Finger of toast for a 6 month old

[mulberrytree]

I wonder if anyone can help me, I'm a bit unsure as to when it's okay to introduce a finger of toast (as included in AK's 'After first tastes accepted meal planner'). I started weaning at just over 5 months and now my baby has only just hit the six month mark and on the meal planner for tomorrow the suggestion is a finger of toast. She's getting on very well with the various fruit and vegetable purees but I'm just a bit nervous about the toast and I can't find any further explanation regarding it in the book! Any recommendations much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Anna07]

i would just offer it to her alongside the food you normally give her and see how she gets on....i offered both mine toast around this age.

[emilyteacake]

Just put it down in front of her and see how she gets on, like Anna07 suggests... If she can pick it up and get it into her mouth then she's probably ready to give it a go - but my little one couldn't deal with toast until she was much older. She used to just shove it all in and then gag on it.
I tried Eve first on things like grated cheese, ripe soft fruits like melon, banana, strawberries, blueberries cut in half and raspberries.
I remember the health visitor saying that if Eve could pick grated cheese up and feed it to herself she was ready to try finger food. Don't think she quite anticipated Eve's technique - put your face on the bumbo tray and hoover it straight up!
Good luck - it's so scary giving them lumpy stuff for the first time but they all get the hang of it eventualy. Don't rush her (or yourself) and you'll get along just fine x

[DrP]

It really is very much trial and error. My fella had no problem getting to grips with fruit and steamed veg as finger food around that age but was a lot older before he could actually manage toast, but that didn't stop me offering it to him (I reckoned if I didn't offer I wouldn't know if he could manage it or not).

Don't feel you have to follow the meal planner to the letter, it's only there as a guideline. All children are different and will take to things at different ages.

[cathyg]

i tried toast finger at 6 months - but Freddie just choked on it - was terrifying. he never got on with anything like that for many many months - i just stuck to lumpy foods & introduced finger foods really slowly. He finally ate toast at 1yr old (at nursery). some kids however can eat finger food no probs. good luck. xx i even bought a device for putting hard foods into (like a mesh) that the child held in their had & had to chew on to get the food out - can't remember what it was called now, but that helped Freddie get used to chewing. can't remember what it was called now - but bought it online - Baby Feeder (or something)