[misse10]

my DS 8mo is a lover of food..in puree form. he's been eating since he was 4.5 months and has 3 big meals. We're just starting finger food (as well as the puree) and i've overcome my nerves enough to give him chunks of sweet potato, broccoli & zucchini but they mainly get squished between his fingers (maybe a bit licked off them).

he seemed to have better luck with some watermelon & apricot chunks as he sucked the juice out and they dissolved more.

my question is: how long does it take for them to 'get' the finger food thing and actually be eating most of the food, rather than playing with it? I know playing is an important stage of discovery, but i'm assuming that at some point he'll eat more play less? otherwise i'll be pureeing forever!

and have people had better success with big chunks of soft stuff, or little pieces of stuff like pasta? or tiny diced vegies? thanks!

[Beancat]

Now he should be getting it.
When you say pureeing are you doing it completely smooth or leaving chunks in it? At 8 months i was not pureeing anything for either of mine. Use the potato masher or puree and leave some chunks in

[Beancat]

Now he should be getting it.
When you say pureeing are you doing it completely smooth or leaving chunks in it? At 8 months i was not pureeing anything for either of mine. Use the potato masher or puree and leave some chunks in

[KRT]

It probably took two months for DS to really eat large amounts of finger food - and he was an awesome eater. Talking with the ladies in my mothers group there were big differences in what the babies liked. Some loved squishy stuff, some liked finger-sized batons, some liked things in small chunks, like peas or corn. It's a bit of trial and error to figure out what kinds of things they find easy to pick up and eat.

We had good results with toast, cut into quarters. He could easily pick up the larger pieces and would chew off smaller bits.

[axiomae]

I gave DD finger foods after purees for about a month. At 7 months she refused anything from a spoon so now we only give her finger foods. I give her whatever we eat and she demolishes it! She like batons of veg and meat, stews, pasta, fruit, toast with avocado, everything. So it took a month for us, and now it's so easy! I just make sure the food isn't too hard and she picks it up and gums off what she wants to eat. She eats a decent amount and gains weight well.

[AvadaKedavra]

Give him more solid food, like toast, or mango, or strawberry.. They don't have much finesse at that age so the 'squishing' is accidental. DS2 has only started managing to eat soft foods without squishing them to death.

[Cath42]

Some kids do have a really hard time learning to swallow lumps and chunks. I've known plenty of kids, including two of my own, who gagged on finger food until they were about 2. I pureed most stuff so they'd get enough nutrients. The other two were fine and were eating just about anything by the time they were a year old. I think I'd keep offering the finger food but give him pureed food if he's struggling. He'll get there eventually.

[PleaseBeAdvised]

DS went from smashing all food in sight to eating anything you put in front of him in about 3 months. With meat we started with big things he could suck on (chops, drumsticks) then slowly progressed to bite size pieces, which he now wolfs down. Vegies varied in size (carrots he preferred batons, broccoli whole) but at first we made sure it was soft...now he can eat all of it (except fresh carrots). Now we are starting with cutlery (unsuccessfully).

We did BLW so never bothered with purees, not sure if that makes a difference with the transition. Best of luck.

[sarahec]

I don't know, my ds is 9.5 months and the only finger food he eats properly is a banana.