Biting Biscuits/Finger Food

[sophiesmom]

My daughter is a little over 9 months and just starting stage 3 foods. She's not into Cheerios yet, she gags on a half of a half of one... I was wondering when she can start chewing on biter biscuits/zweiback, or if I should skip them all together? They make me kind of nervous, I don't want a chunk to break off in her mouth. I also read that they technically are not for teething... is this right?
Also, looking for ideas for finger foods, for when she starts....
Happy Mother's Day everyone!!!

[KathyO]

Finger foods... the big hits at our house have included bananas (cut into coins, then cut them into quarters or sixths), well-cooked rotini (easy to pick up and hold), cheese sliced into matchstick-thin sticks, crumbled hard-boiled egg yolk, unsalted saltines, puffed wheat (dissolves in the mouth), well-cooked broccoli sprigs... the dietician I talked to says that yes, the baby will cough and gag occasionally as she gets used to managing the stuff in her mouth, but the big issue is to avoid the large, firm chunks that can create a perfect seal and block off the windpipe entirely.

I was told that teething biscuits are generally okay (with supervision) until baby actually has a couple of teeth, after which they are much more prone to breaking unexpectedly. My daughter teethed early, so I went to the Baby Safe Feeder (www.babysafefeeder.com) and really loved it. It's a bit of a hassle to clean (I kept a spare toothbrush beside the kitchen sink to deal with it), but you can put anything in it, and when it came to teething, I would put bits of frozen fruit in it and let her gnaw to her heart's content. Teething biscuits can go in there too. Being able to turn my back on her while I prepared the rest of her lunch, or mine, was well worth the $$... and it was great for restaurants.

Cheers,

KathyO

[suzska]

I think we started with Quaker Puffed Rice Cereal before the Cheerios. They dissolve really quickly. Then we moved onto Cheerios. My son had his first teeth at 3.5 months, so once he got use to Cheerios and stuff around 7 or 8 months, there's been no looking back. He now has 15 teeth as of this past Friday! He won't touch jarred food anymore. If it's not table food, it's Gerber's Graduates. He loves the pasta pick-ups (I cut them in half), cereal squares, and veggie crackers.

I know sometime after Cheerios we tried Aunt Jemima Mini-Pancakes (because I happened to be eating them) and he liked them. Then I forgot about them for months, and tried them again, and he loves them! He has four every morning--I tear each one up into about 6-7 pieces.

Your original question was about Biter Biscuits/Zweiback--I haven't bought them in months. But when he was around 7 or 8 months old, I would give one to him and he would sort of suck on it until it was a soggy mess. If he managed to bite a piece off, I would dig it out of his mouth. But he did enjoy learning how to "chew" on them. The other day I gave him 4 little rectangles (1 "sheet") of regular graham crackers and then turned to make my dinner. When I looked back he had taken at least one bite out of each one and was working his way around to eating all of them. It was too funny!

Other good finger foods are little veggies (diced carrots, peas, etc.) that are cooked really well, until they are better at chewing things. And pieces of baked potato. For pasta, we like tiny shells. My son also loves strawberries cut up into tiny bits. And peaches.

That's all I can think of right now....

[luvbeinmama]

I gave my son a biter biscuit once, and it was such a mess, I gave up on them. He liked the zweiback toast for a while. I don't think it's something you NEED to use at all. Since you're worried about chunks breaking off... a friend of mine used some biter biscuits made by Earth's Best (if I remember right), and they really don't get soggy, or break apart easily (she got them at the local Whole Foods Market). Her daughter would chew on those for a while.

[m2tandk]

my kids loved Arrowroot cookies. They are a bit messy, but dissolve pretty quick and I liked them better than zwieback. My kids never liked Cheerios at all.