Starting Solids - Kingston,MA

Cheerios themselves - not "Honey Nut Cheerios" really have very little sugar. There's probably more sugar in most fruits than in Cheerios.

Cheerios are great as they also melt in the mouth even better than the infant treats they sell at the store. And even without teeth they can bite down and they crumble. You don't want to give him Honey nut cheerios yet. I run a day care. I'm part of a Food Program and Cheerios are low in sugar.
At Walmart's and Target they sell mesh feeders that looks like a teething ring. You put any 2 inch piece of fruit inside of the mesh and it snaps shut. the baby holds the ring and bites on the mesh and only get strained fruit. So it isn't a choking hazard. If he starts teething a cold piece of watermelon is good for teething relief.

I agree with many other posters - Cascadian Farms (available at Stop n Shop) organic Os taste just like cheerios. It was my girls first food. After that very ripe pear, peeled and cubed. Good luck!

Regular cheerios have 1 gram of sugar in a full serving. The amount of sugar you are giving him is negligible as long as you don't get sweetened cheerios. You really want something that will dissolve when your baby is that young and toothless.
One thing my sisters and I did was to buy soup and drain the broth. The vegetables that were left were super mushy and easy for baby to eat, but there tends to be a bunch of salt in soups so you need to be careful not to overdo that. ALso I think that might require a little bit of chewing.

Good luck!

Hi T. - Plain Cheerios in the yellow box have VERY low sugar, in fact, they are one of the only breakfast cold cereals I eat because they are low in sugar. The amount of cereal your son will actually consume (after playing with it, dropping some, etc.!) is pretty low, so even if there was a lot of sugar, I wouldn't worry at all. My 3 year old eats a bowl for breakfast most mornings. She doesn't even know that sugar cereals exist! She loves them, and my toddler eats them plain. There are also lots of organic types you can choose from if you want to go that route. You could also try small pieces of the plain graham animal cookies kids like, or small bits of diced apple without the skin for healthy snacks that are easy to grasp. Even a little bit of cubed cheese is good at this age. Have fun with it and try only one new thing at a time... enjoy!

Gerber makes great little finger snacks that dissolve in the mouth.
You should try those :)

The bananas are difficult because they are so slippery. Cheerios (and similar cereals) are easier because they aren't slippery, they have a center hole that aids grasping, and they are safe because they dissolve in the mouth with just the action of "gumming" them or shifting them around with the tongue - which is what he will do with them before he figures out how to swallow! I don't think there is very much sugar in plain Cheerios, but you can look for some organic and sugar free alternatives in large supermarkets with a "healthy" aisle, Trader Joe's, etc. You could probably try something like a Rice Krispie (again with similar products). At this time of year before Passover, you can often find alternatives in the Jewish food aisle - there will not be any high fructose corn syrup in Passover foods because corn products are forbidden.

Another option is small squares of French toast - it's usually pretty soft especially if you soak the bread in the batter a while before cooking. I used to make enough slices to use up the egg, then cut them and freeze them between layers of waxed paper, and defrost as needed. If you make it with cinnamon, it gives a sweet taste without sugar, and the health benefits of cinnamon have been well documented. Same goes for pancakes. Canned pears and peaches are good too (not in heavy sugar syrup) but again, they are slippery. Be very careful with berries - they don't dissolve well in a "new chewer" unless they are really ripe. Definitely no grapes, raisins or pieces of hot dog in one this little.

Good luck - be sure to take some photos or videos of your little guy trying to learn new skills and experience new tastes. It's normal and wise to research & read, but don't miss the fun and the laughs and the joy of watching him grow and try things! It can really be heartwarming and, often, downright hysterical!

I coated slippery foods like banana and kiwi with crushed Cheerios or wheat germ to help my daughter grip them better.
In addition to Cheerios, there are solid "treats" that "melt" (more easily than Cheerios), although they may have sugar in them also. Unfortunately, I can't remember what they are called, but you can find them in the baby food section.
Good luck,
J.
(Sorry, I didn't read your other responses first. Lots of good suggestions.)

Hi,

I have been giving my daughter organic O's of some brand or another since she was about 7 months old and she absolutely loves them. It took a little while before she mastered the picking up and getting into her mouth, but at least they aren't that messy to clean up. I don't think any of the ones I buy have added sugar. You can also get organic brown rice krispies with no added salt. Taste like cardboard to me, but she likes them and they stick to their hands when wet so they are easy to pick up.

You can make almost anything a finger food, although the slippery ones are a little more advanced. You can try rolling things like ripe pear in crushed O's like someone suggested. Cubes of sweet potato, avocado (the consistency has to be right - not too soft), well cooked carrots or beets, peas that have been mashed a tiny bit so the skin is broken, pieces of cheese once you introduce dairy, thawed frozen blueberries (again make sure the skin is broken), fresh blueberries or grapes cut into small pieces, chicken or pork if you introduce meat are all good finger foods. Once he gets a little more experienced you can make balls with avocado and anything else you want him to eat, but isn't as easy and then roll them in crushed O's. For example, my daughter isn't crazy about egg yolk, but I want her to get the protein and she likes grated carrot, but it is messy so I made some balls with egg yolk, grated carrot, avocado and garlic powder and rolled them in O's. She loves them.

I would recommend trying different foods in cube form and seeing what he can pick up and seeing what he is comfortable eating. They are two different things. My daughter was comfortable eating O's before she could let go of them so I would feed them to her.

Some kids really have a hard time with texture so it may take longer.

I recommend the Super Baby Food book or the website Wholesomebabyfoods.com for guidelines of what you can introduce when and recipes (the website has a whole section on recipes for finger foods for babies - I made the Oats and banana drops and they were a big hit - no sugar, salt, wheat or egg added. (I also made them with sweet potato and a little pear juice instead of banana and I think they are better)

Sorry for the long post, I hope it was helpful

D. (mother of a well fed 11 month old!)

Gerber puffs were one of my son's favorites. Also yogurt bites might be good too. They are soft and dissolve in your mouth easily. Just walk down the baby food aisle and I'm sure you'll find something that would be good. And playing with it is fine too. You can help him by putting your hand over his and directing him to put the food in his mouth.

Normal cheerios are not high in sugar. Just don't get the frosted or any of the other sugary variations. Honey nut or the regular are fine.

Why are you worried about the sugar found in cheerios? I used to give my children organic o-shaped cereal, because I am concerned with pesticides. But at this age, and for first table foods- sugar should not be an issue for you!
-S.

Hi, Cascadian Farms brand Purely Os have no added sugar and are organic. My LO loves them. Pieces of ripe avocado, baked sweet potato, silken tofu, very ripe pear, and very ripe cantaloupe all were initial finger food hits with my baby, who didn't have many teeth and was slow to learn to chew. The super soft stuff can be hard to grab. My method was to stack pieces on top of an O or one another so the baby can easily grasp the chunk on top without it sliding away.

Best of luck!

Hi T.!
A great suggestion would be Happypuffs. A new, all organic puff product that is sold at Babies R Us. They are similar to the Gerber puffs, but have 1/2 the amount of sugar (.5mg per serving) and are ORGANIC! Check out the company, Happyfamily, here...www.happyfamilybrands.com.
Also, if you want to give your baby some fruit like bananas or avocados you can crush up some Puffs or graham crackers to sprinkle on them. That way they are easier for the baby to grasp and hold on to!
Good luck!

Along the lines of bananas, try giving baby ripe avacados. Be prepared for funny faces and a big green mess!

Try Purely O's. They are the organic version of Cheerios and have NO sugar in them! My LO loves them.
Also, Earth's Best makes Graham crackers - s couple of different kinds, and you can break them up into small pieces and let him 'gum' them. I used to soak them in breast milk and feed it to my DD like cereal.

Good luck!

1 cup of plain cheerios only has 1 gram of sugar. I doubt you can find much better than that! Baby will only eat a few -- most will land on the floor!

Hi T.:

A few things that worked for my son were soft peas, boiled carrots and those little puffies for infants and toddlers that almost every supermarket carries. It seems that the puffies have a little less sugar than the cerials. Also, you could try breaking up a few crackers. As long as the food is soft enough to melt in his mouth, it should be okay...good luck!

For slippery foods, I would cut them into tiny pieces and then shake them around in a bowl with a little bit of rice or oatmeal baby cereal. This coats them and makes them easy to pick up. So much less frustrating for my little one.

HI T.
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J. H

If you dip the banana in wheat germ, it's easier to hold.
I used to have a book called "Super Baby Food"... or something like that. It was great.
Good luck!

a good way to help with the slippery foods is the crush cheerios into a powder to coat the fruit. It makes it a lot easier for them to handle. I did it with bananas, kiwi and avacado most often. And it even helps to not turn brown.

Try the cereals at Whole Foods or Trader Joes, or the natural section of the traditional grocery store. Also, make sure its plain O shaped cereal, not the varieties which are sweetened. The plain kind has only 1 gram of sugar per cup.

T.,

Gerber has little puffs but they too have some sugar. You can try trader joe's or whole foods for their organic cereals but what I found was that they are really hard and my daughter had trouble processing them. She didn't get teeth til 11 months. As for the banana you can roll it in wheat germ it helps the baby grab onto it.

L. M

I would try teeny cubes of organic cheese. Most things people give babies for first foods have no nutritional value and are just fillers - why not give him something with nutrition built in? =) If you really need something that will melt, try rice husks - these are sold in the baby section as "Rice Mum-Mums", I think. Just baby rice crackers, basically.

Cheerios are great, graham crackers are great. There are lots of baby-food finger foods available for this stage. Honeycombs are great too.