7mths and eating finger food? Is this right?

[darla1969666]

I am not the childs mother, I am his grandmother, and I am a little concerned that my daughter is trying to rush my grandson's development. My youngest is now 8yrs old but I don't think I gave him solid food until he had teeth and could sit up. My daughter is feeding her son bread. Is he too young, or am I just behind the times?

opps forgot to mention that my grandson is only 7mths old.

7 months for finger food is fine :)

darla, try researching baby led weaning, you'll find your answer.

He's not too young. My DS was having toast at that age and managing it just fine.

IIRC my DD was happily gumming breadsticks (the salt-free ones made for babies) at this age. She could sit up though - thats probably a good idea but teeth are not necessary.

My friend gives hers tiny bits of bannana...it's a bit fast in my opinion though....the storing of food in their cheeks worries me and bread is dense.

He'll be fine, DS went straight to finger food at 6 months, and was eating corn on the cob by 9 months!

Another one who started weaning at six months on finger foods - DS is now 8 months and doing fine, despite only having one tooth (well, one quarter of a tooth at that!).

You're not behind the times, OP. There are different ways for different folk. If it's working for your daughter and grandson, that's great. Perhaps chat to her about it?

hmm if the baby can't sit up (even supported??) I'd be wondering if they should wait a week or 2 to wean at all

ds 6 months can sit up, has no teeth, eats rice cakes himself :-) I give them to him because he tries to grab other peoples food and can do it himself, if he couldn't then i would think he wasn't ready. Every baby is different i don't think you can go by age.

My dd was eating bouef bourgignonne at 7/8 months.

Toast fingers are easier for babies to eat as bread gets stuck to the roof of the mouth but No, not too young.

My ds1 was weaned on finger foods at 6months and by 8months was eating roast dinner with us!

DS was eating finger foods at 6/ 7 months. One day he grabbed a biscuit and chomped in. That was the start of his eating solids.

Pre teeth, babies have very tough gums, they can mangle things quite well.

It's Baby Led Weaning. Very modern!
But IIRC, even when ds1 was little and that was 14 years ago, you were supposed to introduce finger foods at that age.

My DD is 8mo, no teeth, still managing to devour fingers of cheese, toast, banana, pear, biscuit, anything put in front of her really!

The NHS recommend introducing finger food from 6 months.

We started straight onto finger foods at 6 months without any problems and was eating the same as us by about 6.5 months, although he did have 2 teeth by then.

It is important, though, that the baby is sitting in an upright position, supported if necessary. This means that any food they can't / don't want to eat will just fall out of their mouth. If they're not in an upright position, it could fall further back into their mouth and pose a choking hazard.

Look up Baby Led Weaning on google or wikipedia and I'm sure your mind will be put at ease. I BLW my twins (now two) and I'm sure that my mother in law thought I was mad but it worked very well for my two. A basic rule is that if the child can pick the food up up it is safe for them to eat as their gasping skills develop after their swallowing skills. Therefore if a 7 month old can pick up toast or carrot sticks it is safe for him to eat them but not safe for him to eat sultanas or peas until he has developed his 'pincher grip'. Hope this helps.

Thank you to everyone that replied. I was just a little unsure because my grandson was not sitting unsupported but I do know that every mother knows her baby more than anyone else. Thank you every one xx