Slices of raw apple/pear

[PassionKiss]

I have been giving these to DD (6.5 months) to suck on, she loves them but I just read on an old thread on here that bits could break off and be a choking hazard . . . is that right?

I am doing purees with a bit of finger food - she has ricecakes and bread crusts and just spits them back up if she can't swallow them.

I always worry about this kind of thing too...but but the fact that she "justs spits them back up if she can't swallow them" means that she is a great mini human and her body will try its best not to make her choke. I have tried my DD with certain things like pears and apples and stuff and she has just started to get the hang of it. I think in a month or two, when your DD's gum chewing/swallowing reflex gets better it will be ok. I think we have to keep trying difficult food out so they learn how to take them though. She will most likely gag before choking.

My DD at six months spat out rice cakes at the start and she was weaned at 5 months. NOw at 8 months she takes massive gums bites(chews and swallows) out of boiled carot stick,. cucumber, it is amazing how quickly they can get the hang of it so keep at it....and maybe for now boil the apple/pear slices so they are softer.

Good luck

Thanks very much Fifilottie - I feel reassured! Yes I will try boiling a bit first to soften (why didn't I think of that?)

Have you tried dried apple and pear rings? they are tasty,and go very soft and nicely soggy before they break apart.

My DCs loved them!

Yes...it is soo easy to worry about things but I tried my DD with raisons and dried apricot today and she loved them..they have a gooeyness about them. At the start I would never have thought that she would have taken any of it!

Let us know how it goes passion kiss(great name!!)

Ooh dried fruit - good idea! Thanks both.

I wouldn't worry too much about a ripe pear but I always steamed apple a bit at that stage.

Other fruit to try could be melon, mango, plum (stone removed)or peach - all nice and soft and easy to handle as finger food.

Wrong time of year but medium sized strawberries go down a treat here. I think the upper limit of strawberries my 6.5mo DD can eat is rather more than I can afford. So long as they are soft she squishes her fingers into them like a bowling ball, brings them up to her mouth and then just slurps.

Unsulphured dried apricots and figs torn in half are good too, and both are a useful source of iron.

Also frozen berries are great and much cheaper. I pop a few still frozen into a dish with her morning porridge and they help to cool it down and make it taste lovely. We're doing BLW but she prefers to be spoonfed her porridge because it is so tasty and she doesn't want to miss any of it.

Get pears that are quite soft and give them to her whole. She'll just gum them to death!

Or if you can't be bothered to boil I found you can microwave apple slices and they come out rather lovely!!!