Hard foods with no teeth

[CalicoCathy]

DD2 is 8 and a half months. We're not doing BLW, but she is pretty much eating family meals now, and managing to chew most things.

But I am still scared to give her really "hard" things like apple and raw carrot or peppers. The problem is, DD1 tends to have raw carrot or pepper sticks for lunch most days (with a sandwich or roll), so then either DD2 has just a sandwich for her lunch, or usually I give her a bit of banana. But it would be nice for them to have the same thing. I sometimes give cucumber, but want to give more of variety.

So - when can I start introducing things like raw carrot to DD2 (bearing in mind she has no teeth yet) - and is there any special way I should prepare it, maybe grated carrot would be better?? She tends to have a "finger food" type lunch, and pick things up herself.

Babies have teeth. They're just under the gums, hard "sharp" things that can damage the gums might be a bit uncomfortable to eat, but anything soft or rounded will be completely fine. Have you not felt how hard your babies bite is when you put your finger in her mouth?

DD is now 8.5 months, and has been eating apple and pepper sticks from the start of solid foods. Carrots are very tough and you do probably need some skill to bite them off if DD can do it at all. Certainly grated carrot is unlikely to be a problem at all.

My DD doesn't eat hard things at all. She bites chucks off (without teeth) and then spits them out! I stew my apples (in the microwave) and use grated carrots. She does the same with cheddar as well, so we have to grate it.

I suppose I am partly scared she will somehow bite off a big chunk and then choke on it.

I will try her with some grated carrot.