Finger foods for my 6 month old

[Fizzysherbet22]

Hi All,

I would love some advice on finger foods for my 6 month old daughter. I am so worried to give her anything incase she chokes. She is teething bad at the moment and keeps taking it out on the foods and ends up taking chunks off. Any tips or help please.

I have tried elle kitchen finger snacks, soft veg and fruit but just struggling to give it too her as she bites down so hard on it. Her two bottom teeth have just come through too.

Any tips or advice please. No harsh comments please as first time mum so learning as we go.

Hi, it seems like a good think that she’s taking off chunks and biting down hard?
porridge fingers for breakfast or baby’s banana muffins are good. There will be a recipe online. If you want to introduce allergens early then go for omelette with spinach (I use frozen chopped).
good luck, try not to panic or stress!

Thank you for your help, i shall try those out :)

It's hard and nerve wracking at first but you need to trust her. She needs to bite down hard and take chunks off the food - she's learning how to bite and chew. Try eating with her and really model biting, chewing and swallowing.

Read up on the difference between gagging and choking and maybe take a paediatric first aid course (or at least watch some online - st John's ambulance have some videos on what to do if a child is choking, and there's lots on Instagram too). Hugely unlikely you'll ever need to use it but I found it helped me to feel more relaxed about weaning.

Soft cooked veg is ideal, you could also make some soft pancakes or fritters for her to suck/chew on. There's a recipe that's banana, egg and oats - google baby pancakes. The first what mummy makes book has some good recipes too, though personally I found them more useful from about 8 or 9 months, but they're all fine from 6 months. There's a recipe for teething 'biscuits' (no sugar) in there which dd used to like when she was teething, or cucumber sticks also used to go down well.

If you have instagram I really recommend following SR nutrition and looking back through her stories- she weaned her second child around the time I was weaning DD and I found her such a huge source of information and reassurance. She has a book but I got what I needed from insta and her blog.

Also there's a brilliant American website called solid starts, they are really good for info on how to chop/ prepare/ surve just about every food going to make it safe for each age and also help children move through the different skills as they get older.

NHS Start4Life is a really good resource when it comes to weaning - lots of ideas for finger foods and guides to how to actually wean!

Also it's really common for babies to gag when they first start solids - their gag reflex is much further forward than an adult's, so they cough and splutter quite easily. There's a page on gagging and choking on the Start4Life website that should help you out. Best of luck - weaning can be scary! She's still so young so don't worry if it takes her a while to get the hang of it

Hi,
Have you had a look at the solids starts website or Instagram? It is definitely worth it and very helpful.

The chances of choking if food is cut and prepped correctly (eg. Grapes being quartered etc.) are quite slim from what I remember. Gagging is more likely and a completely normal reflex. Have a read on the NHS website on the signs to look out for but from what I remember choking is silent and gagging is loud.

Good luck. You've got this. Also what mummy makes is a great resource for recipes suitable for everyone in the family from 6months on.

Hi OP. If I'm worried I cut things into long but thin strips or slices so eg apples aren't easy to chew without teeth but I figure if I cut them into really thin slices then the baby can't really choke on them.

Like others have said gagging (ie coughing, spluttering, spitting, etc) is fine. When they are truly choking no sound will come out.

I did a baby first aid course before my first was born and that gave me a bit more confidence.

My baby likes sweet potatoes, very, very soft carrot sticks, spinach (fried with a tiny bit of garlic), berries (I open up raspberries, thinly slice strawberries and squish blueberries to break the skin), toast fingers (with very thinly spread peanut butter; the advice is to dilute peanut butter with water), slices of boiled egg, pasta (EG penne or fusilli) in tomato sauce with some grated cheese. I just plonk the pasta on his highchair tray and he makes a terrible mess but loves it.

I also give him ready made baby snacks like carrot puffs, etc and I think they are very safe (except rice cakes, which freak me out for some reason. They just seem too hard).

The chances of her choking are slim. Babies know whether the bits in their mouth are too big and will instinctively push it back out again. Biting down hard is good, it will also be helping with ahy teething pain.

don’t panic and try not to react negatively to any gagging or noises as this may startle her and give her reason to worry.