How to get 13 month old to eat finger foods?

[Em703]

Hello - this is my first time using this type of forum.  I just purchased and read The Baby Whisperer book and am hoping to start using some of the techniques ASAP.  I do have a few questions though!  My 13-month old daughter will not feed herself and will not eat finger foods.  My husband and I have tried offering her a variety of different things, but she will only eat baby food, yogurt and apple sauce.  When we have tried to get her to eat finger foods such as cheerios, or even baby food with chunks in it (stage 3) she gags and sometimes throws up.  We have brought this up to our family doctor who isn't concerned... Any thoughts?

[Dree]

Welcome to BW, the mothers here are amazing. I remember going through a vomiting phase with my LO. I even brought her to a clinic in a childrens hospital that specialises in eating. It is called a dysphagia clinic. I did that to rule out any chewing problems. They told me to introduce foods slower to my dd..so I did. I mixed stage 3 foods along with very pureed foods and weaned her off the jarred stuff slowly. My daycare helped me alot with that.

I remember cutting up cheerios and putting it in milk so it was soft enough, I would put them on her tray to see if she would try and pick it up. It did not always work.

I also mashed up banana and would add milk to it so she would be interested in eating. My dd loved eating bananas and still does. Now she holds it in her hand..lol

They told me to put food on my dd tray in her highchair so that she could play with her food. They need to get messy and play with their food to eventually put it i their mouth. It works.

I also introduced a cracker called mum mums. It is made from rice and they even have the veggie kind. That helped my dd as well.

Good Luck
Dree   

[Em703]

Hi Dree, Thanks for responding so quickly...

We did try bananas - which resulted in throwing up.  I did purchase the mum-mum's which she feeds to the dog.  I have also tried other types of baby cookies to see if she would pick them up.  I'm not concerned about the mess- it's all ending up on the floor right now anyway!  I've tried everything from cheese, to macaroni, to waffles, etc.  I've also tried most of the "toddler" foods at the grocery store to see if she would be interested in that... no luck yet.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Dree]

I remember making home made beef stroganoff and mashing it through a blender. She loved it. As weeks went by I made it chunkier until I no longer had to put it through a blender.

The best advice is to keep trying. I remember the first pureed food I gave her was carrots. My dd spat it out and I was devastated. My dh laughed. I look at him and said "babies are suppossed to love carrots". So, what I did was mix carrots with a bit of applesauce to open up her appetite. It worked.

Try mashing the bananas and feeding it to her with your fingers. That worked for my dd.

As for macaroni, it was home made mac and cheese that worked for us. It was called cheesy pasta stars made with carrots from a cook book. It worked as well for us. The book is called, first foods or first meals...very good book. I have it somewhere in the house.  you should look up recipies on the internet.

Try to make homemade food than the jarred stuff. That was one of my biggest mistakes. The jarred stuff is too bland.

((hugs)) and good luck
Dree 

[~*Nicole*~]

If you can bear it....eat what you're offering her as well. Or try using already loved purees as dips. Someone else on here suggested that. She may enjoy "copying" you if you dip a noodle into a pureed veggie and make munching noises etc.

[Em703]

I think we're making a bit of progress... I'm almost thinking it has something to do with the texture of the food.  I tried giving her some bagel with cream cheese this afternoon and she touched the cream cheese side and seemed disgusted.  We got some of the baby cereal bars and she took a few bites from it - which was a first!

[~*Nicole*~]

DD loves cereal bars. If she likes a thicker consistency you can lightly toast some bread, spread with cream cheese and roll up or fold. She might take it then. Make the cream cheese thin if it's a texture thing.