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We tried puffs and Cheerios but she couldn't pick them up. So I took half a banana and sliced it in 3 long slivers so she could pick them up. Now she is better about picking up small pieces so we are trying more but I hear you the gagging freaks me out!

I didn't start table foods until 9 months. But part of that delay was because of M's food intolerances. But by waiting that long she picked it up really quickly. At the beginning I cut everything down to the size of a pea and gave her softs stuff only.

I waited on pieces until he could pick them up on his own. I would say around 8 months I started giving him food from my plate. I started with puffs though and went from there.

Like pp said, gagging is good. They learn that way.

Larger pieces are easier to control and although it seems counterintuitive, they're actually less likely to choke on them. Gagging is good! It means they're learning to control food in their mouths. And honestly, if you stick with it, the gagging goes away pretty quickly. Better to do it now than later when their gag reflex moves further back in the mouth.

You can do it, mama!

I started with bananas. We do steamed veggies and roasted veggies. I make everything about carrot stick size at it is easy for him to pick up and chew on. He has learned to take off bites and chew them. He doesn't gag much now. He's also learned to spit out a bite if it is too big.

He is getting good at picking up puffs but I find with small stuff he gets frustrated easily when he can't get it to his mouth.

And some of the food he will mush up into smaller pieces before he puts them in his mouth.

I started just after 6 months and he is 8 months now. We still do purees too.

I am feeling the same way! Lo is almost 6 months and I can hardly believe it. We are about to start blw solids. Yikes!

I cant remember when we started chunky food. My doc said to give them chunky food as soon as you can because it helps them learn to chew and also helps promote the teeth to come through.

@sslm: hahaha! I am so so so so scared! I am only going to try anything with dh there! I might chicken too I am just so scared of choking!

@sslm: @Greentea: Well I'm not going to CALL you irrational but IMO, it doesn't make sense. Letting baby be in charge of amounts,, sizes, and speed lets them figure out how to manage all that. We have only had one mini-choking episode, and it was when he had a cold and having trouble breathing through his nose and grabbed 2 clementine pieces at once. My husband was a lot more worried at first, but saw our LO figure it out pretty quickly.

We started around the same age with roasted butternut squash. I cut them into 1" pieces. We were lucky that she is very good. About not over stuffing. If she took too big of a piece she would pull to bake out. She got pulling off pieces early on. And she had about 4-6 teeth by then so that helped.

I just learned to trust her!

@Greentea: I think slices are easier, yes I think the biggest choking hazards are stuff like whole grapes that are tough to chew, or steak cut in squares. Peas, small blueberries, etc. have never given us any trouble.