re egg, sounds like it's different in different places. If you have a family history of food allergies you would need to take more consideration.
re finger foods. I would suggest giving him something to 'play with' while he eats, toast or pear or some such. I've had really good experience with Leo eating these well. I personally think the earlier you introduce the idea of self feeding the more it will be natural for him.
re getting enough. I know what you mean, it's easy to get a sense of how much when it's a jar or cube of something. I couldn't tell you how much Leo eats! I just watch him for hungry (and full) signs and I tend to add on the calories later in the day, so a large chunk of cheese for lunch or dinner.
Leo just keeps eating until he turns his head when I offer him something. If I think it's something he doesn't like I offer him something I know he does eat just to see if he's full or just refusing that food. They adapt really quickly to eating without wasting much. He amazes me how often there is hardly any food on his lap, I check the floor etc. and realise he's actually eaten it all. I usually give him small portions at a time, so one quarter of a pear until he has finished as I find that he seems overwhelmed and/or likely to play with his food if it's all on his high chair. So I hand it out. If I gave him a bowl of food it would be on the floor
We didn't have much of a choice with DS, he is an easy going baby but he refused to be spoon fed (in fact I can count on my hands the number of times he has taken food from a spoon from me!!).
So we started with pears, banana, rusks. I'm pretty easy going about what to offer him, no history of allergies to be concerned about, so we offered whole egg at probably 8-9 months (can't remember now!). For me, so many things I wanted to try with him had egg in them and I wanted to take advantage of his interest to really expand his foods.
We have found while he loves bananas, they contribute big time to his bm's. Quite constipating, but now he is older I just give him smaller amounts and he's ok overall.
I have mostly offered foods with the skin on, so he's used to eating pear with the skin on (sometimes I cut off a bit so it's not too much), potatoes with skin. I watched him closely to see how he handled it, and he has done really well. I can see him manipulating the food in his mouth and if he has some skin in there sometimes he spits it, but mostly he chews it up. Might be harder if bub is used to purees.
For a while now he eats long pieces of lamb chop and all sorts of things without a problem. He has really learned how to manipulate the food in his mouth.
