Crackers for 7 Month Old?

All that stuff is just fine! I started giving my son graham crackers when he was 5 months old! They disolve really easily! I never gave my son and of the gerber type snacks, but I use them at the day care that I work at and I have personally taste tested several of them! They do really dissolve fast and I have never had any of the babies that I care for choke on them! Hope this helps!
~S.

Gerber sells a great line of cracker type snacks they are called puffs and come in all different flavors and they melt in babys mouth with no chewing. I run a small in home daycare and swear by these all the babies love them my almost 5 year old steals them and eats them still here is the web site to see what they look like and a little more about them there is also a printable coupon score!!! You can buy them anywhere i have seen them at cub, walmart, target, kmart, even walgreens all in the baby food section. good luck

http://www.gerber.com/toddlersite?tmsdir=food&tmspage...

I think they choke easy on crackers beaues they gum up. Cheerios if good, if a few at a time. Popsicles they made need help with :)
I have been buy the gerber graduates finger food puffs, they disolve in the childs mouth and come in a varity of fruits and veggis, my 7 mo old loves this :)

Well I guess I'm going to be the downer here and say that he probably shouldn't have these things until he develops the pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger) and can pick them up and get them in his mouth himself. this grasp usually develops between 7 and 9 months.

He doesn't really need teeth to chew, babies/toddlers don't use thier teeth that way, they use thier tongue and the roof of thier mouth to mash foods. Graham crackers and cheerio's do melt/dissolve easily so they might be ok, but again you should wait until he cna pick them up himself. Raw honey is the only honey you need to worry about, Graham crackers and honey cereals (like Honey Nut Cheerio's) have cooked honey, so no worry of botulism in those, only RAW honey.

Saltines are a little harder to chew, and big pieces can break off of them and he could choke. I'd steer clear of saltines for a few more months.

And popsicles....why on earth would you give a baby a popsicle? Hmm, here baby, have a frozen sugar stick...? Yeah, again something else I would hold off on for as long as possible.

Try a mesh feeder if you are looking for teething relief or 'entertainment' in the high chair. You can put just about anything in them, my youngest always liked apple slices, peaches, pears, carrots, etc in the mesh feeder. It was a safe way for him to have fresh fruits and veggies, and the coolness of the foods made his teething gums feel better.

www.wholesomebabyfood.com is a great site for new eaters. We made all our own baby food for both kids and by 10 months they were eating table foods, around the time thier pincer grasp was really good and they could get most of the food inthier mouths themselves. Before that, I stuck to pureeing thier food or mashing it.

Remember too that breastmilk is the most important part of his diet still, so table foods or solids should never replace that.

K.,

I started giving crackers and the like to my son, who is 13 mos. now, only after he was almost 1 year old although he had his first teeth developed at about 6 mos. You can beleive he didn't miss anything. And by the way, that kind of food has ingredients which are not much desirable for little babies. The more natural food intake, the healthier kids are, I beleive. So, there is no need for babies to have them at early age. Kids will stay much more healthier if we give them fruits, veggies, cereal.
Your choice. Good luck.
Nat

the crackers will break down as your son slobers on them also they will help with the teething process.

I probably wouldn't give saltines/crackers to a baby just because of all the salt on them, unless i got the no/reduced sodium kind. They make so many kids of first foods now that they didnt have the 5-10 years ago that my children were first starting to eat. And the first few times I gave my oldest son Cheerios, i would put them in a bowl, put in a little bit of formula, then immediately drain it out. Just enough to wet them. Cheerios and other small finger foods are a good way to develope his pincher skills. Also, I would say no to all the sugar in popsicles, too.

My daughter could handle those things at about 8-9 mos if I broke them up into small pieces. However, none of them sound particularly healthy. I wouldn't think babies need that much salt or sugar? I bought some puffed rice cereal that is only rice with no added sugar, and she likes that. Also, those puffs that are made for babies should have less sugar than graham crackers. Even better, try avocado, or ripe bananas or pears. Good luck!
J.

The only bad honey is raw honey. When honey is baked the bacteria is killed so that is not an issue with graham crackers. As far as chewing goes, have you felt those gums chomp down on your fingers? They are pretty tough and can break apart most crackers. Crackers are a great way for them to learn how to chew and it helps them with the hand-eye coordination of getting food A into mouth B. Be prepared for a mess though.

Cheerios and most kinds of crackers will desolve in your mouth without chewing. They basically gum the crackers. Start small with maybe cheerios. Test it out yourself... put one of these things in your mouth and don't chew, suck on it and see what happens. Club and townhouse crackers are pretty good with that stuff too. My middle son didn't have teeth until he was nearly a year old and could eat almost anything by then.

I started offering those types of finger foods around 6 months (they all had only 2 teeth at that time). They are simple foods they can mash with their gums, but I believe it's important to offer a variety of textures early on in order to exercise the tongue and palate, and to avoid resistance to them later on (I have a friend who waited until closer to a year and she absolutely refuses to eat anything mushy at 3 yrs old, obviously not always the case though). When they were ready, they picked it up and fed themselves. By 7 months my youngest was actually completely on table foods and refused to be spoon fed - while my middle son was closer to a year before he got to that point. They are all different...

My son is 7 months right now. And he is eating gerber puffs, that we break in half. He can't put them in his mouth by himself much. But they are nice for keeping him happy at church or out to eat. We just started the gerber biskets this week and those are good too. He really likes to chomp on those and they keep him busy while I am getting things done in the kitchen. We also have the mesh feeders, we have put banana, mango, pear, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes in that. He likes those a lot because he can feed it to himself at his pace. That is as far as we have gone. I don't think I would do the popsicle either.
Have fun and remember the finger sweep if he starts gaging, you can get it out if needed! But I am sure he'll do great!
K.

You can give the crackers to them because they usually suck on them and they turn to mush really quick I wouldn't let him be alone with them just in case he gets a big piece. I wouldnt give him the graham crackers though because you are not suppose to give kids under one honey and most graham crackers have honey.
J.

My son is 7 months old and he eats almost everything. We give him the food we eat, of course we cut it up real small, yesterday we gave him chicken and he did fine, we have 3 children ages 5, 2 and 7 mo. We never had a problem. Our 5 yr old started eating at 3 months I mean I still nursed him for 18 mos after that. We give our 7mo old toast, graham c, gerber snacks, etc

None of the above mentioned have any nutritional value. Did he/she say that those shouldn't be the base of his diet? If not then I don't understand why your doctor would suggest that to you. Is your baby nursing? If so, you don't HAVE to start your little one on table foods until a year old. It wont hurt starting earlier though. I doubt that he will choke on these foods. I always started feeding my kids solids when they got their first teeth and could sit by themselves well. Crackers, saltines and cheerios are ok for on the go or for distraction food. But, if you are looking for nutrition, I would go for fruits and vegetables....squash, sweetpotatoes, cooked carrot...all cooked and purried or cut up into bitesized pieces. Avocado and bananna are yummy nutritious foods and don't need to be cooked.
I wouldn't give him popsicles. Baby's don't need the sugars that are in them. I guess that goes for the saltienes too. He just doesn't need those salts. Try and remember that you are starting your childs eating habits now. Why start off on the wrong track. there are going to be plenty of temptations whe he gets older. Give him the healthy stuff now and maybe he will stay on track.

Your doctor is right, your son should still be able to eat crackers even without teeth. You'll find out that his gums will work just fine for chewing. Also, all of the foods you mentioned will get soft in his mouth from his saliva, so it shouldn't be a problem for him. Of course, only give him bite sized pieces and watch what he's able to do with it.

A.

I'm a full time mom of a 17 month old, a part time CNA and a part time student going into nursing.

I think you are just fine giving your son little table foods. We also really liked the gerber puffs. My son didn't get his first tooth until he was 11 months old and by then he was eating almost all table foods. Teeth don't matter. His development in other areas is more important. Can he sit on his own and use a pincer grasp? If so, he is ready. One other thing... we were always carefull to buy the graham crackers that did not have honey in them. Children under one should not have honey due to the possibility of botulism.

Hey there K. B., it's Jen, it's nice to see you on here. I would give the crackers but I usually try to avoid the saltines because they like to break off in sharp pieces and can poke or get stuck in throats. I love giving the babies the Ritz crackers because they just crumble in their mouths.
Jen R.

My son likes the gerber puffs and wagon wheels. They dissolve easier than most crackers/cheerios so I'm more comfortable with giving those. You can try those first if it makes you feel safer.

By seven months old your son can gum those particular foods fine. He will mush them in his mouth until they are soft enough for him to swallow. have no fear your son will not choke on such things or the Doc. would not have suggested them. Both of my children where eating those types of food by than.

You would be surprised what they can gum up at that age. I have given all my kids crakers like that as soon as they are interested. You just have to watch close to make sure they don't break off too big of a chunk and choke.

It should be fine gums are pretty tough keep in mind elderly people with no teeth still manage to eat even without dentures. My mom ran a home daycare for 10 years and I have had kids for the last 6 years. We had some kids that refused baby food and were eating nothing put big people food from about 7 mos on. Gagging is part of learning to eat and so is choking a little bit so it will happen. My 3 year old choked on her milk the other night : ) The worst part about giving them crackers and Popsicles is the mess. Have Fun

Jess

Hello there, I didn't read through all the responses but thought I'd give you my info. I have a daughter who is 7 months and no teeth yet as well. She's been eating graham crackers for a while now. She also does just fine with cheerios, kix, and even pretzel rods with the salt rubbed off. Just make sure you watch her if a piece breaks off of the pretzel. She loves gumming on things. I would think saltines would be the same as graham crackers. Also we let her gum on apples, oranges, etc while we hold onto them so she can get a taste of them. It's messy but that's okay. However, I wouldn't give her a popsicle... don't know why your dr would suggest it really too much sugar.

My son was eating solids pretty consistantly at 6 months- without a full set of teeth. I think if you'd feel more comfortable, they sell those graham cracker stick things or those teething biscuits. Owen used to love both of those things. He would "chew" on them with his gums. I think it got him used to solids AND helped his sore, teething gums. He would just sort of mash the cracker up until it was a slimy mess. :)

K.,
All these things are perfectly safe for your son to have, even without teeth. He cam gum these foods, I would stay near him and watch carefully and give him some water or milk to drink. i know it is scary, but he will be okay.
Good luck!
B.
SAHM Hannah age 5 and Sam 15 months

You would be amazed at what they can eat at that age. Try putting a cheerio in your mouth (without chewing it, just let it hangout in your mouth and let it melt). He will love them and they get the hang of it very quickly. Heres a short list of great first foods.
Zweibeck toast, biter biscuits, cheerios, crackers, puffs, grahsam crackers are fine without honey. Even without teeth he will the opportunity to learn how to eat them and love the taste.

Graham crackers are great because they dissolve really quickly in your child's mouth- I always broke them into very small pieces for my son, although to be honest, his response to that was to shove giant handfuls into his mouth all at once. : )

Also zweiback bread, biter biscuits, melba toast, all of that stuff is great. Helps with teething, and teaches them to eat.

I wouldn't leave your son alone while eating these things, but I'd definitely give them to him. The kids love it, you get great pictures of your messy eater, and they really are learning something from the whole experience.

Good luck!

M.

Oh yes - definitely. When DD was that old she was eating crackers. She had 2 teeth but it wouldn't have made a difference. Babies are very adept at eating with no teeth. I have a friend who's daughter is 20 months and only has 2 teeth - she eats all regular table food.

That being said, I would start out with the Gerber Puffs (found in the baby food aisle). They practically dissolve in their mouths upon contact so eliminates a lot of the fear of choking. Not to mention it teaches them to pick something up and put it in their mouth. I was afraid of choking too so that's what we started with.

I have 4 children oldest is almost 15 and youngest is 9 months, all my children started eating table foods at different stages. I do offer my baby sugar free popsicles when his teeth are bothering him. I started him on graham crackers at 6 months, mashed potatoes plain at 7 months along with dry toast, and we try to offer him all the foods we eat for dinner and use a potato masher to mash it into tolerable bite size for him. I didn't start feeding him Cheerios until he was 8 months old only because small things like that he would just swallow. Those Gerber puffs are his favorite snack! He would sit there and eat the whole container if I let him. All in all, everyones opinions are always different. You need to follow your babies lead on what you think he is capable of eating.

My son is 6 months old and I gave him cheerios for the first time yesteday. He just kind of sucked on one and it turned to mush in his mouth. I put a few on his tray and only let him have them if he could get it to his mouth on his own. He succeeded with two. It was very entertaining watching the amazement in his eyes. I stayed close in case he did start choking but there were no problems.

that is fine. Babies will use their spit to soak the crackers. maybe not cheerios, but crackers are fine

all of our kids started eating those kinds of things at about the age of 5 months. Give him small pieces and they will "melt" in his mouth. I like Zybec (spelling) they can gum them and help them "learn" to chew. It is ok to give him that kind of stuff. I hope that helps.

T.

K.,
I also fed mydaughter those things at about that time. She loved Graham cracker and cheerios and they dissolve so easily that she had no problems with choking on them. I dont think that I would give your child popsicles though. Why would you want to give them so muchsugar when they are so young? Another thing totry is those Gerber puffs that disolve in your mouth she loved those and they have a variety of flavors like strawberry banana and sweet potatoes. But no one knows better than you so if you dont feel comfortable doing it, then dont.