What age do you give cubed bread, toast sticks, crackers, cheerios etc.?

Have you heard of baby led weaning? It's worth googling it - It's how I weaned my son, and although you've not started down that route, you can still use some of the ideas now your son might be ready to move on.

Try him on toast (rather than bread which goes soggy, and sticks to the roof of their mouth) and once he can deal with that, move on to anything else you think of really!

The pincer ability comes with time, and developmentally, once they can pick up something small between finger and thumb, they're able to eat it - that's nature in action. You'd probably find that although he can clench cheerios in his fist, they wouldn't get into his mouth as he doesn't have the coordination to open his hand and pass the food into his mouth at the same time.

The age restriction was for allergenic purposes-not swallowing purposes

Most babies can eat almost any type of food during the 7th month or even sooner-if they have parents who will not hold their development back and let them learn

Babies-like old men without teeth-have a gag reflex and can gum almost anything to a swallable size and condition

Surely, your pediatrician has explained to you about the foods- does he let your baby have baby cereals? well those are grains- and so is the cheerios and the whole wheat toast?

Your baby will learn and perfect the pincer grasp as he is allowed to use and delelop it

(Just make sure you are keeping an eye on him for the next few years-as you always should when they eat anything-so they do not get into trouble and start to choke)

Many parents and some pediatrician's treat babies as if they were idiots- I have seen babies still on bottles after the age of one- when they have long lost any physiological need to suck (they are also now developing a love affair with their bottle and pacifier that will break their hearts to have to give up-but some parents always have to make things harder than it needs to be) and could have had the skills to drink from a cup (not sippee-but real) and even a straw from as young as 5 or 6 months- if their parents had allowed them the freedom to grow naturally and not by some doctor's silly timeline

By the way-be prepared- he will not "nibble" on a piece of toast- he will mutilate it to mush-but you knew that already

You could start him now, just keep an eye on him in case he chokes. There are lots of yummy organic options out there... be grateful that you can monitor everything he eats at this age.. my son is ten now and I don't always know what he is putting into his body at friends' houses. But he was fed only organic foods for the first two years.

iwould wait for stuff they have to chew like the above mentioned until quite a few teeth are in.

gerber makes these lil finger foods that melt in a baby's mouth. its a great thing to start with because there virtually no risk for choking.

whenever they are ready. why has your doctor said no meat? i think babies tend to get finger foods between 7-9mos