Finger food suggestions?

[ericajosh]

My ped. has given the thumbs up for finger foods. Any suggestions on what to start with? (DS is 7 mo...no teeth yet)

The ped. suggested soft cheese? What cheese is good to start with?

Is is too early for cheerios? I am paranoid about choking hazards!!!

Thanks for all of the advice :) (What would I do without this message board for help :) DH laughs at me because I am constantly reading or writing something here lol)
-Erica

[Momof3Labs]

We started with Cheerios about two months into solids (at about 8 months). For soft cheese, you can serve shredded mozzarella or mild cheddar, but IMO they are kind of hard to pick up for uncoordinated little fingers.

[Oregonmother]

I started cheerios and puffed rice at about 6 1/2 months, they both seemed to dissolve quick enough, and my DS never had a problem wih choking on either of them. It is now about two weeks later and he absoltely loves the cereal and is even able to pick up a Cheerio by himself and put if in his mouth. Another good thing is it is very entertaining for my DS and keeps him occupied if I really need him to sit still and be quiet. Just try it out if it doesn't go well wait a while longer and try it again. Good luck.

[Jen in Chicago]

For cheese we started with string cheese torn up in little pieces.

A favorite finger food other than Cheerios is diced and cooked sweet potatoes. They are nice and soft, and he loves them!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

We did Cheerios, but we got the Trader Joe's brand because regular Cheerios have wheat.

I was paranoid and broke them in half at first, but she did fine with them.

We also did small cubes of tofu.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[KGoes]

We started with cheerios at about 7 months. It took a couple of cheerios for DD to get used to the new sensation, but now she loves them. I have also tried squashed chick peas and small cut up pieces of banana. She likes squishing that stuff around in her fingers, but it doesn't make it to her mouth unless it somehow attaches to a cheerio. So far, she has been allergic to regular yogurt and soy yogurt, so we have not tried cheese or tofu.
Kelley
DD born 7/03

[tinkerbell1217]

I started mine on ArrowRoot cookies. One per day. They turned mushy pretty quick, but did get messy in the end. My kids LOVED them!!! Cheerios came about a month later(around 7 months). The Arrowroot cookies are with the baby foods. There's also Zwieback toast when they start getting teeth. But, its messy too! Its actually cute when they get it all over the place til you have to clean it up!:) If you are worried about too much sugar, one cookie a day won't hurt! I even ate them sometimes.

As for cheese, mozzarella is a good choice.:)


Kelly

[amp]

When we first tried cheerios, DS gagged on them, but we reintroduced the a couple of times and he finally got the hang of it. Go ahead and try them if you feel comfortable. You can always try again later if they don't work this time.

We feed shredded cheese all the time. He's had mozzarella, cheddar, colby and a colby/jack marble style cheese. He loves them all.

Also, Gerber Graduates has some Banana Cereal Snackin' Squares (and a vanilla version), and also some puffed rice banana star shaped thingies and they melt super quickly in baby's mouth. DS loves all of them. He eats other crackers, but these are some of his favs and I like them because they dissolve so quickly. ETA: We do break the snackin squares into fourths as a poster below mentioned.

[houseof3boys]

Ryan gets some of the vanilla squares everyday. I feel safer knowing they dissolve faster. They have pretty decent vitamins (and iron) in them too. I tried them and it is amazing how they dissolve. I wish I knew how to make something like that since I would love to make them healthier than all of that enriched processed stuff. I use the organic O's from Whole Foods instead of cheerios and I still just break them in half.

[jubilee]

I cut mild cheddar into pea sized squares, or take string cheese and cut lengthwise and then into slices. Also Logan loves whole wheat pancakes or toast cut into little squares. Gerber Graduates Banana Snacken Squares, broken into fourths. Cooked chicken into small bits. Broccoli flowerettes into tiny bits. Cooked baby carrots into small cubes. Grapes into fourths or sixths.

[McQ]

Declan loves his shredded cheddar so much that he puts a whole handful in his mouth and let's the strands hang out while he's eating. It's kind of like a cheddar beard or some thing.

We also have those banana cookies which he hates (hates bananas in general) and when he sees one of those cookies he just picks it up and drops it off the side of his tray.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03
and number 2 EDD 9.14.04

[ericajosh]

Thanks for all of the great ideas. I'm going to get food for DS this weekend. :)
:) Erica

[billysmommy]

We also did avocado cut into little pieces, this is still one of Billy's favs :)