Food for 8 month old

[Mummamice]

We started weaning to puree at 6 months and have been building up consistency, but I'm so nervous of choking!

He has baby rice and pureed fruit in the morning, sometimes with chia seeds. Then for dinner he has something spoonfed with some texture, e.g. tomato and cheese spaghetti with the spaghetti broken up fairly short or mashed potato, mashed carrots and small pieces of chicken.

For lunch I'm trying to encourage more finger foods like small chopped fruit and grated cheese because I do want him to learn on his own, I'm just very nervous! I read his airway is the size of a straw, so now any food bigger than the size of a straw sends me into a spiral!

What finger foods were you giving at this age? I read toast quartered is fine, but what if he bites off too much?

I realize I'm probably very much overthinking this, but as a FTM I feel so out of my depth! Every time I Google it the foods suggested seem so big and hard and I don't know if I need more steps between the food he's been eating before offering them, or if he'll be fine and I'm being ridiculous!

Any suggestions from mum's would be greatly appreciated ❤️

At 8 months they. An eat anything you can except whole nuts and honey.

we just gave bits of food from our plates

bread, cheese, fruit, veg, strips of meat, chops, drumsticks, pancake, oat cake, omelette, eggy bread etc.

I'd recommend something like the Solid Starts app, which will tell you how to serve the food so it's suitable for your baby's age. The 'small chopped fruit' you mention sounds a bit risky to me - ideally at this age you want quite big pieces as they can't choke on them as easily as they might on small pieces.

If he bites off too much toast it'll probably just come out of his mouth again. Either that or he'll shove it in a bit too far and he'll gag instead of choking - babies' gag reflex kicks in a lot further forward in their mouth than when they are older for this reason.

Yeh agree, whatever you are eating.

I would cut down on purées.

Avoid anything very spicy, shellfish, yy honey or nuts, and be aware of choking risks from whole grapes.

Orherwise yy pasta with sauce, bread or toast, fruit, cheese, chicken, veg, fish. He'll soon start to manage yogurt with a spoon. Crackers, rice cakes, salad bits. All good.

Solid Starts is a good app. At 8 months he should be eating something closer to real food. He needs to exercise the jaw muscles for talking FYI so staying too long on mashed food is bad for his development.

Stewed apples, broccoli, steak, eggs strips are all pretty good and easy.

@Mummamice solid starts app. It shows you exactly how to serve most foods to different ages, in terms of size, shape etc.

Downloaded solid starts! Thanks so much everyone, I feel a bit better about moving onto proper food knowing it's expected/good for development! He had some big slices of mango today which were absolutely fine and going to try toast in the morning!

Try following a book for advice like Charlotte Sterling-Reed or Joe Wicks weaning books. As above the Solid Starts app is brilliant too!

Have you done a paediatric first aid course?

It's a good idea to do one for obvious reasons, but also because knowing what to do if he should choke should put your mind at ease a little.

Solid starts app, What Mummy Makes and Joe Wicks Wean in 15 got us through weaning!!