Finger food

[Marley&Me]

Ok so dd refuses to eat from a spoon (other than yoghurt and cereal) so I am now giving her finger food. Problem is I don't think she is eating enough like this. And also theres only so much you can give as finger food (home made meals have so much variety) So far I give her steamed veg - broccoli, pumpkin, carrot etc. I also give her cheese chunks, dry biscuits, fruit and sandwiches (vegemite or avo).
What else can I give as finger food? I think she's sick of these things already. Apart from the cheese, she loves the cheese

Any ideas?

[Saffy]

Zucchini slice ( I make them in small muffin trays), sweet or savoury muffins, toast, crumpets, pikelets, meatballs.

My DDs has rarely eaten from a spoon and she doesn't eat much either, don't worry if they are hungry they will eat.

She pretty much eats anything with her hands- risotto, noodles, pasta, meatballs, weetbix, porridge. I gave her sticks of veges, breadsticks and cheese and some hummus today and taught her to dip the sticks in the hummus. She liked it and ended up sticking her h.ands in the hummus and eating it that way mostly but did eat some veges so I was happy.

[Saffy]

Yeah my Dd will always eat the cheese and just have a bite of everything else lol.

[Saffy]

Also things like casseroles, spag Bol etc my DD will eat with hands, just try her.

[Heaven]

Do you let her eat with the spoon herself? Just give her whatever you're having in a bowl with a spoon. She will eat it with her hands or work out how to use the spoon.

[HotI]

strips of meat
meatballs
meat on the bone
roast vegie slices (potato/sweet potato/pumpkin)
raw cucumber zucchini sticks
apple whole (my kids used to grate bits off with their gums)
vegie fritters (grated vegies plus egg and cooked in oil)

pretty much anything we eat we gave to the kids in sizes they could grab.

[Ladylove]

DD has always loved thick veggie minestrone and casserole type meals. When she was littler she plucked out everything with her fingers and all those veggies and legumes were amazing helping her to get over a cold.

[feeb]

Pasta
Rice
any veggie or fruit
home made sausage rolls
scrambled eggs
omlette
Frittata
sausages
lamb chops
chicken


Anything you have she can have (as long as no added salt and not too spicy)

Also remember food is fun until they are one and it is all about trying and learning and experience, milk is still main nutrition.

[onthefly]

You can just let her feed herself anything that you're having.

[Marley&Me]

So many great ideas Thank you!

Also things like casseroles, spag Bol etc my DD will eat with hands, just try her.

Omg, I could imagine the mess! I already have to spend 10 minutes cleaning the high chair, straps, floor, anything within a 2 meter radius

Do you let her eat with the spoon herself? Just give her whatever you're having in a bowl with a spoon. She will eat it with her hands or work out how to use the spoon.

Yes I have, but she tends to put half in her mouth and then she pulls it out, looks at it and proceeds to shake the spoon until all the food is on the walls! She does get a bit in though

I have also read that egg is a no go. Well actually egg yolk is ok, but no white until 10 months. Is this true? Oh and also strawberries?
My other issue is this is becoming at least a half hour thing. Mostly about 45 minutes to finish lunch. If I have to be somewhere it is really hard to get out the house because I don't want to rush her. So i thought of taking lunch with me the other day, but there would be no high chair and mess would be everywhere. So what can i do? Maybe try and see if she will take from a spoon again?

[Saffy]

Yeah we found going out hard for a while when she was throwing food. We've only just started going out a lot again. I just used to take things I knew she would eat, cheese, fruit etc and if she didn't eat much at lunch then I would make up for it later with afternoon tea or dinner.
My dd has only just stopped throwing food recently, it's so much better!!!
It's a messy business alright, my DH really had to exercise all his patience, it drives him mad, but they are babies and I just say to him, no one has ever thought babies are neat eaters.

[briggsy's girl]

from 6 months dd would snack on some stuff we were having - vegie sticks etc - from about 8 months, if we were having it, so was she! she would give anything a go - some got in her mouth, some spread all over the place, but we just accepted it was what it was. if we had to go somewhere, we limited lunch to a sandwich or similar - not too messy, and if she wasn't done in a little while, we just moved about doing our stuff, and i'd give her a snack later.
we have photos at 8 to 10 months with the poppet eating spag bol, burritos, fish - whatever we were having. we didn't bother preparing extra/different food for her.

enjoy letting her learn, set limits when you need to (like when you have to go out) - and the rest of the time, let her explore food - if she doesn't get much in, so be it - she is still learning about textures and tastes and things

[onthefly]

Unless you've identified allergies then no, you don't need to avoid anything besides honey (botulism risk) and choking hazards like whole nuts or popcorn or marshmallows. And generally, just try for whole foods, rather than processed stuff (there's time for junk later).
Yes, it's messy, but they need to learn some time. Better to do it now than later. You'll have a kid who can eat with utensils in no time if you can just let go of the mess now and let her learn. Have fun!

[CinderToriella]

Food is meant to be fun and learning exp until they are one ..
Right now she will be taking in exactly what she needs while experimenting with tastes and textures . This is very important stage for her learning , smells tastes look feel of all the different foods.

Yes it takes time yes it is messy but it's so much fun for her and make r fun for you as well. , watching her enjoy it all.

As you know we are doing BLS with DD2 after such success with it with DD1 ..

Anything we have she has unless it's to much fat sugar salt ect ..

Don't stress so much about how much as is eating or not eating . She will eat what she needs and won't be hungry , if she is hungry she will eat

Oh also .. She won't want to be fed by the spoon as babies are very independent little beings they want to do it themselves and see us do it ourselves .
The only thing we spoon fed DD was yogurt but even that now she won't let us and takes the spoon so we have two spoons and take turns with her , give her the spoon with yogurt on it and she feeds herself

[Marley&Me]

Thanks everyone Ok so I'll just take simple stuff when we go out. And I always make food for her because some days I will just eat toast all day (until dinner anyway)