How do I get him to take finger foods?

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Ds is now nearly 9 1/2 months old. He's eating well, at the highchair for every meal. He's not impressed that there is now texture in his food, and much prefers when it's smoother, but we're persevering with that :roll: .

Anyway, the issue we're having at the moment is finger foods. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now. He will eat small pieces of things, like bananas, courgette, prunes, etc if I put them on his tongue, but if I put them on his tray, no fear! He will pick them up, but then he'll do his Elvis lip curl, and start smooshing them up. He hasn't once tried to put them in his mouth. This is the baby who will put absolutely anything in his mouth (including my nose when he gets the chance :lol: ), but not when I want him to :roll: . How do I encourage this without forcing him? I'm a bit concerned about leaving it much later, b/c doesn't it get harder as they get older? :?  :?

Thanks for any advice

[Lana]

Well I have to be honest.  We offered finger foods to Ewan for a  long time but he didn't actually eat any until he was over a year old :roll: .  Personally I think he was just lazy and wanted me to feed him :wink: but eventually independance won out.

[tylersmommy]

I think independence will win out eventually. I've never heard that it gets harder as they get older, so I don't think you have anything to worry about there. If he'll take it from your fingers, you're actually doing great...that means that he's okay with the texture, and that's the hardest part to get them used to. Keep them on the tray for him to play with, don't pressure him, and he'll come around when he's ready!

[Queen Mother]

My ds did the same thing!  He put everything in to his mouth except the little chunks of food that I put on his tray.  I didn't stop offering them, though, and he eventually caught on.  Everytime I put something on the tray, I would get his attention and eat a piece myself.  He began to imitate that behavior, and before long he was doing it on his own.  It may take some time, but don't give up!

[NKmommy]

Do you think it could be a texture thing?  DS had a real sensitivity to slimy, squishy foods, and the second he touched them, he acted disgusted and smeared the food on the tray.  One thing that helped was to crush cheerios in a ziploc bag, and coat the pieces (like banana) in the cheerios. 

Just a thought...   :wink: