finger food for 7mo - scared please help !

[cheeseburgerandfries]

I'm a first time mum and prior to DD being born I was all for going down the BLW route but now that she's here that terrifies me too much so she's been having age appropriate jars, modified versions of our meals and bought snacks.

She loves picking up food by herself and I would love to give her more than just Ella's kitchen crisps, Heinz biscotti and Farleys rusks. I had an incident with toast fingers where she choked on a large bit that she had bitten off and I can't get that out of my head.

She eats the 7month jars which have small chunks of pasta/veg in with no problems. She has 2 front teeth.

That St. John's ambulance baby choking video is constantly on the tv and I am so scared to give her any finger foods that don't "melt" or turn to mush in her mouth.

Any help, ideas and advice please

Try well steamed veg like broccoli, carrot, green beans. Also very soft avocado, and ripe squishy fruit like peaches, nectarines, banana, pear.

There may well be some gagging to begin with but try not to worry about that, as gagging is protective and stops them choking. The food will come forward when they gag, and they may either spit it out or just try again. It takes a fair while for them to learn how to move food around in their mouths and to chew and swallow it.

I know it's scary but it is normal for them to gag when learning to eat, it doesn't mean they are choking. Try well cooked broccoli, the florets are easy for babies to grasp and they mushy in the mouth. Or banana.

Banana scares me as I'm worried she takes too much of it in and it is too thick in her mouth. Am I being overly paranoid she can stick a whole crisp (wotsit shape) in her mouth and manage ...

Try splitting the banana down the middle - it splits into 3 segments. Press your thumb into the top of the banana and it should start to split. (you can see videos on Youtube of how to do this). The segments are easier to pick up and a better shape for gumming.

The more practice with finger foods the better they get at it. It can be nerve wracking to begin with but choking is really rare (and can happen with spoonfed puree as well). Maybe go on a baby first aid course if it helps to reassure you that you'll know what to do in the unlikely event that something goes wrong.