Safe food sizes and textures by age: 9-12 months

Around 9 months your baby will start to develop their pincer grasp and the ability to smoothly release objects. This means they can use their index finger and thumb to pick up food and will be able to put these in their mouth. Once this skill is developed, it’s a sign your baby is close to being ready for ‘bite-sized’ pieces of food and very thin slices of firmer food. This is not the only relevant milestone. We also start to see emerging lateral movements of the tongue and jaw. This means babies begin to be able to move food side to side and around their mouth, which leads to more complex chewing.

Size
With developing fine and oral motor skills, we can start to offer bite-sized pieces of food. Keep in mind that at this age a baby’s airway is the size of a drinking straw. Pieces larger than this will help to make sure that if food is swallowed it won’t have the risk of blocking the airway. Around 1.5cm x 1.5cm is a good guide. It’s absolutely fine to still offer large finger-shaped pieces of food as well. 

Texture
The safest foods to offer are still those that pass the squish test (See above). It is important to note that research indicates that regardless of how a baby starts solids (BLW or Spoon), all babies should be introduced to some chewable finger foods by 9 months old. This is because there appears to be a critical window where introducing finger foods is essential to developing chewing skills and preventing picky eating from developing in the future.