Finger Foods for a Seven-Month-Old
The transition to finger foods is an exciting step for parents and their children. It allows babies to explore new tastes and textures while feeding themselves, giving parents a much-needed break. While advertisements often target finger foods to toddlers, healthy options abound for younger babies, as well. Consult with your child's pediatrician to determine if your seven-month-old is ready for finger foods. Offer only foods your baby can easily chew and digest.
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Fresh Fruit
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Fruit provides numerous beneficial nutrients and vitamins, but some varieties suit infants better than others. Soft fruits, such as bananas, peaches, nectarines, kiwi, cantaloupe, strawberries and grapes are best. Cube or cut up the fruit into bite-size pieces and remove the skin or peel. Fruit peel can easily choke infants, as can whole grapes or large chunks of even the softest fruit. Avoid hard fruits, such as apples and pears, as they are difficult to chew and digest.
Soft Vegetables
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Introducing vegetables to infants provides the foundation for a well-rounded and healthy diet. Most vegetables can be cooked until they are soft enough for babies to eat as finger food. Boiled carrot slices, English peas, potatoes, squash and zucchini all make excellent finger foods for infants.
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Meat
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While many parents delay feeding their baby meat until they're older, most infants who eat other solid foods can handle very tiny amounts of chicken, pork and other meats. Cut up the meat into pea-size pieces. Tender cuts of meat, such as chicken breast, work best.
Cereal, Pasta, and Bread
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Toasted, low sugar cereals and bread offer several advantages as a finger food. Seven-month-olds can easily pick them up, they pose a low choking hazard and they also require no preparation. Thus, parents can provide a finger food without having to cook. Choose small cereals and very soft bread, cut into pieces. Pasta, on the other hand, requires preparation. But, parents can provide a wide varieties of shapes and sizes to their infant, piquing their interest and appetite. Pastas, such as penne, macaroni, bow ties and small shells, work best, as parents can easily serve small, individual portions.
Cheese
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An increasing number and variety of cheeses are available in large supermarkets and local stores, providing a vast variety of finger foods for babies and adults alike. Begin by offering mild, somewhat soft cheese, such as cheddar. You can gradually progress to bolder flavors or crumbly textures, like those of feta or similar cheeses.
Because cheese comes in such a large assortment, don't give up on it as a finger food if your child doesn't like it at first. Offer a different type of cheese, and it might become their favorite food!
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