Finger foods is she ready?

[mamaclifford]

My daughter just turned 8months and she finally got her first tooth.YAY! Im very excited but now my question is; she is very ready for finger foods but is it safe the tooth isnt completely in and im afraid to try it with out a second opinion.

[mamayogibear]

I'm not sure what you mean by finger foods and why they wouldn't be safe without a tooth? Most 'baby' finger foods from the store are designed to melt in the mouth and not need teeth. I prefer to feed my 9 month old fresh foods though.

Any soft steamed diced veggies or soft fruits are safe fingerfoods. My son started eating avocado when he was around six months. I would just dice it up and he would eat it with his hands. Now he is nine months and eats tons of veggies not raw but steamed so they will be soft. Like today he ate the following which I think are all considered finger foods: breakfast was buckwheat and flax pancakes his were about quarter sized and diced bananna and melon, snack was organic happy baby puffs (awesome finger food snack), lunch was quoran chicken nuggets  cut in quarters, steamed carrots and asparagus and his most recent snack was a handful of 'vitamin cookies' I make by mixing ground up oatmeal and fruit with spirulina and vitamins in a blender then measuring out teaspoons and baking for ten minuets on low. this makes it solid but soft so it's not too messy and he can feed himself.

Lots of fingerfoods don't need teeth to be eaten. One thing I usually do is take a bite and see if I can mash it up with out using my teeth, not too scientific but effective.

[KristyDi]

One tooth isn't going to do a whole lot of good in the chewing department, but that doesn't mean your LO can't eat solid foods.

Like the PP suggested, soft foods that can be gummed to death should be fine.  My Dd did well with stuff cut to be shaped like a french fry so she sould hold on to it and chew/suck on the end.  Oven baked sweet potato fries, bananas, lightly steamed apples, steamed veggies etc.  She really favored the sweet potato.

[steph66]

I'll third what previous posters said. soft foods are fine. My dd has one tooth as well. she loves steamed broccoli to hold herself and eat. She also loooves steamed peas, chicken and noodles if they are bite size appropriate. Also beans and rice! which is what we had tonite. We give her basically whatever we are having, just steamed a bit more to make it softer for her or just cut into tiny bites for her to pick up. I also like the previous poster's idea of trying to eat it yourself without using teeth, we do that too, lol. Have fun experimenting!

ETA: Don't worry if your baby isn't eating three square meals a day or even more than a few bites at a time. Especially if your babe hasn't really experienced food up until this point. All babies are different, so don't worry about the amount right now.