The ‘Finger Food 5’
Written by Christina Hills, Baby + Child Dietitian, and Starting Solids expert. Founder of the Happy Feeding Company Clinic.
At around 6 months, babies can bring food to their mouth and chew using their gums, but they don’t have a mature pincer grasp or a fully developed rotary chew.
First finger foods offered to babies 6 months+ (and showing all the developmental signs of readiness) should meet the happy feeding company’s ‘Finger Food 5’:
👌🏻Soft and squishable between your thumb and fore-finger so baby can easily break the food down with their gums
✋🏻Large ideally bigger than babies palm size so they can grab with palms and bring to mouth
🥦Whole foods like well cooked veg and ripe fruit
🌰 No large pips/stones/seeds/nuts
🥩No small round, slippery or hard chunks like tough bits of meat
Examples of safe finger foods for babies 6 months+
Avocado: thick ripe wedges. Check out avocado as a first food for babies here
Fish: soft flaky fish like salmon or cod wedges. Try my baked garlic butter cod recipe for babies here.
Banana: peeled and cut into large batons
Steamed veg: carrot batons, courgette halves, broccoli florets (stalk long enough to hold). Check out broccoli as a first food here.
Soft ripe fruit: ripe peach or pear slices, very ripe watermelon strips
Protein foods: shredded chicken, slow-cooked meat, omelette strips
Read more about safely preparing finger foods for your baby here. Also, check out my blog post on gaging vs choking when feeding your baby
Want to know more about weaning? Come along to an online workshop or book a 1:1 in my clinic.