Introducing Finger Foods

Much to my surprise, my seven month old daughter started feeding herself a couple days ago. About a month ago, my pediatrician recommended giving her Gerber Puffs so that she could begin learning to feed herself (with thumb and pincher finger). She has now mastered the concept! I have been doing some research and found some great information on starting finger foods that I thought I would share with you.

You can start your child on finger foods when they master the thumb-finger grasp (anywhere between 7-10 months) and when they begin to show interest in grabbing food off your plate.

Best Finger Foods:

• Cut up pieces of bananas or pears
• Baked apple cubes
• Melon cubes
• Pieces of avocado
• Pieces of baked sweet potato
• Peas
• Cut-up green beans
• Cooked, diced carrots
• Bite sized pieces of cheese
• Cereal such as Cheerios
• Cooked pasta
• Lightly toasted pieces of toast or bagels

Tips and Hints:

• Check with your doctor before feeding your child any new foods
• As with baby food, introduce finger foods one at a time
• Give your child a few pieces of food at a time
• Let your child "play" with the food, this is part of the learning process
• ALWAYS supervise your child while they are eating!!!!

Here are some helpful links:

http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/infant/finger_foods.html

http://kidshealth.org/parent/food/infants/finger_foods.html

http://www.babycenter.com/0_finger-foods_105.bc

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/baby-finger-foods.html