How to give a 9 month old toast

[crispyrainbows]

I am terrified of choking and mostly spoon feed, but try to give finger food at least 3 or 4 times a week. This is how I do toast (thumb for scale!)
Am I being ridiculous? How would be best to cut it?

Why toast? Why not bread and butter? Toast is so dry!

In all honesty I would just cut one slice into quarters for a 9 month old. More for them to hold on to.

@Sostenueto

Why toast? Why not bread and butter? Toast is so dry!

I suppose un-toasted bread seems more likely to ball up and cause choking, but maybe not! I am so anxious about this

toast is less of a choking risk than bread as it is less prone to forming a ball in their mouth.

My seven month old has chunky soldiers about as wide as my thumb and manages quite happily

@Sostenueto

Why toast? Why not bread and butter? Toast is so dry!

In reply to this, I think lightly toasted bread is better than just bread and butter as it withstands being held and squished/gummed more than just soft bread.

Quarter the slice.
Those “fingers” are too long & too thin.

Depends entirely on how many teeth he has.

It can be scary when they make the gagging sound, but that doesn't mean they were choking. I was giving breadsticks from 6 months and toast with butter would have been quartered or halved. Neither of mine would agree to be spoon fed, so I just had to give them food and let them get on with it.

Those are too long and thin, I'd manage about 5 strips from a slice of toast

and remember that red noisy sputtering is a totally normal part of learning to deal with solid foods. If that happens they can sort it out themselves with a reassuring smile from you. Babies have a very sensitive gag reflex to keep them safe.

It is the silent choking where they become pale and/or blue that needs your help

I know you're not doing BLW but you might find the Gill Rapley book very reassuring in terms of choking risk and introducing solids safely.

DS is 9 months and I do his quartered. Easier to hold that way for him. I agree with pp that they look too long and thin.

It'll be fine - I did toast fingers for my daughter at that age. Just sit next to her and she'll figure it out. Also remember that they will have developed the important gag reflex by this age so although she may look like she may 'choke' she will cough it back up again and rechew it. It's important to let the gag reflex happen even though it may seem strange to do so. She'll also have sucked the toast to a very soft texture so it'll be safe enough. Takes about 30 mins for one finger of toast! Not something to try when you're in a rush....also works well with home cooked potato wedges my kids loved those to suck

Honestly my DD weaned herself by grabbing my toast off my plate and shoving it into her mouth (a few days before she turned 6 months) so I would just give it however it suits you to cut up.

Also, and tell me to bugger off by all means, but I worked in a childcare for years and the parents who were scared of choking never seemed to progress from very smooth food. So I'd keep an eye on making sure you start to/are giving lumpy food when spoon feeding.

Sorry didn't realise other posters had mentioned gag reflex - but it's so important as a human reflex and let it develop at this age as a kind of survival skill or a bodily instinct like thirst or hunger etc

Bread - toaster - butter - quarters - child

I used to do it like that for DD but now with DS I just do it in quarters; either is fine. I find toast quite good as you can put so many different foods on it for them to try.

Honestly op, I was exactly the same. I was freaking out at the balling up of bread too.

Quarters for sure but I didn't used to toast bread as I HATE toast crumbs

Probably a bit thicker than that, but I do do it in strips. I found the worst gagging so far was on a strip of crumpet that he shoved in sideways. It did all ball up in his mouth in a doughy wad.

If you’re on Facebook I would really recommend a group called baby lead weaning for beginners. Really helped my confidence with BLW (I know you’re not doing it completely but still).

9 months is absolutely fine for toast, you can give it as it is or however really as it is not a choking hazard. The only thing you need to avoid would be peanut butter (where is can be squished into a ball).

Other than that avoid the usual grapes/ hard rounded things etc.

Also they don’t need teeth! My little girl had very few teeth at that age but was eating normal meals with us, we’d just adapt them slightly (much to MiL’s horror).

That looks okay to me! Your baby might splutter a bit but it's important to get them used to solids. Within the month they'll be chomping down happily on toast with all sorts of fun things on it!

Yes, in the nicest possible way, you’re being ridiculous.

Your baby needs to learn to manage solid food and two or three times a week isn’t going to cut it. Your baby has lots of natural inbuilt mechanisms to avoid choking, one of which is allowing them to actually bite off their own pieces of food and work out how much they should have in their own mouths.

I second pp’s suggestions that you need to do some reading up on baby led weaning and how your child is perfectly capable of coping with solid food. Understand the difference between choking and gagging. Do a baby first aid course. Then relax.

At 9 months I cut into wide strips. He’s nearly 12 months old and I now give him halves or quarters.

Bloody hell, mine had 6ths at 6 months and quarters by 8 months. Mine only had finger foods though, much easier than purées and all that nonsense. She just had what we have at every meal.