My son is 5 1/2 months old and has been eating solids since he was 4 months. He eats solids twice a day and does great. He has started wanting to put the spoon in his mouth and "feed" himself. He is teething like mad and already has two teeth that have broken through the gums. He has a great grip and sits without help for about a minute right now. I think he could definatly hold a Zweiback...I am not sure he could handle the puffs yet, but I think the Zweiback might be ok. Is 5 1/2 months too young for Zweiback? I would defiantly only let him have it when he is in his activity center or feeding chair...having him hold it and himself might be too much. Thanks for any input.
I waited with the zweiback too, but I started my son on sodium free saltine crackers, b/c they ae easy to hold, don't break up into chokable chunks and dissolve into his mouth too.
I was worried about using the puffs b/c they looked like choking hazards, but I suppose they are fine since they dissolve.
I never did like the biter biscuits b/c they were so hard and very messy.
We didn't do well with the toast either, and our pedi even said he didn't recommend it. Go for the Gerber puffs. They dissolve really quickly and are super convenient. My son loved the sweet potato flavored ones.
My son will be 8 months old tomorrow and we didn't start him on "Table" food until about a month ago. We started with the Gerber Puffs b/c they disolve in his mouth fast. I think the Zweiback toast is still to hard. I would wait.
The zweiback toast didn't work so well for my daughter. She would always break off large pieces and choke...so I was scared to death to let her have them again. I love the Earths Best Teathing Biscuits. They are wonderful!! You still have to be a little careful, but they dissolve much faster!
The very best thing we did at this age, for the same reasons you are expressing, was to buy frozen fruit in a bag (we loved mango and papaya around here) and put it in a mesh feeder. Our son could hold it himself, and chew on it forever! He loved the taste, and I am sure that the frozen part of it felt good on his gums. I hate Zweiback personally, it is a huge nasty mess, but we loved this! One word of caution, do not put bananas in it, they are impossible to clean, and strawberries are not only a highly allergic food, but they are messy too. Good luck! ~A.~
The toast is hard, they mostly suck on it or try to bite it with their gums...its hard so they can't bite off pieces. I think we started the toast and teething crackers as well as the puffs around 6 months, maybe 7. It depends on the child, and yours sounds like he could handle it as long as you watch him closely...and be prepared for a MESS!!! The toast and the arrowroot cookies make a sticky, pasty mess! And, with all the drool and lack of ability to actually keep all the food in their mouth and the lack of cleanliness at that age...just be prepared!! The puffs are less messy and they do disolve quickly.
Just based on what you wrote, I would avoid the toast b/c it does break off in chunks (choking hazard at your baby's age). The puffs that dissolve quickly are what I found to be the best a safest for a young baby doing well on solids. Plus there are a lot of flavors to expose him to. Biter biscuits would be my next choice, but they are way messy! My son didn't do well w/ toast until maybe 10-11 months. Hope that helps!
My daughter is a little over 6 months and we've tried the toast, biter biscuits and graham crackers. Her fav. was the Gerber biter biscuits, they're messy though :) She had no problems with choking, like some of the other moms said. Good luck and as long as you're watching, it can't hurt to try!
I would wait on the Zweiback, but we gave our daughter biter biscuits made by Earth's Best (got them at Albertson's) in Barley (just to avoid the wheat thing until she was older) and she loved them, especially when she was teething. They sort of dissovle while they're gumming them (making kind of a sticky mess... but not too hard to clean up) but it gives them something firm to teeth against.
Here's what they look like (packaging, at least... so you can spot them easily):
http://www.earthsbest.com/products/products_photo.php?pho...
Info about them: http://www.earthsbest.com/products/product/306.php
I agree that the toast isn't really good. It's so hard. They end up sucking on it. I would definately get a mesh feeder! They are AMAZING! They didn't have them when my first two were little. Wish they did! Here's a link to see what the mesh feeder is! Good luck!
