Weaning - finger foods, argh!

[scotland757]

Hi! Just wondering what everyone is doing for weaning? I have a 7 mo little one and currently we have done thin purées etc. He's now up to three meals (textured and lumpy purées) a day plus 28oz of milk across the day. I am just so nervous to start introducing finger foods 🙈.

I have given him some melty puffs, soft biscotti, banana before and he just shoved loads in his mouth and gags. I end up fishing everything out of his mouth in panic 🙈. I am just not confident at all. What age should they be having finger foods? Is it normal for them to shove it all in?! Any finger food ideas to start? Thank you!

Also - I forgot to add - how much do you give your little ones? My LO currently has 4 cubes of home made food or half a pouch at mealtimes. Sometimes I'll give him soft fruit through a baby fruit feeder with holes in afterwards but not really a dessert. Thanks

Gagging is totally normal when learning to swallow and deal with solid food, it looks really scary but as long as they are making noise, they are sorting it out themselves, just keep a close eye on them. If they unable to cry or make any noise and they are turning blue, that's choking and you need to intervene immediately. Doing a first aid course and knowing what to do will give you a lot of confidence. St.John ambulance have some good videos online that show you what to do too.

Gagging is a really normal part of babies learning to eat. You have to let them find their own way through it. I watched a YouTube video on how to tell gagging from choking and it really reassured me.

Definitely start introducing finger foods - your baby is ready to enjoy them you can try toast strips, savoury muffins, porridge bars (homemade!), pancakes, strips of cheese, sweetcorn fritters.

You can also just try him on normal meals. My baby has just turned 8 months old and has curry / pasta / rice dishes / omelettes / stews etc. I just chop it up if it’s not big enough to be finger food, and he either eats with his hands or I load up a spoon and pass it to him.

Re portions - my baby has a huge appetite he’ll have, for instance, three tablespoons of rice with 4 tablespoons of curry, 3 tablespoons of plain yoghurt, 3 strawberries and 5 cherry tomatoes as one meal.

Gagging is absolutely normal, as is stuffing it all in.

Try and do a first aid course or if there isn't time look for advice on choking from Red Cross or St Johns.

DO NOT put your finger or anything else into his mouth, if he was choking you risk pushing whatever it is deeper. You need to smack him on the back (but look up a Red Cross/St John's video to see the correct procedure).

Don’t overcomplicate it. Just give him food. Both mine went straight onto finger foods at 6 months. Gagging is normal, red and noisy/coughing is fine (blue and silent is choking, that’s when you need to worry. I’ve experienced plenty of gagging but never a genuine choke, it’s very rare).

Pasta
Toast fingers
Scrambled egg
Avocado cubes
Cheese strips
Cucumber sticks, peeled
Tomato wedges
Puff pastry pinwheels
Fruit - mango fingers, banana fingers, quartered strawberries, raspberries, squashed blueberries etc
Potato/sweet potato wedges
Yorkshire puddings
Roast potatoes

Honestly, just chuck some food on the tray and let baby work it out.

Also, while he doesn’t have pouches, im fairly sure my baby eats waaaaaaay more than half a pouch. For lunch he can pack away a PB sandwich (one slice of bread), some few veggie straw crisps, cheese cubes, chopped salad veg and fruit! Let baby lead with their appetite, they know what they need and apparently don’t overeat at this age.

My baby is also 7 months, only non-finger food she will eat is Ella's kitchen dairy free porridge. She probably put up with puree for a few days max at 6 months.

It's normal for them to shove the food in their mouths, then they learn not to push it too far so yes as others say gagging is very normal and you shouldn't intervene unless he is choking (would have look of panic and be silent). You just need to watch them closely.

My dd isn't well today so ate toast fingers and banana for breakfast, porridge for lunch with some rice cakes and had a mini sunday roast for dinner cut into finger sized pieces. She'd normally have more at lunch e.g. an egg/fruit/pancakes but wasn't feeling it today so I gave her the pouch from the fridge to soothe her throat.

Easiest thing is to make things finger sized and let them feed themselves.

My little boy who has always loved his food and still loves it didnt really go for finger food til about 8 months. Toast and avocado are good. Anything easy to slice up, we did depend a lot on toast in the early days, pasta is good too, either the tubes or farfalle