Early Self Fed Foods, What Size, Texture to make things?

[~Adorkable~]

So my 9.5 month old twins are jut starting their food adventures, we have had a dozen or so play meals. they seem excited about them and besides lacking a full pincher grasp, show most all the other signs of being ready to get more serious about meal time.

i have experimenting with the sizes of finger foods and the texture and wondering what other folks found is the sweet spot? seems like to hard and they gag a lot on a piece that they bite off, too soft and they just squish it up before it can ever get into their mouths.

and small enough to swallow is often too small to pick up without full pincher grasp skills, so sticks of things seem smart, though my girl tends to stick it far in all at once, whereas my boy holds things and nibbles well.

what have folks found works for them as you get thru the first month or so and they figure out how to move food around?

[~Adorkable~]

really amazed that no one has opinions on this, should it be posted in another area?

[wehrli]

I was watching for some good advice, too... I haven't found anything that works really well... I have moved to adding some purees (fork mashed), spoon fed by me and himself into the mix.

still hoping to read some tips...

[Megan73]

What I try to keep in mind is that it's more about exploration at this point so it doesn't matter if little food gets in their tummies as long as they're entertained.
My eight-month-old doesn't have a pincer grasp yet, either, but he likes a biggish piece of pita bread, a quartered bagel (frozen works great so he doesn't bite off big chunks), squash "fries" and ripe but firm fruit - thick slices of peeled pear or halved banana slices. He loves trying to pick up Cheeries. A steamed floret of broccoli is a hit but watch for gagging on the stem.
I do spoonfeed a bit, for example slowcooked minced beef for the iron or a taste of oatmeal or soup or something if I'm eating it.

[pandd06]

We expirement with all kinds of things and learn by trial an error. Anything fry-length and that width or a bit wider goes over well (bell pepper, roasted eggplant, sweet potato fry, soft meat). With liquidy foods (cold pumpkin soup, yogurt, spinach curry) DS self-feeds with a spoon or by licking off his fingers. He also is getting into small chunks now--like a grape cut into 4s or smaller, slices of strawberry, a tidbit of pineapple, etc. He loves thin apple slices, but now with 4 teeth can take a very small whole apple with a "starter bite" taken out and then go from there on his own.

Have you read  http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Led-Weaning-Essential-Introducing-Confident/dp/161519021X

or seen this site? Those are my favorite resources.

http://baby-led-solids.blogspot.com/

Here is our own start with BLW:

http://moregreenforlessgreen.blogspot.com/2011/07/babys-first-foods-no-jars-no-blenders.html

 

[IzzyTheTerrible]

I agree that I'm in a trial and error phase too.  We cant do fruits and veggies as finger foods yet, cause they're too slippery.  Most of the time I'm sticking to breads and large crackers for him.  However, I do put almost anything I have in front of him to get him to try, sometimes he's successful, and sometimes not.  

The only finger food he's been able to master is tiny cubes of PB&J but then of course he'd already been introduced to peanut butter before I got him.    I think it would work with grilled cheese, too though.    

With everything else I just put tiny pieces in front of him, and then hand feed him the rest.  That way he's got something to try with, and sometimes he gets a piece in, but mostly the dogs get treats.

Oh, my husband reminded me that the minced chicken tenders and fish sticks have been successful, but those are more fist foods than finger foods.

[katelove]

Watermelon cut into a stick about 1cm square on the end and about 10cm long (does that make sense?  I can't think how to explain it properly) worked well for us. Watermelon isn't as slippery as lots of other fruit and it doesn't go as mushy.

Roasted sweet potato cut the same way as watermelon or into 1-2cm thick rounds was also good. As were any other roasted root veges.

Cucumber was popular as well, but more for sucking than swallowing. I'd cut slices on the diagonal so they were bigger.

And really, very little was swallowed before she was a year old. Little bits here and there but nothing much.

[IzzyTheTerrible]

Ah, yes.  Potatoes.  One thing that HAS worked for us, is cubed baked potatoes (sweet and regular).  

Bake them, then let them cool and cube them.  They're drier than other forms of potatoes, so not as slippery.

We haven't tried watermelon yet, but I've heard that suggestion before.

[wehrli]

Originally Posted by IzzyTheTerrible 

Bake them, then let them cool and cube them.  They're drier than other forms of potatoes, so not as slippery.>

bake them! of course they are drier! thanks for the tip...

[TheDivineMrsM]

DD did best with soft steamed or baked foods. Sweet potato or squash "fries", peas, edemame, chickpeas, kidney beans, scrambled eggs (though some peds recommend waiting on this or introducing the yolk seperately from the egg white), pancakes, waffles, pasta, ripe bananas, mangoes, avocado chunks, baked apples and pears, shredded chicken/turkey/brisket... my baby rarely meets a food she doesn't like, lol. Experiment with different sizes of food, and watch them as they eat it. (DD did best with pieces that were kidney bean-sized). They'll help you figure out what size works. 

[~Adorkable~]

so the gist I'm getting is french fry shape and size or bean size cube

how do folks think about things needing to be "chewed/gummed apart or ok to swallow whole? if given a fry shape and they bite off half of it, is it a worry that they will get the large bit stuck?

like with scrambled eggs, do you make it all little tiny pieces that could be swallowed whole or do you make it larger to urge them to experiance some form of chewing by necessity but also risk that they will try to swallow it whole and have issues?

[rainbow_mandala]

Originally Posted by ~Adorkable~ 

so the gist I'm getting is french fry shape and size or bean size cube

how do folks think about things needing to be "chewed/gummed apart or ok to swallow whole? if given a fry shape and they bite off half of it, is it a worry that they will get the large bit stuck?

like with scrambled eggs, do you make it all little tiny pieces that could be swallowed whole or do you make it larger to urge them to experiance some form of chewing by necessity but also risk that they will try to swallow it whole and have issues?

  That's what I wonder about, too, the safety of giving my LO things that are potential choking hazards.  Sometimes she chokes a little if she takes too big of a spoonful of pureed food, so I'm hesitant to give her cubes or chunks of food.  She has 5 teeth now, but she's definitely not adept at chewing and swallowing, so I'm really curious how this works   Even if something is mushy like a baked potato or a cooked bean, she can still swallow too big of a piece and it get stuck in her throat.

[IzzyTheTerrible]

Ok, so my rule of thumb is this (and of course I'm totally new to this, but this is what's worked for us)....

If I give him a fist or finger food food, I typically give something that would essentially disolve in his mouth, or be easily crushed even by his throat, but usually I just watch to see how he deals with the food.    I test foods by pressing them between my lips, or seeing how they respond to his hands.  

So for example, I give him peanut butter and jelly sandwich bites, tiny size pieces because they are soft and he can gum them, but they are not so soft that if he puts a ton in his mouth it will just fall apart.    In his hand, the sandwich sticks became compressed rather than breaking apart, so when he tried to shove a bunch in his mouth, he couldn't get anywhere with it. 

Potatoes and buttery crackers, for example,  break down into a paste quickly - in his hand, they get mushed and crushed, so even if he stuffs his mouth full it just falls out, or disolves.

Beans and peas I overcook and then remove the skin.

The only exception I have is I will give him something that is too big (but small enough for his fist) and too tough for him to actually bite.  For example a piece of pizza crust is something he can gum on and get little bits of soggy bread, but he can't bite it or break it.  Or a minched chicken tender he can gum on and get bits of but he can't bite it, and can't break it and it's too big to fit down his throat.

My guy is 8.5 months and eats almost everything my husband and I do (I'm vegan-ish and he's an omnivore), I just simply overcook it and for him and experiment with the finger food/fist food options to see which works best with that food.

[katelove]

Have you read Gil Rapley's book Baby-Led Weaning? It has a good description of how a baby's gag reflex is triggered further forward in the mouth than an adults. When we spoon feed we often force them to take food in beyond that point but, when they feed themselves they are able to keep the food further forward until they're ready to swallow. If they do gag (which is *not* the same a choking) then they are getting the food out well before the point that it becomes a choking hazzard. They're also learning how to manage food and developing the muscles in their tongue, cheeks, jaw etc.

Regarding the size of food, for self-feeding I found that the thick-cut chip size was best for my LO. She couldn't manage bean-size pieces until she was much older (around 1-ish). It comes up on here a fair bit that one of the signs of readiness is a good pincer grip but I don't know where that came from. It's not on the list in Rapley's book. She just says the ability to transfer an object from hand to mouth effectively (or words to that effect, I've lent my book to a friend).

[spargel]

Violet's been self feeding certain foods since 7 months. I starred the things that she started with. As her pincher grip has improved, she's expanded what she can eat herself.

Apple chunks (pea sized), microwaved for 30 seconds to soften.

*Beans - all types - the perfect size and soft! I just rinse them off straight out of the can - no heating required.

Avocado chunks (she's just starting to do well with these after about 2 months of self feeding)

*whole wheat pasta - mini penne cut in half works great and are very easy to pick up.

*Very small pieces/shreds of chicken, small pieces of pork.

*Salmon and tilapia - both separate easily and are easy to pick up and shove in

[rainbow_mandala]

Originally Posted by katelove 

Have you read Gil Rapley's book Baby-Led Weaning? It has a good description of how a baby's gag reflex is triggered further forward in the mouth than an adults. When we spoon feed we often force them to take food in beyond that point but, when they feed themselves they are able to keep the food further forward until they're ready to swallow. If they do gag (which is *not* the same a choking) then they are getting the food out well before the point that it becomes a choking hazzard. They're also learning how to manage food and developing the muscles in their tongue, cheeks, jaw etc.

No, I haven't read that.  Sounds interesting, though.  There seems to be a lot of heat towards spoon feeding nowadays, but I don't see it as completely negative.  It's important for them to learn to feed themselves, yes, but why so young?  Also, I don't force the spoon into her mouth, I usually wait for her to reach her mouth forward.  So, maybe occasionally the food goes beyond her gag reflex, but I've noticed the only times she gags is when there was a chunk that was too big.  Gagging is not fun, I feel so bad for her.  So when I imagine her picking up bits of food and putting them in her mouth, whether they're mushy or not, I can't help but think that some of it will make her gag.  And sometimes the gagging leads to puking, which clearly isn't good for her.  I feel like it's probably wiser to wait until she's older before letting her self-feed, but I am open to exploring BLW.  Also, I used the word "choke" because that is my real concern; gagging is painful but choking is obviously much more dangerous (and something I was looking to be addressed, which you helped some with, thank you).  It sounds like, for the most part, it's not as dangerous as it first sounded, but I will probably still wait until she's a little older before going this route. 

Edited by rainbow_mandala - 10/16/11 at 5:55pm

[katelove]

Here is the BLW website. There is a link on the main page to a list of benefits to BLW compared with spoon feeding. 

Re: gagging and vomiting, they are certainly unpleasant (although possibly moreso for mum  ) but aren't inherently dangerous or bad for babies. You'll probably find that it happens less often as she gets older and has more practice.

[IzzyTheTerrible]

Thanks for sharing that!