Finger Foods

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I have been terrified of giving Laine any finger foods thus far. The books all say that when a child is close to crawling, has a pincer grasp, and can handle thicker solids, they're ready to try something more than pureed foods. She's been capable of this for at least a month. We finally bit the bullet and put ONE Happy Baby Organic Apple Puff in front of Laine on Saturday night. It took her 20 minutes to get the thing in her mouth, and when she did, she put it right in the middle of her tongue and it triggered her gag reflex! After a cough, she gummed it good (they dissolve pretty quickly) and gone it was.

Today after a banana and some peas for lunch, I put another one on her high chair tray. She pincered it right up and proceeded to pass it from hand to hand delicately between her thumb and forefinger. She grasped it in her palm and got frustrated when she couldn't figure out that she needed to release her grip in order to allow the fingers on her other hand to pinch it. She waved it around and shouted with excitement. She fumbled it and dropped it down under the tray.

The bottom line is, that my daughter who wants to put her feet, her hairbrush, my sweatshirt zippers and ties, the remote control, her shoes, napkins, my hair, any sort of strap that she can reach (on purses, stroller, high chair), her clean diapers, and anyone else's fingers or toes into her mouth--played with this FOOD and did not once put it anywhere near her lips. Sheesh.

Today, I was at QFC and saw something called Mum Mums, a baby rice cracker that a friend of mine had mentioned her son enjoys. I gave one to Laine when we got home and they were a much bigger success! I think she liked the control she had over holding something a bit more sizable, and quite honestly I think she was afraid of the puffs since they made her cough the first time. We'll stick to Mum Mums for the next couple of weeks, and then see where we stand with the puffs again.