Saturday, May 15, 2010

Baby first finger food at 6 months

When I first started baby PP on solid food, i stuck with the basic pureed, soft textured, baby food. And of course my reading material and subjects extended to feeding the baby. "What to feed, what not to feed, when to feed, how often, how much" etc etc. Amongst my reading i found a suggestion by Dr Spock, who wrote in his book

"by the time babies are up to 6 or 7 months old, they want to and can pick foods up in their hands and suck and munch on them. This is good training for them as preparation for spoon feeding themselves at about a year...The traditional first finger food is a crust of stale wholewheat bread or toast at 6 or 7 months. Babies suck at it and chew at it with their bare gum (they might be tingling with teething, and in that case, they will enjoy the biting). As it softens gradually with their saliva, some of it rubs or dissolves off into their mouths, enough to make them feel they're getting somewhere. Most of it goes on their hands, faces, hair and the furniture."

BabyCenter said to start "When your baby's between 7 and 9 months old, he'll probably let you know that he's ready to start feeding himself — by grabbing the spoon you're feeding him with or snatching food off your plate." 

Baby PP has begun doing that at around 5 months 3 weeks, hence my research on finger foods. Was Baby PP ready? My intend was for her to learn, and not to "feed" her. Dr spock's last line...was true to its words.

At 6 months old after she had her her fill of breakfast cereal, Baby PP had her first finger food. Not just the crust, but the whole bread.

Steps on how to teach your infant to grasp and eat finger food.
1. Take wholemeal bread from container.
2. Tear in half 
3. Put in plastic plate (optional)
4. Serve

Easy right? Baby PP reaction was ....very....hmm...nonchalant. She just looked  at it like she look at every other objects and subjects she looks at everyday, touched it, grab it and shoved it into her mouth. All in a couple of seconds.

"UUhh bread on the table! Lets grab it!"

The first couple of time, the crusts were left on the bread. Baby PP had no problems other than she doesn't like them. She just spit them out if it ended up in her mouth. But out of concern, we took out the crusts at later feedings. Baby PP also likes croissant. Not sure if its good for her, but she eats it as passionately as her wholemeal bread.
"OOOOMMMMM"
 "Munch munch munch in my toothless mouth"
"Nom Nom Nom, there's a piece of bread that won't be munched away in my mouth!"
The damage

This was actually her second time. The first time was such an sudden impulse to try Dr Spock's advise that not even my mobile camera was ready. 

If you're like me, too lazy to go out to buy those teething finger food, try this.  Just don't use white bread, it is not advised. Maybe because it is too processed and little nutritional value as according to Kids Health article.

However, do note that you shouldn't leave your baby unattended when she does this the first time or the 40th time. Just yesterday, Baby PP was having her wholemeal bread for after breakfast munching when she tore a long strip of bread. Like this photo, but less width more length.


She sucked, munched, sucked and munched until only half an inch was left from her mouth. I pulled it out, she sucked it in again. And the she started to gag on that piece of bread. So because she refused to let it go, i pull and tug the bread until only a small piece was left in her mouth. Then.....she did it again.

I can't find the reference on baby east wholemeal bread on his website. So these others will have to do.

Useful links

8 comments:

miralatiff said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
miralatiff said...

betul..white bread is not really good for baby..like you said it is too processed and nutrition pon dah lesser..baby normally like to eat bahagian yang tengah2 roti tu sebab lembut..
Bila dah baby dah start makan poo poo dia pon dah start jadi solid sikit kan?? It smells different too..hehehe

BTW,i like reading your blog..nice knowing you!

Mummylicious said...

Mira, thanks for dropping by!

True, when PP started solid, her poopoo became quite solid. Its currently a concern for us actually, its too solid :(

and the veryyy smeeeeellyy. But mom's less affected by the smell than the dads. Haha when Daddy have to change poopoo, macam-macam perangai. Macam nak masuk toxic waste area.

::Ida:: said...

too solid ,really? hariz's poopoo still like he's having breastmilk except for the smell :*

Cik Puan Bidadari said...

poopoo is going to smell even worse when more food are introduced. so get ready daddylicious (perhaps mummylicious too?) ;-D

dahlia loves wholemeal bread as well.

will try to make PP (and you) a loaf of bread (wholemeal/pumpkin bread ke) when i get a breadmaker. insyallah. :-D sooooooo!

miralatiff said...

Owhh yaa..Daddy will normally handed the baby to mommy when poo poo time is coming..and dia nak tukar diapers when baby pee jer..
Should give your daughter some water after feeding..because if poo poo too solid baby will find hard time to do their 'business'...

Mummylicious said...

ida: hariz is no normal then. you're lucky.

bidadari: im okaaaay with the smell. i do don a ninja mask when i change her. hahaha

uuuh PP would loveeeee that. We have been giving her all kind of bread and crackers to eat. hard, soft, toasted. suma masuk. yumyumyum

mira:
haha i tak kisah. if daddylicious is around, poo or pee, he does the changing.

lots of plain water that PP love. BF after food. trying prune juice. tried banana, orange juice. she eats puree apple everyday. tried yogurt (hates it), tried oats. Even her pead prescribed baby laxative. It still hard.

sigh i smell a trip to the doc again. pun intended.

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