when can babies eat bread, pasta and rice?

[Lisa J]

My lo is 7 months and 1 week old.  My health visitor said she can eat bread now as it will dissolve in her mouth but I am worried that she may choke on it.  Also, if she can have pasta now how do I chop it up small enough?And what sauce do I put with it? (I don't want to use jars)/  And with the rice, can she have normal rice (as in not baby), and how do I mush it up for her, would she choke on it if it wasn't mushed up?
TIA.

[SallyDom]

One of the first finger foods Dominic had was bread. I used to buy crusty french bread and give him a chunk (a biggish chunk so he could easily hold it). He used to suck it mainly and was often left with a soggy lump but he really liked it.
With regards to pasta I used to make up a pasta bolognese and then blend the whole thing so there was no lumps. It does go quite thick so I used to add either water or milk to water it down a little bit. I tend to buy pasta spirals and put a few of them (maybe with a bit of passata on to stop it being dry) on his high chair tray for him to pick up and eat himself. Not sure if I did it from 7 months but if you cook it really well it will be nice and soft and will pretty much dissolve.
I didn't give Dom rice until he was a bit older (no particular reason) but I think you could do the same as with pasta and make the meal and then blend it all up.
Babies do have a really strong gag reflex though so if you gave rice to her not mushed up I really don't think it would choke her, at worse she'd cough grains of rice all over your kitchen!
Hope this helps
Sally
x

[15milner]

I started on couscouse quite early - easy to cook (ie soak for 5mins in boiling water) but the grains are tiny so no blending etc.

alex

[riuliani]

Bread is DSs favourite finger food.  Also, if you toast it lightly it dissolves easier.  Fresh bread sort of mushes more than dissolves.  DS has yet to choke on it.

As for pasta and rice, I would overcook them.  Then they are really soft.  Use some of the pasta water to keep the pasta kind of slimy then it will slip down the throat easily without choking LO.  I keep the pieces small.  It will depend on your LO how small you need them.  I don't worry about rice at all.

We started giving all these things right at 6 months.  Our MD says that waiting until six months for solids means we don't have to be so restrictive in what is fed.  Their little tummy's are better able to handle things.  It was only when solids were recommended at four months that the types of food were restricted since LOs couldn't digest things very well yet.

[Freya'sMum]

From 6 months babies can start to feed themselves finger foods - bread is great, esp. toasted, we give dd pitta bread fingers and she sucks bites and chews them well! - pasta is more tricky coz it's more fiddly to hold in little fingers and get to their mouth, but dd loves to play with the spirals - rice is kinda impossible in its natural state until they have an established pincer grip!

Altho' the idea of our los choking is somewhat scary, it's less likely to happen if they've been practising biting, sucking and chewing fingers of food in a relaxed environment with confident role models (that's you! ). It's good for them to practise having bits of food in their mouths, moving them around, spitting them out and eventually swallowing them - if we put it off for too long, it makes the process harder!

We plonk dd in her highchair and just get on with our meal, and she does too until she gets bored, then we 'help' her with finger foods, and then some mashed fruit and yogurt on a spoon when she's done with chewing! The relaxed approach gives her confidence in eating, but we still control what she eats and when.

HTH?

Ax