Starting Fingers Foods

Hi

Just wondering what everyone thinks. Do you need to wait until they have at least one tooth before you start fingers foods? Like rusks etc. Any feedback is appreciated thanks. My son is already on three meals a day just wondering when i could introduce fingers food. He is 5 months old.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback. Out of 8 people so far looking atthis none of you could put a response down. Thanks smile

Hi Karls,
I started giving my daughter rusks to chew on at 6 months and she didn't get her first tooth until after that. The rusks help soothe their gums and aren't rough in their little mouths.
Milk arrowroot biscuits with vegemite is also a good one as the biscuits seem to melt better in their mouths and therefore reduces the risk of choking.

Hi Karls, I have just started giving my daughter rusks - she is 6 months and hasn't any teeth yet. The only problem is her holding onto it long enough to be able to eat any of it!

Thanks everyone. I have also just started him on rusks too as he is teething and it seems to give him some relief, Will try the arrowroot biscuts too sounds like a good idea. Thanks

Hi Karls,
the other thing with rusks is that the chewing of them apparently assist the teeth to grow the right way. Don't ask me how that's just what my CYH nurse told me. My son started rusks at 5 1/2mths, about 3wks before he got teeth. Moving onto other finger foods such as cooked vegie chunks etc. that's apparently a 9mth old mile stone once they have teeth and have passed through the mashed with soft lumps stage.

Hello Karls,

Isn't it an exciting time when you start introducing your baby to solids.

I introduced my daughter to rusks once she started putting her fingers and other objects in her mouth around the 5-6 month mark.

She is now 8 months old and loves eating toast, cruskits (cut into strips and sometimes smeared with a little vegemite) which is good cause once baby starts sucking on the cruskit it dissolves.

I think rusks are fine to give your child now but any other finger foods I would wait until the 7-8 months mark as your little one would still be on smooth foods. Once your baby has started to learn how to chew soft lumps you could start introducing more finger foods.

But only you can decide on when to introduce your little one to finger foods as all babies are different and don't all develop accordingly by the milestones that are stated in books etc. I'm still gradually introducing my little one to more finger foods such as cheese sticks, soft fruit wedges.

Experimentation is exciting but at the same time scary because you worry about the hazards like choking, allergies etc.

Good luck with introducing your little one to finger foods.