Can I give a six month old finger food?

[dinny]

DS six months old last week - have managed to breastfeed exclusively up till now and really feel he is now ready for some solids. My question is can I give him finger food or do I need to go through the stages of weaning ie. baby rice, purees etc? Any advice/experiences would be fab. Thanks.

I think with toast they tend to suck off what they can iykwim so is probably quite safe. There is an excellent site somewhere about weaning onto finger food at 6 months. I'll search for you.

thanks Hercules - he is definitely hankering after our food.

Has he had wheat already? If so, toast/bread should be fine. (Some breads can be a bit salty, but as long as he's not having lots of slices, I wouldn't worry.)

And even if he hasn't had wheat, as long as you're aware you're introducing a possible allergen, so are watching for any adverse reaction, toast/bread is fine.

sorry, cant find it. Maybe someone else will remember it.

We tried to introduce no more than one new food a day, but we didn't try all that hard. We avoided big obvious globs of dairy until about 9 months, and egg white until a year, and are still (at 12 months) avoiding nuts and seafood. We never avoided spices, although we do try to avoid things that are really salty except as special treats. (She loves olives and pickles)