First finger food advice needed please

[popgoestheweeble]

DS is 8 months now, he started eating purees at 6 months and moved on to mashed texture food at about 7 months. He has managed great with everything so far, not phased at all by different textures/tastes.

My big question is - what now?! What would you advise for the first things to give as finger food? I know he must be ready for it physically as some people start with finger foods, I'm just scared of choking!! (PFB obviously)

I would really appreciate any advice/experience you all have on this

I made little mashed potato balls,with different centres. Varied fillings ,and introducing new flavours all the time. They'll eat anything now

toast fingers, pasta twirls, roast veg, steamed/boiled veg, half a banana, chunks of ripe pear, etc

Toast, rice cakes, steamed veg, boiled potatoes, little meatballs, strips of well cooked omelette, scoops of soft melon or papaya.

My Ds is teething and can happily chew on cold cucumber sticks from the fridge for ages then demands another one. Today he ate an entire cucumber

In addition to things already mentioned DD likes breadsticks and sticks of cheese. Edam is great as it doesn't crumble in her hand.

My girl is 8 Months now and weaning well. Any advice on what is the best cheese to give? im worried about salt?

Have a look on here for ideas.

You can give pretty much anything apart from honey, whole grapes and whole nuts.

Choking is rare, and can happen even with puree anyway, so even if you've been giving mashed foods it's still possible. Gagging is normal and much more common - have you looked up what to do if your child does choke?

If you are feeling a bit nervous, try some foods which are quite soft so you know there is no chance of choking (could be gagging, but that is just them learning about food!). Something like roasted fingers of root veg (nice and big and chunky so he can get a good grip), pasta twirls or other big shapes with pesto or tomato sauce, big chunks of ripe pear etc etc.

If you are feeling a bit more confident, cucumber, melon, mango and pineapple rings straight out of the fridge were really popular with my DS in this heat!

He can have pretty much anything but honey and whole grapes/nuts/cherry tomatoes, just remember to give it in big chunks and then he will control how much he is biting off and there is less risk of gagging.

Jermima Any cheese will be fine in the amounts a baby will be eating, mozarella or gouda/edam are good as they're nice and chewy rather than crumbly.

The salt limits are really not as low as you appear to be worried about!

Avocado slices are my DD's (10mo) favourite! Also melon, plums, nectarine, strawberries, ripe pear, asparagus, buttered toast, cheddar sticks, cucumber, celery, mini meatballs, pasta twirls.

Watching for more inspiration!

Very useful ideas on here :) We're just starting BLW so I will be watching with interest for more ideas!

DD's favs so far are cucumber and toast fingers. Oh and prunes!

Brill ideas!