1. NEVER leave your baby alone whilst eating and always ensure they are supported in an upright position.
2. Become familiar with first aid procedures. Check out the Red Cross or NHS websites which have step-by-step training videos or there will likely be first aid courses near where you live.
3. NEVER give whole pieces of small solid foods, or raw fruit or vegetables that could easily lodge in and obstruct the throat. Foods such as grapes, large blueberries and cherry tomatoes should be safely cut up into quarters.
4. Avoid fruit with stones or remove pips and stones before offering to your baby.
5. Eating is a skill and tackling texture is another developmental milestone that your baby will have to train for whilst on their weaning journey! Which is why at the start of weaning, finger foods need to be soft – your baby should be able to squash finger foods between finger and thumb.
6. To start with, avoid finger foods that your baby could break into large chunks such as cucumber.
7. Avoid cutting foods into circular coin shapes especially if they are raw e.g. round coins of raw carrot.
8. Cutting food into batons or wedges is best for your baby. They will need to be fairly long (roughly 5 – 7cm) so that some sticks out of their fist and they are narrow enough for them to hold easily.
9. Remove the skin from most fruits and vegetables. The skin introduces a new texture which can be difficult for your baby to manage and could lead to choking.
10. Babies do have a tendency to store food in their mouth, so just have a quick check they’re not storing any spare food as a snack for later before you take them out of the highchair!

To find out more about how to prepare fruits and vegetables just click on the guides section of the app and click on Finger Food Guide.