We all want our kids to develop good food habits. The stepping stone or a kid's introduction to the world of food starts with weaning. Every new mommy whose child is mostly breast fed and is ready to wean tries to do it in the best possible way. Weaning kids to solid food is not an easy task. The transition from an exclusive milk diet to solid food for most kids starts at an age of 6 months but usually takes many months or even years to settle down. When I started weaning my child, I found that I had a fussy eater at hand who would shut her lips tight and won't open her mouth. I tried various techniques, recipes etc but soon found that rather than my feeding her and getting into a power struggle, a baby lead weaning technique worked better for her. Thus, I started giving her finger foods and gradually her attitude and liking towards food improved. By the age of 1.5 years, she started recognizing a variety of foods through their smell and color and her preferences with respect to taste also became evident. ; So what are finger foods?; Finger food is "anything that can be easily held and eaten with fingers" . This is food that can be given to a child and which the child tries to eat on his or her own under parental guidance and surveillance. In this article, I am going to discuss when to give it, how it helps and what to give and how to give. The Appropriate Age to Start; All kids are different and the age at which one can introduce finger food can be ranging from 8 to 9 months to 1 year in some. Some kids start teething early and some have a delayed teething so food has to be such which can be easily chewed with gums and can be easily swallowed. When the child shows signs like snatching food from your plate or grabbing the spoon with which you feed them, this means they are ready for it. ; How It Helps?; Giving finger food to your kids helps in: Developing a habit of independence. It is usually seen that some mothers feed kids till a very later age as they never learn to feed themselves on their own. Finger food teaches them to do that early. It takes time and patience initially from a parent's side as the child will scatter the food, throw it, crumble it in hands etc but in due course they learn and it helps avoid trouble later.<br> It helps in developing grasping, holding, motor skills and coordination i.e. the child's hand movements like holding with thumb and forefinger develops and this skill learnt early make them independent and adept in holding

Well at this teething stage as my baby had started weaning..I gave her a clean piece of carrot.

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