Best finger food after Cheerios?

[Rose.]

Hi,

I'm proceeding very slowly with introducing finger food to my almost-11month old son. He a very sensitive gag reflex and I am SO THRILLED that we can finally give him Cheerios without him gagging and throwing up. We have been trying off and on for months.

I just wanted to ask what is the next best finger food to try? I've tried some twice-baked bread cut into thin strips and he did ok with those but he has had a few gag-and-throw-up episodes and now he is not even trying to eat them.

Part of the problem I think is that he has all 8 front teeth and can break off large chunks of food that, when they get to the back of his tongue, cause the gag reflex to kick in.

As an aside question, we are also using those Nuby net things that you put soft fruit in that he can munch on and just wondered what people do to clean these. 

[~inbalance~]

What about trying frozen wild blueberries?  They make a great finger foods and most LO's love them.  Or peas are good too.  Another thing is to dice up veggies like carrots or broccoli into really small pieces and steam them so they're nice and soft.

Not sure how to wash those net things, they've never been really popular here!

[~*Nicole*~]

Anything small and soft or long strips were hits here. Bananas are good, cut up and if they're too slippery you can coat in wheat germ or something similar to give them some texture for easier grabbing.

Gerber makes those easy to dissolve puff snacks in different flavors. DD LOVED those. They also have some other very safe/soft finger foods if you browse the baby food isle at your local store. But of course any of those things you can make yourself at home as well....just might give you ideas!

Soft overly cooked baby carrots are pretty good.

Soft strips of french toast or pancakes or pieces of muffins.

[Rose.]

Hi,

Thanks so much for the ideas. It seems like it really is an experiment then with no obvious next food to try. I gave long sticks of twice-baked bread at at first he did ok, gagged/threw up a bit but then just stopped taking them.

I have looked at the 'puffs' that we have here in Canada and the containers all say '1 year' except this one (Graduates? ever heard of them?) that was in the shape of wagon wheels about 1 inch in diameter. The container said 9 months but they also made him gag and throw up.

The good news is that my son can now also eat those Farley cookies made of rice cereal. Yeah! We now have TWO foods!!! I figure every positive experience brings us that much closer to eating a whole meal of finger foods. I think I will try bananas next like you described. Tried very thin, long apple slices last night and he wasn't interested (but he was interested in the apple I was eating!). I cannot believe I'm saying this but I miss when my daughter was a baby! She could eat anything!

[~*Nicole*~]

Haha, They are all so different. Don't worry, he'll be chomping away on tons of foods in no time. Time flies with LOs.