9 to 12 months: Time for Finger Foods
From 8 or 9 months, your baby may want to hold food and try to feed herself*. This is a messy, but important time in your baby's development, so each day offer some foods that baby can easily pick up and chew.
Also give baby her own spoon and let her try to feed herself, while you also continue to feed her.
Do not give raw carrot, popcorn, sausages, whole nuts or any hard foods as these foods can cause choking.
Vegetables should be softened by cooking, which is easily done with a few seconds in the microwave.
Excellent finger foods include:
- Pieces of soft raw or canned fruit
- Soft cooked vegetables
- Cold cooked pieces of lamb, beef or chicken – avoid salty meats such as sausages or ham
- Grated cheese
- Rusks, crackers or breadsticks
- Toast fingers
- Pasta shapes
- Little sandwiches
*Boy or Girl? For the sake of simplicity we have used only one term to mean either.
