First time finger food-how big do you chop??

[amyire]

hello
6 month old weaned early on purees on 2-3 meals a day. want to start introducing finger food but scared she will choke. how many pieces would you get out of a banana say. do you offer big chunks or small slices. thanks

You cut up the food? Why didn't anyone ever tell me?

I'd just peel and serve

And if you fancy a bit of cooking cheese straws make great finger food.

About the size of a large chip With bananas, I used to squish them a little so that they divided naturally into thirds lengthways and also chop to stick length. Hope that makes sense, I don't think I've explained it very well

Jilted, I do agree about not chopping some things, but I am a cheapskate so I chopped a bit so that there was less chance of the whole thing going on the floor and needing to be replaced

The idea is the piece is long enough for a bit to stick out of your baby's fist, so maybe 3in/7cm? Bananas split into thirds lengthwise along their "seed seams" inside. Hard to describe (try it) but leaves something easier for LOs to grip than slices/cut fingers.

Be cool: it's likely your baby will gag. This is a protection mechanism and natural, and gradually the gag reflex will move further back do it will happen less as they learn to deal with the food in their mouth. But v hard to sit on hands. Babyledweaning.com is an excellent resource, also their Facebook group.

That's fair enough then whisper

OP do chop up things like grapes though, a whole grape swallowed is the perfect size and shape to block a baby' windpipe.

yeah i wasnt sure if like half a pear peeled, deseeded and chopped in two would be too big or not. totally clueless . thanks for tip on banana i do understand

The pear sounds fine too. At that age my dd would eat it just that that a Nd she loved them.

When I was weaning dd I got this book from the library. Think it was useful

Both of ours had a lot of fun with a quarter of a slice of buttered toast at 6 months.