Baby led weaning

[Katie272]

My son just turned 8 months old and he's been weaning since 6 months, well actually since earlier that 6 months he was fine with the odd puree (mom police don't @ me I'm aware that weaning wasn't recommended before 6 months). Ok so now he's 8 months old he's getting more consistent with having his meals, we're currently on 2 and building up to 3. I find that if I spoon feed him he'll eat everything I give him. But if I give him finger foods he'll put them in his mouth and most of it ends up spat back out or thrown on the floor (like 99% I'm certain goes on the floor 😂). He's still having formula alongside so I'm not exactly concerned yet but how did you encourage your 8 months old to chew and swallow the food? Did it get better when they had their teeth? He's been fairly forward with other stuff such as crawling, standing up and he can walk around the furniture but he still doesn't have any teeth or any signs of them coming soon.

What sort of finger foods are you offering? I found my DS didn't really like bland food and seemed to more or less rejuvenated most traditional baby/toddler baby foods.

All fruits and veg really that can be cut up in a way that he can pick up. He's also had stuff like fingers of toast and chicken. I know there's going to be a lot of food throwing because he's only young but I feel like if I was to start reducing his milk to an amount closer to the recommended (which I'm not planning to yet because I know every baby needs different) he would actually be missing out on a lot.

You could try giving him something like a crispy breadstick that sort of breaks down as he mouths/sucks it to help him get the idea that solid food can be turned into mush that he can swallow. Fingers of roasted root veg (potato, sweet potato, carrots, parsnips, swede, whatever you like) are also good for that. Perhaps something on his toast (soft cheese, hummus, smooth peanut butter, avocado, etc.) to encourage him to keep working at it a bit?