Alternative to Gerber Puffs?

Question

My son is just starting finger foods. We gave him the Gerber Puffs and he loves them. I was looking at the package today and found that they are loaded in sugar! I breastfeed and make all my own baby food so that he is the healthiest he can be. I feel like I just threw it out the window with these puffs!! Does anyone have any healthier alternatives to be used as fingers foods? He's 8 months & has 4 teeth...I really liked the puffs because they dissolve, so I'm looking for something along the same lines.

Do cheerios & kix dissolve quickly or can he choke on them?

Answer 1

Cheerios have heaps of added sugar about a 1/4 of their content is sugar. You should try to give foods with less than 16gm sugar per 100gms. Some finger food ideas: like rice cakes, whole bits of pasta, cheese, carrots, fingers of toast. A great web site with more information on healthy foods for 8 months old http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solidfood8to10montholdbaby.htm

Answer 2

my daughter is 1 i have not too long been giving her kix and other cereals i brake the cheerios in half it is safe i also give her checks a great place for you to look is wal mart in the baby section go to the baby food wal mart has a generic brand of the puffs that are organic they have a whole selection of organic foods for your baby

Answer 3

Cheerios and Kix cereal

Answer 4

cheerios are a great finger food, and they now have those fruity ones. also, you might try looking into the organic baby foods, they should have some finger foods that are organic.

Answer 5

Try Pirate Booty, most health food stores carry it. My kids love them and they are really healthy, organic, low sugar, no trans fats.
http://www.robscape.com/

Get used to it though, nearly everything in the snack aisle is loaded in corn syrup or just plain sugar. We didn't realize it until our daughter was diagnosed with a corn allergy, now we have to screen everything with corn syrup in it, which is nearly EVERYTHING. And we wonder why diabetes is rampant. :-P

Answer 6

*lol* I left this question up last night.

You should really give this article about baby-led introduction to solids. Spoonfeeding is a much larger risk for choking than self-feeding. When you feed off a spoon it is easier to place the food far enough back on the tongue that the baby is forced to swallow. This isn't true with self-feeding, with self-feeding a baby will not move the food back unless they are able to do so, which is a good indication that they are able to swallow.

My son has almost never eaten pureed food, or even particularly mushy food. And he never really much liked it either, he is much happier feeding himself. Is it messy, sure, but isn't everything with a baby?

Also baby-led introduction to solids builds on the foundations of breastfeeding it allows the baby more control over how much of what the baby eats. And there is some evidence that eating large quantities of any one food -particularly cereals, as standard instructions from most sources (x days one thing, x days the next thing) is a contributing factor in diabetes and allergies.

Also letting baby eat off your plate makes you eat well, more veg and fruits, less salt and sugar. It takes the stress out of it because you can't track exactly how much baby eats, and sharing is of course very important.

*lol* Anyway read the article.

http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html
"Won't he choke?
Many parents worry about babies choking. However, there is good reason to believe that babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon fed. This is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have learnt to chew. And they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. Thus, a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get the food into his mouth in the first place. On the other hand, the action used to suck food off a spoon tends to take the food straight to the back of the mouth, causing gagging. This means that spoon feeding has its own potential to lead to choking – and makes the giving of lumpy foods with a spoon especially dangerous.

It appears that a baby's general development keeps pace with the development of his ability to manage food in his mouth, and to digest it. A baby who is struggling to get food into his mouth is probably not quite ready to eat it. It is important to resist the temptation to 'help' the baby in these circumstances since his own developmental abilities are what ensure that the transition to solid feeding takes place at the right pace for him. This process is also what keeps him safe from choking on small pieces of food, since, if he is not yet able to pick up small objects using his finger and thumb, he will not be able to get, for example, a pea or a raisin into his mouth. Once he is able to do this, he will have developed the necessary oral skills to deal with it. Putting foods into a baby's mouth for him overrides this natural protection and increases the risk of choking.

Tipping a baby backwards or lying him down to feed him solid foods is dangerous. A baby who is handling food should always be supported in an upright position. In this way, food which he is not yet able to swallow, or does not wish to swallow, will fall forward out of his mouth, not backwards into his throat.

Adopting a baby-led approach doesn't mean abandoning all the common sense rules of safety. While it is very unlikely that a young baby would succeed in picking up a peanut, for example, accidents can and will happen on rare occasions – however the baby is fed. Rules of safety which apply in other play situations should therefore be adhered to when eating is in progress."

Answer 7

Cheerios disolve very quickly. Go with cheerios!!