my toast and bits of fruit. She's still got an ongoing love affair with cucumber and grated or cubed cheese.

In my experience baby's are pretty good with food they've bitten off themselves, they have more control over it iyswim and will often push out anything too big to swallow that they can't gum down.

Dd used to love those baby wafers and vegetable crisp things which melt in the mouth.

It's confidence mostly I think. Is it worth you seeing if your children's centre do a weaning class or children's first aid?

I meant to add - I always made sure I was eating with dd - loads of dramatic chewing actions.

Cracker breads with hummus was a favourite when I was weaning my ds.

Bread sticks
Cooked carrot sticks
Broccoli
Sweet potato wedges
Peeled apple and pear wedges
Banana
Chicken 'fingers'

Anything really! Just cut into fingers. You need to get used to gagging. As above, it is normal and they learn to work food in their mouth fairly quickly. Good luck!

Eggy bread is a good one.

I would cook sticks of carrot, broccoli, potato etc. Mango and whole banana so they can bite it themselves.

I found the BLW book v useful and there is a lot of stuff online. First things we gave DD were steamed broccoli, carrot, courgette. Pasta twirls are also good.
Keep everything big enough so they can get hold of it. The gag reflex is further forward in babies than adults hence the gagging at first.

Carrot and peppers cut in to sticks , asparagus and brocollisteamed until soft. Toast, pancakes, there’s lots. If you’re worried try one of those net things, they work well.

they dont choke Op - they have a very highly developed gag reflex. Rice cakes go very soggy, they suck them rather than bite them.

It's fun to give them real food - put a bowl of actual spag bol in front of them - they grab it and suck big handfuls of it..! its very entertaining and they really love it.

We did BLW from the off and just gave her fingers/chunks of whatever we were having. The only thing she ever really choked on was banana, which was soft anything, and mushrooms ditto, just because she liked it so much she shoves too much in at once! She's one now, two choking scares in 6 months of self feeding isn't bad - and on both occasions she sorted herself out and coughed it up after a few scary seconds.

Avoid whole grapes, cherry tomatoes or nuts as these are just the right shape and size to get stuck in the mouth/throat; everything else, just relax and trust your baby! They are actually very cautious and their gag reflex is very forward - they'll usually spit anything too big out long before there's any danger of choking. Just watch out for favourites once they get greedy

Give them bits of whatever you are having. Don't worry too

DD loved pasta in tomato sauces and eating yoghurt with her hands from around 7 months.

You just have to embrace the mess for a while months and months

Don't worry too much about choking, it's highly likely they will gag (which is fine) but providing they are sat upright with good head control and you aren't giving them things like whole grapes or cherry tomato's the risk is smaller.

Things like cucumber just cut the strips thin enough so that if they do bite a chunk off it's still thin enough not to cause too much of an issue.

Cucumber doesn't tend to break off in chunks, especially if you leave the skin attached as the skin is quite tough. But you can give round slices instead of sticks, if you're worried.

Raw carrot and apple are the two worst for breaking off in chunks. It's best to steam carrots until they are a bit older, and apples can either be given as a whole apple with a bite taken out/sliced off (they then scrape at the fruit with their teeth) or wafer-thin slices. You can steam apple but it goes all watery and doesn't taste of anything - cooking apples would be better, roasted like potato wedges, but you'd need to add sugar.

Bread is a surprising one which can be a problem as it goes sticky and gets stuck in the roof of their mouth. Toast is better because it's dry. But be careful with bread and check the salt content as it can be hidden. They recommend not to give wholemeal bread yet because it's harder for them to digest.

Until 1 year they can only have up to 1g of salt in a whole day. That's 0.4g sodium. So check packaging and try to roughly calculate how much salt/sodium is in foods before you let your baby have too much.

When they are first starting out their motor control isn't very good, so they'll tend to grab things in a fist. That means that you need to cut things quite big so that the food sticks out of their fist for them to chew and suck on. But small enough for them to grasp.

A good tip with bananas is to cut them in half with the skin on, then carefully cut the skin off the cut side, leaving the stalk and the skin on the tip as a kind of "handle". Same for things like melon and orange, because the fruits themselves are very slippery and difficult to hold.

Is she actually ready for weaning? Sitting up unsupported with good head control, able to use pincer grasp etc.
At first it's not about her liking or not liking the food it's about her getting used to the concept of eating, experiencing different tastes and textures.

For first finger foods things cut in chunky finger sized strips are good, but in practice any food can be finger food. I would read up about gag reflex and choking and maybe even see if you can do a first aid course so you feel best prepared to handle any situation.

Just give a bit of whatever you're having. Easy.

We did that with our twins, no purees as they are totally unnecessary and a faff.

Oh I forgot, steam carrot and you can cut apple into wedges and fry in a little butter and cinnamon. Apple and carrot are really hard and can break off in chunks so you need to not give them raw yet.

Vegetables are the way to go because they cook soft and you know they
are healthy.

Mine both loved a roast potato to hold....roast carrots and sweet potato. Baked pear...peas....toast, rice, tiny pasta.

Unsupported isn't necessary. DS didn't sit unsupported until 9 months old. They do need to be able to sit upright, never reclined (with support is OK) and not fall over.

OP said she is 6 months so I'm sure she's fine.

I used to use toast or bread sticks or cheese and farleys rusks which I think probably have sugar in but they were hard and easy to suck