Why it's NB to introduce Finger Foods at 6 months

Might I just add that M's baby has had loads of health problems since starting creche and that could be the reason for not being ready earlier. I can't believe that it would be nice to eat anything when you have a snotty nose or ear infection as I also see a drop in the amounts that B eats when she isn't feeling well

I tried giving my baby (now 10months) finger food at 7months if I remember correctly, and for her that was too early. I clearly remember her trying to push the whole piece of foods into her mouth, then gagging and spitting it all out. She LOVED pureed foods so I decided to stop trying the finger foods.

I waited about a month and tried giving her finger foods again, and I could clearly see the difference. She then only bit off smaller pieces, so she clearly wasnt' ready for finger food before that. She then went through a stage of refusing to eat pureed foods (I think the spoon hurt her gums cause she was teething) and only recently she's been eating from a spoon again (I know give her lumpy food) and she still loves her finger food.

I only gave her soft finger food (likes chunks banana, cooked soft carrots etc) in the beginning and recently only started giving her toast and 'harder' food. With my next baby, I'll definitely not start giving baby finger food at 6, I really think that's too early. BUT then babies do differ, I just prefer waiting a bit with the finger food.

"Babies are born with stores of nutrients laid down during their time in the womb. These stores start to be used from the moment the baby is born but the amounts in his milk feeds are enough to ensure that he still has plenty. From six months onwards, the balance shifts, so that the baby begins very gradually to need more from his diet than breastmilk or formula alone can supply. It's important to recognise that, at six months, most babies are only just beginning to outgrow their milk-only diet. Most full-term babies have adequate stores of, for example, iron, to see them through for quite a bit longer without a problem - they don't run out of anything overnight.

But they need to be introduced to solids at around six months so that they can develop the skills they need to eat different foods and get used to new tastes, ready for when they really do begin to rely on other foods as their main sorce of nourishment.

A baby's slowly increasing need for more nutrients seems to coincide with the gradual development of his self-feeding skills. So at six months, when they still have a good store of nutrients, almost all babies are beginning to be able to pick food up and take it to their mouths. By around nine months, when the need for more nutrients is growing, most BLW babies have developed the skills they need to eat a wide range of family foods, which will provide them with the extra nourishment they need. It's at about this age (though it varies quite a bit from baby to baby) that many BLW parents report their baby seems to be eating more purposefully - as though he instinctively knows that he actually needs this food in addition to his milk feeds"

Page 54 - 55 Baby-Led Weaning book.

Solids here refers to healthy table food (not purees or cereals) The book also says that a healthy balanced nutritional diet is up to the parents because it depends on what they give the baby to eat. And later on in the book it says that things like Iron are taken into the body by merely sucking on a piece of meat because the iron in meat is found in the juices (blood) and not the actualy chewing and swallowing of the piece of meat itself.

Finger foods should be presented from 6 months of age, absolutely. In my case, my baby was only ready to manage that much later. I must say if my baby only gagged with the food, I would have kept trying more, but she really vomited everything that was inside her stomach, so I would try the finger foods, every week, and if she vomited again, I would wait again before trying.
As a mother I would be personally worried that my baby doesn't get in enough solids, since I have read, (advised by dr and clinic sister)babies should start on solids from 6 months to avoid malnutrition and being underfed and to get them used to food. So, I would worry if I only gave my baby finger foods for solids that don't make it to the stomach (as you stated between 6 - 9 months). Thanks once again for the interesting info.
Ps: Jamie oliver will drool over my purees!!

Thanks Lientjie, Im going to go get the book.
Call me lazy but I just find this way of feeding so much easier. Like in the evenings, I dont have to leave my supper to first feed Kyle, we all eat together as a family and I have noticed that he eats more this way then when I feed him.

Wow, something on this thread went terribly wrong! haha

So far I've never come across a doctor, nurse, book or website that doesn't encourage presenting your baby with finger foods from 6 months on.

That was the initial reason for posting this topic - it had nothing to do with baby-led weaning, I did however include some of the information found in the book.
Gloeiwurmpie, the reason for my ignorance with regards to your comment on "adding texture" was that I've never blended B's food. She had, from 5.5 months of age gotten pieces of food, toast, fruit, chicken etc. Some did make it in, very little if compared to feeding purees but she's never seemed to need more than what she was capable, at every different age, of feeding herself with.

Baby-led weaning has absolutely nothing to do with adding texture into purees, it's about letting your baby play on their own and find out about different textures and tastes (since purees all taste the same and went against my grain) I will go surf the BLW forums but I haven't come across any baby who couldn't do BLW.

My LG started sitting up (unsupported) at 7 months. But she always ate supported in her bumbo with a tray attached. And yes she has never had anything else but whole pieces of food (call it finger food, but it's table food in manageable pieces) so yes, they can have whole meals from just fingerfood (translated to healthy food that little fingers can manage)

Kirst - that is exactly why I started the blw and this thread. Babies gag, they even vomit when they experiment with whole foods, this should not stop you from giving it to them. My LG gagged about 10 times in 2/3 weeks of feeding this way and has never again done so because gagging is learning. It's not about leaning the gag reflex to bypass a sword (haha gloeiwurpie) when they gag they learn that that big piece can't go through and they need to try again, so they spit it out, or chew it to get it smaller.

Finger food and textured food is not the same. There is no feeding with a spoon where finger food is concerned.

I did not mean to offend anyone by my comparison, I only entertained an idea. If I offended anyone, I appollagise.