I find giving finger foods a bit scary, advice please!

[lolalotta]

Hello, I know I am being silly, but I'm a bit afraid when I give my 7 month old lo finger foods that she is going to choke (and that I won't be able to deal with it despite having been on a course on how to deal with it!) I wish I wasn't so nervous. Is she old enough for finger foods yet? So far she has mainly had purees. She has a few teeth can sort of chew on bits and make them soggy, lol! So far I have given her a wedge of cucumber (peeled) and a finger of toast and a finger of peeled carrot which she really just sucked on and knawed. I was nervous with the toast that she would take in too much at once and not be able to handle it... can anyone reasure me?

It isn't compulsory to give finger foods. I didn't give either of mine finger foods until they were a bit older than that. They are now 4 and 2 and perfectly fine. In fact, my 2yo will eat anything that she can grab and she will use cutlery if asked to. I gave purees to both of them until I felt they were able to cope with finger foods. People probably won't agree with me!

Relax, a stressed parent is likely to make the whole experience stressful when it needn't be (sorry - I know that's easier said than done!). f you've been on a course for how to cope with a choking baby, you're fully prepared and it is very unlikely to happen.

Go for large 'chips' of food that she can mush herself and don't worry about what you're giving her or what she's doing with it - she may just suck at it or play with it for a while. Steer clear of apples or breadsticks for now (if she has teeth she can bite small bits off) and try sticks of banana, plum, peach, nectarine, cheddar, buttered toast, rice cakes (if she puts all of this in her mouth it will just sort of disintegrate), organix crisps, peppers, cucumber, cooked pasta, broccoli and cauliflower florets.

Try giving her little bits of food to play with while you have your meals and view it as fun rather than getting her to eat finger foods.

Hope that helps!

Yep, you need to relax and give it a go. Rice cakes with spreads, chunks of banana, melon slices, roast veggies, anything healthy that you eat really. Crunchy stuff is nice for her if she is teething so you are doing the right thing with cucumber.

It is also worth remembering the difference between gagging and choking. Babies have a naturally strong and forward gag reflex so, left to their own devices (ans assuming you don't give them something silly like whole grapes) they will cough up anything that starts to 'go down the wrong way'. If they cough and make a noise, that is gagging, NOT choking - let baby get on with it, closely supervised, of course. Don't do what my batty MIL did once and hold my DS upside down, scaring everyone silly, including DS.

Choking OTOH - although very, very unlikely - is silent because the airway is completely blocked and the main symptom is baby turning blue. If this occurs then you do need to act, as per your first aid course. To repeat though, if your baby is sat up with food and not allowed to crawl around with it then it is very very unlikely your DD will choke. Very unlikely. [Deep breath, relax and repeat - very unlikely....]

Personally, I am from the BLW camp - my DS went straight onto finger foods at 6mo, never had any purees and eats everything now. But, as purpletrees has testified, it is clearly possible to achieve the same result with purees (albeit with a bit more work for you!).