Finger foods ........... ideas for helping the baby work out what he's supposed to do

[Kazbah]

Not sure if you've tried this, but with Pip I got one of those mesh bag thingies and put watermelon and other fruits in there - he could suck on them, and they are the kind of stuff that will fit through the mesh as he gummed it.

Good luck!!!!!

[Now we're 3]

Wow this post just goes to show how things change AND in such a short period of time. With how he eats now I almost can't believe now that I actually posted wanting to know how to get him to eat finger food. That is practically ALL he will eat now - LOL. About a month ago he became Mr Independent and just wanted to feed himself none of this spoon business Mummy thats for babies!!!!!!

Tommee Tippee make the little mesh thingie and I think I got in just Woolies or Coles.

Like Barb advised I think eating in front of him helped him learn and just placed a variety of food on his tray. He also allowed me to put the food into his mouth so he knew it was a taste that he liked. He certainly used to to try to grab food from me if I am eating in front of him. Little flakes of chicken, shredded cheese, bits of potato, peas and other veggies. One thing I did find however was not to place too much on his tray/plate at the one time. In the begining it seemed to overwhelm him. However once he figured out what to do I found that he was inclinded to stuff everything that was on the tray at the same time which meant he ended up with too much in his mouth to chew/swallow. He also seemed (at some meals) to be happy to also eat from spoon as long as he was allowed to feed himself too. I have persevered with getting him to take spoon food too as I reckoned it would be the easiest way to feed him if we are out and about. Mess I can deal with when at home!

I do a mixture of placing food on tray and using the suction bowls and also got the little pelican bids that collect the recyclables that get dropped. Is funny as he learnt pretty quickly that food dropped in there so will often fish pieces out of there rather than picking up what is on the tray - clever little things aren't they!

Anyway hope that helped. Like everything they do once they get the hang of it there is no holding them back. Enjoy the mess!!!