Finger Food

Introducing Finger Foods

Once babies reach around six to seven months of age and have been successfully introduced to solids, it is time to start offering some ‘finger foods’. Giving baby the opportunity to learn about feeding themselves is great for co-ordination, exploration and generally learning about food and the world.

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, cooked pasta. You could also try grated cheese (at around 7 months) or carrot. The frozen fruit idea (see below) is worth a try over the summer or when baby is teething. Hard pieces of fruit like apple can be put in a soft muslin cloth for baby to suck on.

When to offer finger foods

Because the hand mouth co-ordination may not be too good to start with and a fair bit might not make it to the mouth, don't offer these foods when baby is really hungry for solids or when baby is ready for milk.

When to take them away

When you find that there is more being experimented with than eaten it may be time to clean up!!!!
Did you realise that when your child is dropping food from the high chair, he is actually carrying out scientific experiments learning about gravity!

What about the toothless ones?

Even if baby has no teeth, it is still a good idea to provide some finger foods for them to gnaw on, babies gums are quite hard and you will be surprised what they can gum into small pieces.

A word about baby food texture in general

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 of 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 those little gums are a bit tender with teething, frozen fruit can be a tempting treat for littlies ? especially in the 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. Remove from freezer just before eating.
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!