When can I give baby a piece of fruit?

[PipPipPip]

I need your advice!

I'm weaning my baby at the moment. She LOVES eating and I've given her large chunks of carrot and apple to gnaw on. She doesn't have any teeth yet so I was surprised when she managed to chomp pieces off!

I then got a bit worried about choking. But...if I waited until she had grinding teeth before giving her chunks of food, wouldn't we be waiting months or years?

So - when is the right time to give chunks of crunchy food? The books I have are unclear about this.

Try The Baby led weaning book. You can give them anything really. Choking is a powerful defence so don't worry. Roast dinners and casseroles are great, cos they can suck and gum on it all. Cut your veg in to sticks so she can pick them up more easily.

DD had breadsticks and baby biscotti at 6mo, the more they slobber the softer they get.

DD has banana and strawberries most often as she can mash them up, peach are popular but peeling is messy mucky.

It's really scary at first as they often gag or hack it back up, but the reflex is there and they will learn.

DD eats most things off our plate, loves sliced omlette, yorkshire puddings, boiled veg and potato's.

The BLW book gives some good inspiration and can help you with your confidence in it as well.

6 months+

Remember to cut anything round (grapes etc) into segments, as round things can completely block their windpipes.

Def try taking a look at the baby led weaning book- or just have a look at a BLW website- they can have pretty much anything from 6m+

I wouldn't give large chunks of hard food like carrots or apples, I tended to give long skinny strips of those foods, (and bananas too as my eegit of a SIL scared the bejaysis out of me about a baby getting brain-damaged from choking on a large chunk of the whole banana that her neglectful mother handed her - while my 8mo chomped on her banana happily in my arms - grrr). Loads of scary moments on the way for you I'm afraid, they gag and make choking noises at pretty much every meal-time, even on mushy goo!

Our 7 month old likes pears, bananas, peaches, plums. Also cucumber and tomato slices.
Apple can be a bit hard as it breaks off into big chunks that don't break down in the mouth the way softer fruits do. You can soften apple or carrot pieces in the microwave first, though.

You could try something like this to begin with.

I used something similar with DS1 and DS2 until they got older, more teeth and the hang of chewing food up. Grapes and watermelon make a lovely juicy mess!!

I agree the blw book is great. For apples, she might find it easier to have the whole apple, after you've taken a bite. They were the only thing I really worried about because of the skin.

DD didn't get any teeth until she was about 12 months, but they can eat fine without - teeth are under the gums. Fruit like plums were good for her, she just sucked all the good stuff off the skin.

You can give basically anything except honey and nuts from 6m+. With due regard to common sense and obvious choking hazards, of course.

I tend to steam or bake hard fruit like apples. Pears are great though.

Try pan-frying the apple in butter with cinnamon.

Watch out for the skin because it can stick to the roof of the mouth. Some water should rinse it out ok. Babyledweaning.com is a great site for advice.

Another recommendation for the BLW book here.

Raw carrot and pieces of raw apple are possible choking hazards though, so I'd avoid carrot (I gave it from about 18 months) and leave apple pieces for a while (after a year or so IMO). We found whole apples were fine at first, but once DS had enough teeth to bite chunks off we stopped giving them for a while. The issue isn't teeth, but their ability to control the movement

We did BLW and have been very relaxed about the issue of choking, but DS has had some bad gags on apple pieces and on grapes.