Lanie
He should be on foods other than purees at this point. He is ready for variety and texture. You can cook to very tender pieces of carrot, potatoes, beans, broccoli, squash, peas etc. Babies don't use their teeth tochew for quite some time (usually when the molars come in). He is perfectly capable of chewing soft foods with his gums. Try him out on it. If he is ready for it, he will eat it. If he isn't ready, he won't. You can also cook apples, peaches, pears to make them soft and pieces of banana.

bbymac
You can always call your doctor to double check, but it should be just fine. (I wouldn't reccommend fries but that's just me.) But soft foods like bananas, cooked carrots, pasta, cooked apples, pineapple etc should be ok. Also those snacks they make for babies disolve almost instantly when you put it in their mouth. Relax, he'll be fine.

I ♥ Me Dootz
He'll be fine:) he has to get used to new textures:) if he is used to having his food pureed already then he might have a hard time figuring out what to do with a piece of real food. As long as you are right there while he eats:) Give him something soft like cooked apples, or those little disolveable Gerber stars:) My baby used to gag when she would try to swallow whole pieces of food at first......I guess cuz she wasn't used to the feeling and chewing:) now at 9months she is an ol' pro..........I give her tiny shreds of chicken, bananas, cooked apples, little bites or pieces of whatever I'm eating:)

Damon
My 7 month old little girl has had soft cooked french fries, steamed carrot chips cut into 4ths smashed peas chunky mashed potatoes, its a natural reflux if the piece is to big or not soft enough that she will spit it out and move on to another piece. Have him in a high chair and watch him. I didn't take my eyes off of my little girl when she first started, and now she just shoves everything in.

Pippin
He doesn't need to teeth to eat real food. (My daughter got her first tooth at 14 months-- should I have kept her on mush until then?) If he can pick food up and put it in his mouth, he can gum it up and eat it. (He'll chew with his gums until he gets molars.) So it's a good idea to transition him to real food as soon as is feasible. Not only do you save money, but you expose him to a wider variety of tastes and textures and make it less likely that you'll end up with a picky toddler. That doesn't mean, of course, that he needs to be sucking on french fries..... Try fruits and veggies and small pasta shapes and cheese and bits of meat. If he can pick them up and eat them, great. If he tries and gags, fish it out and try again in a few days. If he has no clue that he's supposed to pick them up, wait a few days and try again.

bch53007
They do sell these mesh like things you can put small pieces of fruit or veggies into and they chew on the mesh part. Then the food they get is still very small, and does not present a choking hazard and the baby is getting used to the texture of solids and how to chew. You can also put say frozen apple pieces in there and it's great for soothing sore gums when your baby is teething. Babies also have great gag reflexes. Watching my niece when she was about that age I could have sworn she swallowed something too big and would choke, but she worked it right back up. It'll be fine if you start him on solids, just stay nearby so you can see he's alright.

Amber
I think you got your answer :-) Yes, most children are on small bites of food by 8 months. Cheerios are dissolvable. Mashed potatoes are good. There is some texture to them but pretty mushy. Just take a fork and smush the cooked carrot etc on his plate/tray and it'll be good to go. Actually, with the thought of teeth. My son is almost 18 months old and he is just now starting to bite down and chew with his teeth. The point being is that most children will just smush it around with their tongue and gum it anyway so...yes, please start on small bites :-). It'll make less work for you. The worry will lessen :-).

4Red
Teeth have nothing to do with whether or not they can eat food!! My friend's son didn't have a single tooth until 16mths old and he ate just fine for months and months toothless. At 8mths, they should be exploring with food. Fries aren't the best finger foods...I'd go with something more nutritious. Very unlikely they will choke, gag maybe but it's very, very rare for a child to choke.

Shera O
teeth play no part in your baby's ability to eat table food. My second baby was never spoon fed puree, she self fed table food from the start. And choking rarely happens......that is what we have a gag reflex for, to prevent real choking. Ya sure, he might gag a few time as he learns the ropes of self feeding, but that's okay. Breastfed babies are especially good at self feeding.

Beth
8 months is definitely old enough to start learning to chew solid foods. I'm not sure I would choose a french fry to start with (not healthy) but he could handle it. Teeth have nothing to do with it, he can mash stuff up with his gums. I would start with ripe banana or diced, cooked peaches. Those are healthy and very easy for a baby to mush up. I gave my son food like that starting at 6 months, and he did great. He gagged a few times trying to eat too much too fast, but he always coughed it back out, never actually choked. He didn't get his first tooth until 9 and 1/2 months. He never really had purees except for applesauce and commercial baby cereal. Everything else he ate in small soft pieces. By 1 year old he was eating exclusively table food and feeding himself most of the time. Does he NEED solid foods... no, not really, pureed is fine, but it it's much easier to teach him to eat solids so he can start feeding himself. You'll have to do it sooner or later, and there will be some risk of gagging/choking even if you wait until he's 3 years old. You might as well start now and make your own life easier.h

Maddox (Mother To Luka..)
No one has a right to pressure you into anything, especially if it has to do with your child. You are a mother and if you are not comfortable with someone giving your son chips tell them. I know it's not easy to say no, try to decline nicely. I think babies should not be eating unhealthy foods anyway. Try giving him banana to start with, banana is easy to eat even with gums. My son loves bananitos - tiny bananas, they are small and sweet. Don't worry, I was apprehensive in the beginning too, but babies are good if he can't chew it he will spit it out.