When did you do so with your little ones? Would love to hear some stories!

I am giving Jarrah a little fruit here and there which he seems to LOVE! I thought I would fully breastfeed longer but am just going with what his flow...he's nearly 7 months old now. He gets it all over him just eating from my fingers whole fruit! gotta go!

my first wasn't really interested in trying foods till 1yr.  then she'd have bits of whatever i was having, starting with juices, smoothies, chewing on whole fruits/veg.  Loved dried seaweed, tomatos, anything really.  Her earliest meals were often blended, then later i would process her greens for salads.

my second child wanted to do what everyone else was doing, but not much interested in the process of swallowing till around 6 months.   Before he first started to crawl, i would sit him on the ground while we were gardening and he'd rip off green leaves - whole spinach stalks, wild celery, spring onions, herbs, anything, and chew them all up.  No matter how spicy or bitter the greens, he'd sit there quietly and shred up the garden, spitting out the pulp!  I have noted with both the children that from birth they had no judgement around bitter/spicy/strong foods, but that they have gradually learned this in time from others.  Still, the other day my 2.5yr old was bold enough to eat a millipede

I used to give him blended avo/greens/herbs  soup, whole fruits, & during our Darwin times he loved all the fruits & fresh coconuts.  With the business of life with 2 i rarely got around to preparing him special meals, so i just presented a variety of foods and he does his own thing. 

I always 'let' them try whatever they wanted, and never worried about the choking thing - they explored eating in their own way and soon understood textures, chewing, swallowing, foods and non-foods.  Just my experience, not recommending either way! 

Awww I can imagine all these little ones munching their way through lush fruit and greens and my heart is warm

Jarrah's favourite fruit is banana at the moment (or as I sing banananananananana!) but he didn't take to it straight away. He can now get through one a day! I had planned to fully breastfeed for longer than I did but as Jarrah became very passionate about wanting to have the fruit I was eating I just let him have what he seemed to want. As everything went in the mouth I figured it may as well be something edible! He first started gnawing on things like celery but then juicy foods like oranges. This seemed like a "full-on" food to begin with but he didn't seem to suffer just loved it! Persimmon was next which is perfect sweet baby mush! He is now very into bananas and avocados, and gnawing or shredding greens and stalks of parsley and vegetables like fennel and celery.

He gets so excited about bright, interesting colours and textures of beautiful fruit and greens. It's entertainment for him. I love giving him whole foods and he loves it much more than something mashed up.