Peanut has entered yet another stage in her life.
The finger-food stage.
We introduced Peanut to puffs about a week ago and at first she was a bit cautious. But within a couple of days she started shoveling the puffs into her mouth, barely leaving enough room for air. It freaks the heck out of me, but I guess we all have to move forward.
But a couple of days ago she took things a step further. She is now refusing to eat most of her mashed baby food and will only settle for a couple of pieces of finger food.
I’ve started to cut up some fruit for her (because I’m not so sure that puffs alone will fulfill her nutritional needs) and dip it into some cereal (oatmeal and rice), but I’m not so sure that more than a piece or two are making it into her mouth.
So, dear blog friends, I’m reaching out to you. And I have lots of questions.
When did your kid start finger foods?
How do you live with the fact that he or she might choke at any moment?
What kind of food did you try around 7-8 months?
What are some favorite finger foods?
How do you keep the mashed up food going?
What happens when barely any of it makes it in their mouths?
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t worry about a lot of it not making it to her mouth. Just keep giving her food and she’ll get better. As long as you’re still nursing then she’s getting what she needs. The fear of choking will always be there. And I will tell you, she will gag. For sure. It’s scary but let her cough it out and hit her back if you need to. It’s scary but babies have strong gag reflexes for a reason! As for foods, bananas and avocados are both great finger foods. You can mash them slightly or just cut them in small pieces. Watermelon is also good but not a ton of nutrition. Well cooked squash cut into small cubes is another option. Hope that helps
Thanks! I tried bananas tonight but I have no idea if she even ate any!
I totally agree with Jenna…don’t worry about the amount, she’ll get what she needs, and nursing is still supposed to be her primary means of nutrition anyways. Kids are geniuses…they’ll get the amount that they need. It’s just hard because we’re responsible for it…ya know? As far as the choking. God. I fight that battle every single day. Every meal. Eventually, you’ll teach her how to “bite” and she’ll master how much her little mouth can hold. But in the meantime, my rule was that everything that she was offered had to be able to go down her pipes without her chewing a thing…because sometimes she didn’t. If she wanted to eat bigger pieces, or feel like she was eating bigger pieces, I would hold whatever it was in my hand and she could eat up to where my fingers were. Bananas scare the hell out of me, but Zoe eats them every day. I only ever held them for her to eat…and still do. Green beans are great b/c they’re already skinny. I would try any fruit or vegetable that’s soft, and any carb that dissolves in her mouth or has holes in it. This comment has turned into a novel, but just know that I was terrified at this stage too….it’s normal.
lol tonight I cut up the fruit into pieces so small I’m not even sure it’d be considered finger food any more.
At 6 months we started giving E toast soldiers. I made one piece of sandwich thickness white toast with butter and fruit purée (from my stash) and sliced it into 5 pieces, putting one slice at a time on her tray. Because there is a splash mat under her when she drops it I pick it up and she keeps going. When it gets too mushy I swap it for a fresh soldier. Sometimes she used to get it stuck but you just stick your finger in and fish the lump out.
My friend does BLW, baby led weaning which is no purees at all just finger foods that they feed themselves, she says you’ve just got to have faith re the amount of food they get and learn the difference between choking and gagging. Her boy is now 10 months and is certanly not starving. There is a saying here, “food before one is just for fun” because her main source of calories is from milk. Mushy pear isn’t very high in fat is it? After her toast she always has a full fat/sugar free/specially made for baby yoghurt so we try and combine finger and spoon feeding. Good luck!
WOW that is awesome! It looks like you really have this food thing under control. Am I the only freak that’s trying to count nutrition? LOL
You can also do carrots, green beans, peas, etc. Well cooked of course!
I need to do more greens because right now she’s not a big fan! I haven’t tried carrots yet! I’ll have to check those out.
Nate started eating puffs at 7 mths and very quickly then would eat anything we gave him. He was really, really good at biting off little bits and mashing it in his teeth and gums. I either gave him stuff in tiny, puff-size pieces OR in bigger chunks, like a hunk of roasted potato, that he would be forced to chew on and couldn’t fit in his mouth whole. I know I’m going to kick myself for saying this because I’m going to jinx myself, but he’s never choked, not once. After a while, I just relaxed about it and trusted his eating skills. In the beginning, though, I basically never took my eyes off him while he ate. Oh wait, I still do that. He eats; I watch him eat. People talk to me and I answer them while still keeping my eyes on Nate. I’m an awesome dinner companion.
According to our pediatrician, at that age (7-12 mths) babies’ nutrition mainly comes from bf/formula. The food isn’t a huge part of their nutritional intake, so I didn’t worry about it much – but Nate also didn’t fight any food (and we mixed his cereal in his baby food). OH and we started using the textured baby food (stage two, then three), which was more interesting to him. I still spoon feed him yogurt every morning now (I put his liquid vitamin in it). He probably could start spooning it himself, but I don’t want to deal with a morning mess like that yet. lol
As for what foods, we gave him anything we were eating as long as it wasn’t on the “none before age 1″ list (which was short). Nate ate anything we gave him. Cheerios are a great puffs alternative and Nate LOOOVED the Gerber Yogurt Melts, but that might have been more like 9 months (I don’t recall). I would say just try anything in little bits, minus obvious no-no’s and potential allergy items (I don’t give Nate shellfish b/c I’m allergic, just in case he is).
Little by little you’ll figure out and trust what Peanut can or cannot handle.
My daughter, who is 2 now, would not eat baby food. I am a dietitian so I knew the most important thing was her just to learn how to eat. Her primary nutrition was breastmilk. I would give her vanilla yogurt, and then we would use a mini food chopper to grind up foods that I prepared for the rest of is. I did worry about her choking but thankfully we never had any big scares.
When did your kid start finger foods?
around 6 months. We started with puffs and animal crackers (to suck on). Then moved to steamed peas, chunks of carrots, sweet potatoes, long green beans that he could hold and bite down on. Canned peaches and pears cut into chunks (I dry those off b/c he can’t pick up slimy stuff still). Pasta cut into chunks (around 8 months). Banana chunks, waffles & pancakes. By 9-10 months he was eating basically everything but peanut butter, strawberries, and honey. ALSO Gerber wagon wheels, saved my life! Those teething biscuits are nasty and fall apart, but wagon wheels don’t make too much of a mess. They are basically giant puffs that dissolves as she sucks/gums at them.
How do you live with the fact that he or she might choke at any moment?
I never worried about it. It seems that no matter how much he stuffs in his mouth, he hasn’t choked. And when he has (MAYBE twice), I just dig it out and keep going. Everything I gave him (until he had 3 or 4 teeth, then I just made the plunge) was so mushy/steamed that even if he did swallow a whole tray full, it would just slide on down.
What kind of food did you try around 7-8 months?
see above.
What are some favorite finger foods?
sweet potatoes, pasta (tonight we had cheese tortellini and he LOVED them), animal crackers, my mind has gone blank.
How do you keep the mashed up food going?
Every night I feed Levi whatever we’re having first, then after he seems to be done (aka throwing food on the floor instead of eating), I feed him the pureed vegetables I have. And there are times when I put them in, he spits them out. And we go round and round. Most days, eventually he’ll swallow and I win that round.
What happens when barely any of it makes it in their mouths?
I agree with other posters. It doesn’t matter. She’ll get what she needs and the rest from breastmilk. Just in the past few weeks have I REALLY been making sure he eats plenty plenty at every meal since he’s on just whole milk now.
you are incredible! Thank you for all the details!
Well, she might gag a little, but honestly it’s part of the learning process. Obviously she shouldn’t be CHOKING, but you know what I mean. A little gagging helps them learn where the food goes in their mouth. And we all learned to eat, so I doubt the infant choking mortality rate is that high.
To be honest, we didn’t introduce any food til about 6 or 7 months so finger foods were a ways away at 7-8 months. BUT keep going with the puffs. We got the Earth’s Best teething biscuits and he loved those. She clearly wants to eat! You can also start thickening her food a little to give it a little more texture. In the end she gets like, 95% of her nutritional needs from breastmilk anyway. At this point most food is just for taste and play. It’s good to get into the habit of feeding her a varied, healthy diet, but it’s more practice than necessity. Good luck!
there are lots of finger foods….and it’s great that she’s interested in trying new things. If she isn’t interested in some things, wait a week and try again. The goal is to get her to eventually share the meal you and your husband are having
Introduce new foods very slowly so you can watch for anything she might be allergic too. Don’t forget: NO honey. I’d suggest:
Fruits: very small diced bits of peaches/pears (without skin), smushed blueberries (no grapes unless peeled and cut in fourths), avocado (very yummy and most kids love them), watermelon, banana (i’d avoid strawberries, because they frequently cause allergies)
Veggies: cook them (nothing raw) soft: broccoli, very soft lima beans (cut in half), smushed peas, soft bits of zuchinni or the various winter squashes like butternut, green beans, small squares of baked potato or fries and sweet potatoes
Proteins: bits of scrambled egg yolks (no whites yets because of allergy potential), small bits of pasta, small bits of cheese
I found your blog through jennas journey. My son liked finger foods way better than regular baby food. One thing he loved was peas. They are nice, because they are already the right size and don’t need any cutting. I also used to go out and buy fully-cooked frozen chicken. I would heat it up and then cut it into the tiniest little pieces. My son loved it, and it was the only way I could get him to eat any meat for a long time.
Don’t worry too much about the choking. Mine can even give herself a Hemlich on her high chair tray.
We started Eli on puffs and Cheerios pretty early… around 6 months or so. For a long time, as long as I gave him something he could pick up, he would let me shovel food in his mouth at the same time… bite of puffs, bite of mashed veggies, etc, etc. Once Peanut gets over the initial excitement of finger foods she’ll probably let you feed her again!
This is what we used
http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Fresh-Food-Feeder-1ea/dp/B0009ET93Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315407727&sr=8-1
You can put fresh fruit or veggies or anything in it and they can chew away but only small pieces get to them. We also put ice in there for teething. It is awesome!
Brayden started finger foods around 6-7 months if I remember right. He loved puffs, cheerios, cut up banana (I sliced a piece then cut into fourths), cooked diced carrots, Mum-Mums (look them up online), yogurt melts, string cheese (again, cut into slices and then into fourths), diced pears. I was always afraid of the choking as well, but babies naturally have a strong gag reflex for protection.
I think I’m just second-ing what everyone else said, but we always tried to give the kids whatever we were weating as long as it was safe, not too spicy, and not too scary (i.e. grapes and hot dogs). And kids will let you know when they’re hungry, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that. As long as everything is small enough and you’re watching that she doesn’t stick a frillion pieces in her mouth at a time (my kids LOVED to do that), she’ll be fine
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