A fear of finger foods

The first time we fed my 11-month-old homemade carrot baby food that was slightly less than smooth, he gagged and catapulted it right back up. I think that scarred us a bit.

Since then we’ve been diligent about preparing his food to be the right smoothness. But as he approaches a year old, pops out new teeth and shows off brilliant fine motor skills, I feel like he needs to graduate to finger foods pretty soon here. As I prepare to wean him from breast milk and switch to cow's milk I’d really like to expand his diet.

For the first time last weekend he ate those thin, easily-dissolved cereal puffs that come in the curved canister. After a few rounds of popping them in and out of his mouth, he finally figured out to chew and swallow. Success!

Encouraged, I decided this week to try cutting up a banana (smooshy enough to experiment with, right?) into small pieces and offering it to him. The verdict? He kept the chunk stored in his chubby little cheek for about 15 minutes before gagging on it and hacking it up. Meanwhile, he sure enjoyed planting his hands into the little lumps and smearing the stickiness all over his table and his legs. Good thing bath time is after dinner!

I suppose this is just a matter of practicing and letting your baby tell you when he's ready, right? How did you work with your little one to get them to eat finger foods? Were you afraid of choking?

Megan Brooks is a Sr. Public Relations Specialist for Texas Health Resources, Stepmom to a 12-year-old and Mom to an almost-1-year-old.