I am a slave to Cheerios / what size chunks for your lo??

[LisaRD]

Hi

DS is nearly 9mo. All was going well with feeding until I decided to try finger foods and started with Cheerios - now he won't eat anything else! I have to sneak a spoon of mush in by tempting him with a Cheerio

Now, Cheerios are OK, but 3 meals a day of them is hardly a balanced diet. I have tried up with other foods like bits of toast and peas, but whilst he enjoys playing with them and squashing them, he will not eat them.

He cannot release the food into his mouth very well (can't remember what that's called) but has a pretty good pincer grip.

I'm thinking that I'm making the chunks too small as I'm afraid he will choke. I usually do them about the size of a Cheerio/pea, as that's what I thought he could manage. Should I make them bigger? How big?

Many thanks!!

Lisa

[RachelC]

We used to make Cheerio sandwiches.  DD1 would eat ANYTHING if it was sandwiched between 2 Cheerios (broccoli, cauliflower, fish....)

You can go a bit bigger than a pea (this is coming from the mom who broke Cherrios in thirds  ).  For something like banana, you can coat them with rice cereal (or oatmeal, barley... etc... even crushed Cheerios  ) to help it not be so slippery and chokable. 

[Freya'sMum]

Check out this thread in the Recipes section for some finger food ideas:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95978.0

I also wonder if you 'lose' the cheerios ('oh my goodness, where has that box gone?' ) whether ds might eventually be tempted to try other things, babies don't tend to starve themselves, they have a natural survival instinct so do eat when they get hungry ,

Ax

[Jocasta]

See I'm the opposite, I wouldn't give Sophie a cheerio because I'd be worried she'd choke on that lol! 

TBH, I haven't checked any of the books or anything  - mostly been following Sophie's cues.  I started her on finger foods about a month ago.  She had a marmite sandwich today and ate it really well.  Obviously I was there and paid close attention but she did really well.  Prior to that she's had rusks and baby biscuits and bits of banana and avocado.  She's managing to pick smaller pieces up herself now and release them which is a new development.

Not really been much help  .  I like the idea of loosing them - it's not likely that he'll starve himself and when he realises he's not getting cheerios, he'll give something else ago.

[LisaRD]

Thanks All

Jocasta - Cheerios here in Canada (where we live now) are smaller and softer than the ones we used to have in the UK. They are more like Rice Crispies in that they dissolve in the mouth, rather than like Fruit Loops (here endeth today's lesson on cereals!!!!!!!!). I think that's why he likes them.

I have tried not giving the Cheerios but he doesn't eat anything else then - I obviously need to be firmer!

Lisa

[LisaRD]

Jocasta

sorry - forgot to ask, how big was the sandwich and also how big are the bits of banana that you give to Sophie? I am torn between big enough to pick up and too big so that he chockes on them....

Thanks

Lisa

[Jocasta]

The sandwich was a normal sandwhich cut into six peices so probably about 6cm x 3cm (ish) and the banana/avocado were about 4-5cm long strips - banana cut in half long ways and about 4-5cm long if that makes sense.  I don't really worry about her choking - I just keep an eye on her and if she looks like she's bitten off more than she can chew so to speak, I step in an oik it out.  Doesn't happen very often though. 

More of the sandwich got eaten than the banana/avocado - she does eat some of the fruit but prefers squishing it lol!  The sandwich she really enjoyed though and ate about half which I thought was pretty good for a first attempt!

HTH!

[Freya'sMum]

The (admittedly limited) research suggests that babies who self-feed are less likely to choke than those who are spoon-fed because they are in control of how much goes in and how often rather than someone else being in control of it!

For some more reassurance about finger foods and choking risk, check out reply #237 on page 16 of this thread:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=92561.225

HTH?

Ax