Finger foods

I give organic rice cakes, melrose cheese wedges, dried mango strips, little french toast soldiers (egg yolk soaked into bread then lightly pan fry,flip and cut into strips) its safer than toast. Dry cereals like cherios or rice crispies, water melon, teething rusks or biscuits, messy play with custard or jelly, organic unsalted biltong for teething, and more recently - chicken bones! We had chicken drumbsticks, I cleaned the bone for him and he chewed on it for a while and loved it!

Sorry I forgot to add the Woolies picnic range is also quite nice (although probably too high in salt to be a full meal.) try the mini pork sausages, frikkadels, quiches, chicken nuggets etc.

I give James (10.5m) almost anything.
For breakfast he had pancakes (Anabel Karmel Recipe), toast with strawberry jam,a plum cut into wedges and a chopped banana (and a spoon fed yoghurt). Other options are usually scrambled egg (he feeds himself), otees, kellogs, strawberry chunks, mango wedges, watermelon wedges etc.
For lunch he had tuna spag (spoon fed) and I have him a nectarine cut in half, pip removed. Usually he has leftovers but other options are steam broc, cauliflower, beans, carrots, baby tomatoes, cucumber etc. For carbs I do pasta, wedges, roast potatoes. Spoon feed rice, cous cous, spag etc.
Protein is fish fingers, chicken nuggets, cheese wedges, slices of meat 5cm long or so grated cheese, left over burgers, viennas, pork sausages all good for little fingers. Keep trying the fish fingers. My paed said try something 13 times (!)

I've stop pureeing Amy of James food. Has taken a while nut makes life soooo much easier. I was way stressed about the choking until I caught him choking on a leaf. A leaf if all things! I find now if he does gag on stuff he is really efficient at yacking it back up. Take a cpr course, it def helps!

Finger foods are your friend. Imagine sitting at a restaurant with other moms, their food growing cold and ice melting as they spoon feed their babies. Your child however is chewing on a steamed tendersten brocolli floret while you eat sushi and quaff chilled white wine. Has a certain ring to it doesn't it...?

At this age they play with the food more than eating it so you have to be prepared for a mess.
I give Liam pieces of bread, finger biscuits, chips/potato wedges and he also loves holding the drumstick! Cooked veggies like carrots/green beans also work.

You could try a bit of bread (softer than toast). Cheese is good. Fruit cut up in small pieces. C loved grapes quartered at that age. We would sit on the floor with her with a plate of pieces of fruit and let her try everything.

I discovered the best finger food this weekend...pumpkin fritters...

@Ronel: I had the same questions with my LG who is now 11 months old.

What we have given her lately is small pieces of bread sometimes with cheese.

Cut up vienna's - make them long enough for her to grab in her fist and chew off the edge (hope that makes sense)

Chopped pieces of fruit but watch her like a hawk so she doesn't swallow them whole.

Drumstick with a little meat left on it. she loves that!

Can't think of anything else at the moment. We never buy fishfingers so haven't seen whether she'll eat that or not.

mainly things she can comfortably hold in her fist cos trying to get her to eat out of a bowl is a disaster...often ends up with all the food on the floor and her face buried in the bowl licking the bottom of the bowl, or the bowl on her head!