safe size for finger foods

[megincl]

DD is obsessed with feeding herself, and I have to admit that the many years that have passed between her and when DS was a babe has caused my memory to fade about what size of finger foods is safe for babies.

Any guidance or sources or examples of what would and would not be safe? (I know no grapes, etc, but where is the cut off with size?)

Thanks!

[Knitting Mama]

I think it depends on the kid. My 10 month old does well with either small piece (e.g. half of a blueberry) or large chunks that she can take bites off of (e.g. 1/6 of an apple, skin on). Things in that sort of grape sized group tend to trip her up because she hasn't learned how to bite them in half yet. The texture also makes a difference. With stuff that easily breaks down in her mouth or is soft, I don't mind giving her different sizes since I know it's unlikely she'll have an issue with them.

[newmamalizzy]

At 10 months old DD can only do finger-sized finger foods.  (By that I mean that when she was younger she could do strips as Cecilia's Mama mentioned, but nowadays she shoves large bites of these in her mouth and has to spit them all back out.)  I find we do best with things that are the same size or smaller than what she could take in a mouthful if it was something on a spoon.  For things that can't be tongue-squished (like raw apple), we tend to grate them.  Really, though, I'm the world's worry-est mother, and I almost exclusively give her finger-foods that are cooked enough to squish.