Finger Foods

What to Offer:

Things to try first are soft or cooked fruit or vegetable pieces, twice baked white or wholemeal bread (rusks), white or wholemeal toast, small white or wholemeal bread sandwiches and cooked pasta. You could also try grated cheese (at around 7 months) or carrot. Hard pieces of fruit like apple can be put in a soft muslin cloth for baby to suck on.

What abouth the toothless ones?

It is still a good idea to provide some finger foods to gnaw on, babies gums are quite hard and you may be surprised what they can gum into small pieces.

Baby Food Texture

Of course baby's first experiences with solids from a spoon need to be fairly smooth and lump free. However, it is very important that baby food progresses from being a smooth puree at around 6 months of age, to being a similar texture to adult food by the time baby is 12 months. Failure to gently progress baby to more texture and lumps may cause problems with rejection of all lumpy foods in toddlerhood.

Frozen Fruit

If gums are a bit tender with teething, frozen fruit can be a tempting treat for littlies – especially in hot summer months. The texture of fruit alters when frozen, for example banana becomes quite creamy.
Select one or two kinds of fruit, prepare as follows:

• Slice banana, toss in lemon juice.
• Peel and segment oranges.
• Cut melon, remove rind and pips and cube.
• Place prepared fruit into ice cube trays.
• Freeze until fruit is frozen, turn fruit out into a freezer bag and store in freezer until needed.
• Whole banana alternative: Whole, ripe bananas, with their skins on, can be frozen. The skin goes black, but the skin prevents the banana flesh from becoming discoloured. Peel the skin off before serving!

WARNING
Always make sure an attentive adult is in the same room with a baby feeding itself, it only takes a second for a baby to start choking.