Combining purées and finger foods

You don’t have to choose

Spoon-feeding and baby-led weaning are often described as two camps. In practice, many families do both. The NHS says some parents prefer baby-led weaning, others do a combination, and “there’s no right or wrong way”: what matters most is that your baby eats a wide variety of foods and gets the nutrients they need.

A mixed approach can suit you if you want the reassurance of seeing food go in from a spoon, and also want your baby to practice picking up food, biting and chewing. For the evidence on each method, see purées vs. baby-led weaning.

Whatever you choose, start at about 6 months, when your baby shows the readiness signs.

What a combined meal looks like

Offer something on a spoon and a few soft finger foods at the same meal. The NHS suggests offering finger foods at each meal, and letting your baby feed themselves with their fingers as soon as they show an interest.

Some simple pairings at 6 months:

• thick oatmeal or infant cereal on a spoon, with a strip of ripe banana to hold
• mashed lentils on a spoon, with soft-cooked broccoli florets with a stalk to grip
• plain full-fat yogurt on a pre-loaded spoon, with a spear of soft ripe mango or cooked pear (see the raw fruit note at the end)
• mashed sweet potato, with strips of well-cooked omelet (egg)
• finely minced beef stirred into mashed potato, with soft-cooked carrot sticks

Yogurt and egg are common allergens: offer each on its own first, and pair it with other foods once it has gone well. See how to introduce allergens.

Include an iron-rich food at most meals, such as meat, beans or lentils, tofu or iron-fortified cereal. See iron-rich first foods.

Let your baby hold a spoon of their own while you use another, and let them decide how much to eat. See spoon-feeding responsively.

Finger food shapes and sizes

At 6 months, babies grab with their whole hand. The NHS suggests pieces big enough to hold in their fist with a bit sticking out, about the size of your own finger: roughly 6–8 cm long and 2 cm wide (2½–3 × ¾ in).

Every piece should be soft enough to squash between your thumb and finger. Cook harder vegetables and fruits like carrot, apple and pear until soft (CDC, NHS). Avoid hard foods such as whole nuts or raw carrot and apple (NHS).

Once your baby can pick things up between thumb and finger, often around 9 months, add small soft pieces no bigger than about 1 cm (just under ½ inch). See the pincer grasp and safe food sizes and shapes.

Moving through textures

The NHS’s message is to move on from smooth food as soon as your baby can manage it. Here’s how its guidance runs month by month:

• Around 6 months: smooth or mashed food on a spoon, plus soft finger foods. The NHS says to move on from purées to mashed and finger foods “as soon as they’re ready,” and to keep offering lumpy textures from around 6 to 7 months. Some babies like mashed, lumpy or finger foods from the start.
• 7 to 9 months: more mashed, lumpier foods and a variety of finger foods. The NHS says finger foods help babies learn to bite off, chew and swallow small pieces of soft food.
• 10 to 12 months: by now the NHS says your baby should be able to manage mashed, lumpy, chopped and finger foods, with bigger chunks of soft food, and should find it easier to pick up small pieces and feed themselves.

So by 10 to 12 months, most of what your baby eats can be mashed, lumpy, chopped or finger food, with smooth purées only now and then. Lumps should start well before that: the studies below link first lumps after 9 to 10 months with later feeding difficulties.

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust notes that babies of 6 months are likely to progress quite quickly from purées to mashed foods with soft lumps and soft finger foods.

Why lumps by 9 to 10 months matters

The NHS says moving on to lumpy and finger foods helps babies learn to chew, move food around their mouth and swallow. Babies take different amounts of time to get used to lumps, but it’s an important skill they need to learn.

Two reports from a large UK study of children born in 1991–92 (ALSPAC) looked at when babies first had lumpy food:

• In about 9,000 families, babies first given lumps at 10 months or later were more difficult to feed and had more definite likes and dislikes at 15 months, and were less likely to be eating family foods (Northstone, 2001).
• In about 7,800 of the same families, children first given lumps after 9 months ate less of many food groups at 7 years, including fruit and vegetables, and had more feeding problems (Coulthard, 2009).

These were observational studies based on mothers’ questionnaires, so they show a link rather than proof that late lumps caused the problems. Babies who weren’t offered lumps may also have had other feeding challenges. But the pattern is a good reason not to wait.

Pouches and jars can make this harder. The NHS notes that much shop-bought baby food has the same soft texture, and suggests using pouches and jars only occasionally and moving on to mashed or finger foods as soon as possible.

If your baby gags on lumps

Gagging is common while babies learn. It’s noisy, their eyes may water, and they may push their tongue forward or bring food back up. Stay calm and let them work it forward.

• Go one small step at a time: thicken a smooth food, then mash it with a fork, then leave soft lumps.
• Keep offering lumpy food alongside foods your baby likes. The NHS says to “just keep offering them lumpy textures and they’ll eventually get used to it.”
• Mixed textures, like hard bits in a smooth purée, can be harder to manage. Sheffield Children’s speech and language therapists suggest moving gradually from runny purée to thicker purée to mashed food to soft chopped food, rather than purées with lumps in them. Soft finger foods also let your baby control how much goes in.
• Stay with your baby, so you can be sure they’re swallowing safely (NHS).

Choking is different: it’s quiet, and your baby can’t cough, cry or breathe properly. Read gagging vs. choking before you start. If your baby is choking: shout for help, and have someone call 911. If you’re alone and your phone is with you, call on speaker and start back blows straight away.shout for help. Start back blows and chest thrusts straight away. If the blockage hasn’t cleared after one round of each, call 999 (on speaker if you’re alone) and keep going.shout for help, and have someone call your local emergency number (such as 112 in Europe or 000 in Australia). If you’re alone and your phone is with you, call on speaker and start back blows straight away. See gagging vs. choking for each step.

If your baby is still only managing smooth food at around 9 months, or often coughs, gags or seems upset by textures, talk to your pediatrician or health visitor. See how babies learn to chew for when to ask about a feeding specialist.

Where US and UK advice differs

• When finger foods start. The NHS suggests finger foods from the very first meals. The AAP says you can give finger foods once your baby can sit up and bring their hands or other objects to their mouth, cut into small, soft pieces, and one AAP parent page says babies are usually ready to feed themselves around 8 or 9 months. The CDC describes starting with very smooth foods and moving to thicker, lumpier foods as your baby’s skills develop.
• Finger food size. The NHS describes finger-sized pieces your baby can hold in their fist. The AAP’s examples are small, soft pieces, such as small pieces of banana, scrambled egg or well-cooked pasta.
• Raw soft fruit. For babies under 1, the AAP says that apart from mashed banana, most fruits should be cooked until soft. The NHS lists slices of soft fruit such as peach, melon and banana as finger foods from 6 months, and says to cook harder fruits like apple and pear. If you follow US advice, cook the mango until soft or mash it, and mash the banana.
• The direction is the same. All of them say to keep foods soft, increase texture as your baby’s skills grow, and stay with them while they eat.