Finger foods are a fun way to encourage co-ordination and help your little one develop the skills necessary to bite, chew and self-feed. Finger foods need to be easy to pick up and hold, and free from pips, stones or bones. Once baby can pick things up with reasonable hand-eye coordination the fun can begin! Let them experiment with soft finger foods like banana or peach that can be ‘gummed’ to a suitable consistency. The more your baby experiments with finger foods the quicker they will become proficient at feeding themself!
Choking hazards
Just because your baby has teeth doesn’t mean that they know how to chew. Sometimes babies can bite off a piece of food, try to swallow it whole and choke on it, so never leave your child alone while eating. Also they can often store food in their mouth like a hamster so always check that they have swallowed everything before leaving the room.
What are the best baby finger foods?
Melt in the Mouth
- Banana
- Pear
- Blueberries
- Mango
- Peach
- Strawberries
- Avocado
- Steamed soft carrot, sweet potato or parsnip sticks
- Steamed broccoli florets or cauliflower florets
Bite and Dissolve
- Mini Sandwiches with soft fillings
- Fingers of Toast
- Cooked pasta shapes
- Soft ready to eat dried apricots
- Ripe melon
- Halved peeled grapes
- Hardboiled egg cut into quarters
- Cooked pasta shapes
- Miniature Rice Cakes
Bite and Chew
- Cucumber Sticks
- Oven baked potato or sweet potato wedges
- Small pieces of fish or fish goujons
- Small pieces of chicken
- Mini Meatballs made of minced beef, chicken or lamb
- Sticks of cheese or mini cheese
- Raw carrot
- Sticks of sweet pepper
- Sugar Snap peas
- Slices of Apple
- Dried apple rings
