At some stage after six months, your bub is going to have to learn to eat by themselves. Well, here are a few tips for first finger foods.
It's easy to fall into the routine of
feeding your child yourself. It’s cleaner, it’s quicker and it’s quite
satisfying to see the food you painstakingly prepared actually going
in! Some of you reading this will be saying Hah! My child just plays
with the spoon and won’t open their mouth. Whatever your experience, when your child is grabbing at foods and wanting to try them, it's time to tackle finger foods.
First rule of finger foods is always having your child upright in a secure seat and WATCH THEM while they try foods. Never leave your bub alone while eating these foods as they can choke. If they do choke, watch carefully to make sure they cope ok. Most babies splutter while learning to deal with textured foods. If you are concerned, get all the food out of their mouth. You can pick them up and pat them gently holding them horizontally and face down to remove food. Have a local medical service number or first aid book close at hand for this and any other unexpected baby moments.
Fruit
First try pear, then banana, rockmelon/cantaloupe, watermelon, or anything else that’s ripe. You are looking for foods that mush. By 9 months when your bub has teeth you can add more crunchy fruits such as apple, but again always watch for signs that they’ve bitten off more than they can chew!Vegetables
When you are cooking dinner, include your baby by soft cooking carrots, broccoli stalks, de-stringed celery or beans. Your baby will be much more patient if they can chew along with you at the dinner table, which adds flexibility to cooking and eating times. Don’t add salt to your baby’s vegetables as they don’t have an adult’s preconceptions of taste and will learn the natural taste of food.Size matters
Cut fruit and vegetables into good sized chunks for holding – around 1cm cube (1/2 inch) by 5-6cms (2-2 1/2 inches) long or a couple of centimetres longer than your child’s hand. Ideally the texture will either be melt in the mouth or such that little bits get grated off with persistent nibbling. You need to have half a dozen or so bits at the ready as your baby will always drop pieces.Grains
Bellamy’s ‘Toothie Pegs’ are a good starter for gumming. They are great for on the run and will melt slowly. Refrigerate to ease those sore gums. Otherwise try toasted bread (soft is okay too but make sure they don’t get too much in the mouth) starting with plain types without whole grains. My recommendation would be rye bread, but you can also use brown or white bread. Crusts are also great for teething bubs, just watch the texture isn’t going to flake off in big chunks.Cheese
When you are starting cheese, you can get pre-grated or grate your own tasty cheese. Only give a small amount, a teaspoon or so, at a time as the salt content is quite high. This is a great time consumer as bub chases the little pieces around the tray. They develop dexterity picking the small pieces up (around 9 months) and will spend ages gumming on a small piece as the taste is quite intense. You can get low-sodium cheese and I would recommend you look for that as well as keeping an eye on sodium content in your baby’s diet. Processing salt is difficult for those small kidneys and you are diluting your baby’s natural sense of taste by overloading it with this added extra.
Obviously just about anything can be a successful finger food and what you do will depend on where you are and the foods that are familiar. What are your favourite finger foods? Let us know and we’ll add them.
Here are some videos of little ones eating, from early to toddler years. It's messy and they often fall asleep which is hilarious, so look forward to that!
