I'm a bit concerned that DD isn't quite at the right stage with her solids.

She's a great eater, always has been, but she still gags on finger food. I'm too scared to give her certain foods as I'm worried she'll choke! She has a lot of lumpy food, most of it I cook myself, but she somtimes eats the Rafferty's Garden 10mths + sachets and loves them.

I try to give her finger food as much as possible and she does well with banana, Cruskits, rusks and some soft vegies. She's not too bad with toast but is terrible with bread - bites off a huge chunk then ends up gagging on the massive dough ball she's created!! I know they have a good gag reflex but it really freaks me out. Does she just need to just gag on some food in order to learn? She only has 3 teeth so will it improve when she has more teeth to help her chew?

We had a picnic with friends on the weekend and two of the mums were giving their 8 month olds celery and carrot sticks from our nibbles platter to chew on. Is that OK?! The babies seemed to cope OK but I just thought that was a big no-no, especially at that age. Some of the kids in my mum's group are eating sandwhiches for lunch now which seems unbelievable to me too. Am I just too paranoid? Should I be experimenting more with DD's food?