Beginning Finger Foods

Good first foods are the Gerber (or store brand) veggie and fruit puffs. Cheerios are also a nice started and Gerber makes some little freeze dried fruit cubes that dissolve as soon as they hit the tongue. They taste like real fruit too. Some Walmarts carry Parents Choice brand freeze dried fruit that costs a fraction of the price of Gerber and is also really good.

Gerber makes a line of finger foods that dissolve fast. My daughter loved them. They're like cereal, but they don't really have to be chewed. Reduces the choking possibilities, anyway! It just gets them used to the idea of putting their own food in their mouths and chewing it.

I have three kids; one of which is now 18 months. I started him off with the normal baby food and that only lasted for about 2 months or so. Then I started giving him whatever we were eating because that is what he preferred. He did great. When family members would watch them I just told them to make the food the size of a pea or so to give them an idea of where to start. I watch another little guy and his mom had the same questions as you. So we started him off with crackers and graham crackers until she became more comfortable with him eating solids. He loves the Gerber cheetos. Just start with small pieces and he will do fine - you will too. :)

First, Don't rush the process, he's only 8 months!
There is a baby food book I LOVE, BLENDER BABY FOOD. I got it on Amazon, and all the foods can either be blended or served as is 'cause it's always soft enough for finger foods.
Good job Mommin'!

Hi R.
I have a 7 1/2 month old and I'm not a huge fan of processed foods either. I was scared to try firmer foods also but I am amazed at the increased dexterity she has due to trying to pick up finger foods. In addition to fresh/frozen veggies here is what we're eating.

At Wal-Mart they have a rice cracker in the baby food section by Hot Kid-Baby Mum-Mum. It is made of rice, sugar, and milk. It's soft, dissolves easily, and doesn't have all the other "stuff" the Gerber puffs do. We also go to Natural Grocers (Vitamin Cottage) and get puffed corn it's just that, and Corn Thins these are corn cakes. They are thin but it gives them something larger to hold onto. Our daughter also likes Healthy Times Teddy Puffs~Organic, no dairy, wheat, soy. To give them a different texture we buy Annie's Bunny Love cereal and soak it in something (formula, apple juice). It will get puffy and soft but stays together.
Good luck and have fun!

I agree with some of the previous posts - just begin with foods you prepare for yourself. I was recently directed to this site, and it's been encouraging... http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/. Best of luck!

Giving him texture like a teething biscuit will help him when he gets into chunkier things, they disolve and though messy are a good start in the solid dept. I would give both of my kids cheerios, tiny bits of soft cheese, like American slices, or tiny bits of lunch meats (like Hormel the natural one without perservatives or additives), yogurt with fruit in it, both of my kids LOVED chewing on pizza crust. It really depends on how many teeth your son has.
He will gag probably with things he isn't used to which is a normal reflex, however that doesn't mean he is choking. The gag reflex is scary because you don't always know, just keep a close eye on him. Another thing is you can go to Babies R Us and get these mesh teethers, you can put pears, peaches, soft fruits in them, then they baby can chew on it and get the flavor and tiny pieces without chunks.
My son ate too fast so I had to watch that he didn't overload his mouth.

Both of my kids loved the Gerber meats stix, they are super soft and they loved the Gerber puffs. Also Gerber has a line of died pears, green beans and carrot cubes that they cannot choke on. Give him bites of scrambled eggs with melted cheese, diced up very tiny grilled cheese, which my kids still love too. Mac n cheese even. I would make them toast and cut it up tiny. Both of my kids had teeth by 8 1/2 months so that lessened my worry but my daughter didn't take to really chunky foods until she was almost one. My son on the other hand was completely done with baby food of any sorts by 10 mos and ate whatever we did! :)

I started with small pieces of bread, bananas, avocado, sliced grapes, pears, peaches, cheese, graham crackers, noodles, and anything else we were eating that they could chew. We also used a little device we got at Babies-R-Us (I can't remember what it was called), but it's like a little net you can put food in and the baby munches on it. The food squirts out, but because it's through a net, it comes out in small quantities. You can put anything mushable in it. It's great.

I give cottage cheese - my little guy likes picking up the lumps and I didn't worry about chocking - also i give little chunks of bananas, peeled grapes, steamed vegies like carrots and sweet potato and avocado - he just loves avocado. It is a messy time but so fun watching how proud he is when he gets it in his mouth.

We also don't do any processed foods, but I would buy lots of cans of the "cut" green beans and rinse them, put them on the high chair tray and let them eat! Same for soft carrots, peaches (fresh soft ones best)-

To this day, my kids don't eat fries or nuggets or anything like that- my 3 yr old daughter's fave foods include things like brussel sprouts and broccoli!

As she gets a little older, try things like grapes cut in half, sliced cheddar cheese (the real cheddar, not prepackaged sliced processed cheese product- lol)
and Kashi makes great cereal bars.

Be VERY careful buying the packaged toddler foods- Gerber and others- check the label- many will have MSG and/or High Fructose Corn Syrup.. they are starting our kids early on this dangerous stuff!

My kids started off with Cheerios, and bananas. They were all eating table food my 7 months, I just made sure it was soft enough to "gum". There are jarred finger foods you can buy in the baby isle, but really, it's just stuff you can do at home, (carrots, pears, cubed meats, etc.). My sister was like you when it came to introducing new foods as well, so don't feel bad. You aren't the only one with those irrational fears. As long as the foods are soft, your baby will be fine, but remember to introduce the foods to him one at a time.

You have to get the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron...your library might have it. This was/is my bible for great introduction schedule, easy ideas and recipes. You don't have to buy processed food...it is so easy to feed your baby from the groceries already in your home!!check it out.

I shared your irrational fear, so dont feel alone.
All new moms go through this. We had good luck with Gerber Puffs. Then Cheerios. For me it was trial and error. I just sat with him all the time during eating and never left his side. The puffs melt so decrease choking hazzard greatly. This helped me move on. Just a thought.

Hi R.,
I guess our questions are pretty similar since we're looking for food ideas. My doc said to give him bites small enough (pea size) that he can swallow whole w/o choking, and that little Popsicle looking net thing that someone else mentioned is great too. Over time you will see that your child is okay, and also you will watch him develop more control and that will help you to not worry about him as much. Also don't feel behind about not starting him on finger foods! Our society really publicizes averages, but I'm sure you're doing a good job as a mom.

I started with Cheerios and peaches. I would recommend starting with veggies but fruits are faster it seems.

Good luck!

Hi R.,
what Deb said was really good. Just to add to it I would give my babies the gerber biting biscuits and they have those gerber fruit stars they look like cereal. But if the Gerber stuff is too expensive go down your canned veggies aisle and get cans of peas and diced carrots. I would stay away from corn and french cut green beans. Whatever you want to try test it first in your mouth, if you can "chew" it with your tongue and the roof of your mouth it should be pretty safe. You can always try canned soups too, just drain off the broth. If you have a blender or food processor you can take whatever you're eating and puree it for your son to eat too. You can also buy all of your own veggies and fruits and steam them until they're soft enough to gum. If you steam fruits, steam them in their skin like apples and bananas and peal the skin off after they're done cooking. This helps lock in nutruition.

If you do notice your son gagging on a food and seems to be having a hard time getting it out of his throat or the gag area you can use your pinky to dig it out. Start on one side of his mouth, hook your pinky in his cheek and cut across his tongue and swipe across to the other cheek and out the mouth all in one smooth quick motion. You will need to make sure your pinky is deep in his mouth. Becareful though not to push whatever's in his mouth down his throat so only do this after you've allowed him to gag a moment and try to get the food out himself. For extra precaution you might check with your health department or the local red cross and see when they will be offering CPR/First Aid classes and sign up and go to those.

Good luck and have fun!

C. C.