Finger food!

[Sarahdisco]

Hi All,

LO is 5.5 months old. We've been weaning for the past 4 weeks, quite successfully on puréed fruit and veg. The only thing she won't eat is baby rice, which I don't blame her!

We were at baby group yesterday and they had a sensory activity... Laying in cooked pasta! LO loved it and surprised me with an impressive grasp, not quite pincer but showed great hand eye coordination! She was grabbing the spaghetti and putting it straight to her mouth, as she'd never had it I stopped her eating it but one of the mums asked if we had started finger foods as she looked like she might be ready.

I know it's 6 months before "anything goes" weaning but do you think it would be worth giving it a go? And what sort of things am I best trying her with?

 

[MindUtopia]

You could certainly try a few things that would be easy to pick up (and not easy to choke on while she learns how to do handle her food) as long as she's sitting up well on her own and has the hand-eye coordination to pick things up. We did BLW so only did finger foods. We waited until 6 months to officially start, but were on holiday for 2 weeks before that and there were definitely times when my daughter was sitting on my lap while we were BBQing or having a picnic and she picked up a raw stick of cucumber or pepper or some salad off my plate and gummed it. She didn't actually eat any of it really, just played with touching it and picking it up. I wouldn't have given her, say, a sandwich or something that was soft enough to actually break apart in her mouth, but the cucumber sticks worked well just for playing with. So I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea (of course, as long as you stick to just fruit and veg before 6 months). But at the same time, it's much more fun to do with a wider variety of foods that are best saved for after 6 months. If you only have a couple more weeks, might just be worth waiting and then diving in then.

If you really feel like she's ready, I might just offer her some raw veg sticks, like cucumber, carrot, pepper, etc. that she can suck on and practice picking up initially. In general, great first finger foods are roasted veg (we did roasted carrots and parsnips), chunks of ripe banana, mini rice cakes or toast with anything on it (mashed banana, mashed avocado and banana, hummus and cashew butter were all early favourites), sticks of cheese, plain pasta (or with grated cheese, initially I found using a sauce was too slippery), etc.

 

[Noodlebear]

She's basically 6 months now so I'd go for it with fruit and veg! We started weaning just before then too. I would just be wary of other foods until she'd got the hang of it and was in her 6th month, that might just be me being over cautious though!

 

[Sarahdisco]

Thanks ladie, I've got some pear and mango left that I was going to blend up but I think ill cut some up and see how she does!

 

[Sarah125]

We started BLW at 5.5 months as Sophie was grabbing food and putting it in her mouth. She's had lots of different things now and has done amazingly with it.

I would say if she can bring it to her mouth then she's ready for it

Hope she enjoys her mango and pear