Give Your Baby Fun Finger Foods

25 Safe Finger Foods For Your Baby

Let your baby decide when he is ready for it!

If your baby is trying to grab the spoon when you're feeding him or is reaching for your food or plate he might become very happy to be allowed to feed himself.

Other clues are that he or she is older than 6 months; sits steadily in a high chair; and has developed some control over his grabbing ability.

Letting your baby start practicing to feed him self has many advantages:

• He might be much more content at the dinner table, meaning that you have a chance to feed your self
• He gets to practice his pincer grasp
• In the longer term, he will be able to really feed himself earlier by being allowed to practice.
• Even really picky eaters may become enthusiastic over the possibility to stuff their own mouths with foods.

Possible disadvantages:

• He might be less interested in you feeding him, always trying to chase the spoons for example. This makes feeding of purees very greasy.
• You really need to keep an eye on your baby all the time, so that he doesn't choke on something that you didn't expect.

There are a lot of different foods that work perfectly as finger foods for a young baby.

What you don't want to give him are hard things that can make him choke. Slippery round foods, such as grapes are also dangerous. And, of course, you need to no what foods to avoid in general for babies younger than 1-year old.

Below you'll find list of great finger foods to offer your baby.

Finger Foods for Babies

• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Bread and cereal
• Rice, pasta etc
• Meat and fish
• Dairy products
• Don't give you baby...

Vegetables (always in small pieces)

• Boiled peas
• Broccoli
• Potatoes
• Well cooked carrots, soft enough to be gummed
• Avocado

Fruits (always in small pieces)

• Banana
• Grapes (always peeled and cut in small pieces, never whole grapes)
• Pear
• Raspberries
• Kiwi
• Watermelon

Bread and cereal

• Soft cereal that are low in salt and sugar and that melt easily
• Baby crackers
• Toast that melts easily in the mouth

Rice, pasta etc (always in small pieces)

• Cooked rice (Asian rice is great, because it sticks together)
• Well cooked pasta
• Couscous
• Quinoa
• Pancakes (if you make them without salt and sugar)

Meat and fish

• Well cooked minced meat
• White fish
• Soft chicken breast
• Tofu

Dairy products

• Grated cheese
• Cottage cheese

Don't give you baby these finger foods...

• Whole grapes
• Raisins
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Pop corn
• Raw hard vegetables, such as carrots
• Large pieces of anything that can't be gummed
• Heavy white bread, such as bagels - tends to clog together to hard balls that can be a choking hazard
• Strawberries to babies younger than 12 months, any dairy products, fruits or fish that may cause allergies (if you have such allergies in your family) without consulting your baby's doctor.

And make sure you take a look at this list of foods to avoid giving babies younger than 1 year old.

For baby food recipes for the 8 month old baby, click here.

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