When I started giving my daughter finger foods, I listed the ones that worked best for her (and were the safest too).

Fruits and Vegetables

A ripe banana cut into thin, long pieces is great to begin with. Not only is it easy on the stomach but is easy to grip onto as well. Being soft, it’s easy on their gums too.

Once your baby has learnt the art of chewing you could move onto melons and peaches. The taste of these fruits is liked by the little ones. Reserve the harder apples and pears for later.

Babies love to suck on pieces of carrot. However, they will not bite it initially. So give her the pieces to just let her get used to the concept of a finger food. You could thereafter move onto boiled vegetables like sweet potatoes, beans, broccoli etc.

Fried potato pieces with a little salt also make good and safe finger foods. Use olive oil for frying, as that is one of the best for their tiny tummies.

Once you have introduced them to quite a few vegetables, you can also make vegetable cutlets. However, do be careful to mash all the vegetables well so that no small piece remains that they could choke on.

Breads

Start with the soft and thin pita bread with a little butter spread onto it for the extra taste. Initially the baby will only lick the butter, but soon you will find that she is biting onto the bread as well.

Thereafter move onto pieces of bun, spread with jam, or even chapattis with a little cheese spread.

Bake pasta in cheese sauce and give her pieces of that too.

If your kid is not allergic to eggs, then small pieces of French toast can also be given to her. They are mushy and easy to chew on. It’s best to make it with the egg yolks only as the white of the eggs are the main culprits behind egg allergy.

Once her chewing has improved, you can move onto lightly toasted bread as well. Brown bread is a better option than the white one.

Other Finger Foods

You might be tempted to give her meat pieces or even cubes of cheese. However, it’s best not to start off with these. They take a while to digest even though their taste the kids love.