Finger foods for fussy toddler - non dairy, egg or soy diet though....

[LisaK1]

HI there

I'm in need (again!)

My LO is fast becoming independant and now doesn't want me to feed him with a spoon and he is absolutely rubbish at doing it himself (I know I need to practice more).

HE seems to be loving feeding himself though but I'm struggling to think about what he can eat that will get him enough protein and balance - he is a great fruitarian!  endlessly eats blueberries, stewed apples, pears, banana but I need some proper food in him too.

Can anyone help.  Im exhausted from a 2 week battle with trying to feed him myself and discovering by accident that he seems to be wanting to feed himself (he pinches a sandwich the other day and ran off eating it, 5 mins after refusing his spoon fed dinner!).

Thanks for reading.

PS - my LO can only do soft foods really as has a history of reflux so he isn't as advanced on textures as you would imagine, so we are still on relatively soft foods.

[LizzieN]

Hey sweetie,
We are dairy, soy and gluten free and my DD has only had finger foods as purrees constipated her terribly.

She eats,

jacket potatos (remove skin) done in the microwave with tuna mixed with avocado
pieces of avocado, steamed veggies (carrot sticks, zucchini, pumpkin, sweet potato etc)
pieces of rice cake with jam
beans (cannelini, chick peas etc skinned initially and now whole), peas
rice puffs for brekkie with rice milk (I spoon feed her this, too messy!!)
roasted pumpkin, sw potato, carrots and onions caremilised with quinoa (excellent, excellent form of protein)
pieces of meat from dinner, stick shaped so easy to hang onto.

Seriously my LO eats everything we do it's wonderful and I find it easiest if I put a little dinner aside and offer it the next day.  She also eats a HUGE amount of fruit.

As a treat I have gingernut bikkies that she likes and are everything free

Going to try her on hummous soon, been meaning to make it for ages, excellent protein.

Oh and pasta is great too with tomato, basil sauce etc, mince bolognaise.  Tuna and potato patties, hamburgers (home made due to the G/F)...

Hope that helps a little
xxlizzie

[LisaK1]

Thank you Lizzie, I'll take these away for ideas.

How long did it take your LO to get good at independant feeding?

How old is your LO?

Thanks

[LizzieN]

Hey sweetie,
My DD is 10 months old and she has been independent feeding since she was abou 6.5 months....I did help her a bit in the beginning, but she rapidly figured it all out and was shoving her food in by the truck load!!

Her main problem is that she is little and couldn't see her tray table on the high chair until recently!!  She always throws her bowl on the floor once it's empty too, then gives me a big grin 'cause she knows she isn't supposed to - cheeky monkey.

The thing is with Baby Led Weaning they don't get as much initially, but they do get to try a lot of things and it's very good for their hand eye coordination   Have a look at the link below if you are interested:

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=92560.0

Hope that helps honey
xx

[LisaK1]

Thanks. WOW 10mo and doing all that feeding, I'm very impressed.  I did consider BLW when weaning my LO but my nerves couldnt stand the lack of food to start with and as I have a little refluxer he would gag a lot and vomit food up so I went down the puree spoon fed route.....Opps, may have left it a little late to switch to BLW (or is it BLFeeding?) as my LO is 16mo but maybe he will just learn a bit quicker.  Got to give it a go as I think he will enjoy it.

Tried this morning at breakfast after he had supped quite a bit of milk, with a fruit pot (pureed fruit) he took a few spoonfuls (messily) and then decided to dump the pot contents onto his tray and smear it around playing with it.......I figure this means he either wasn't that hungry or got bored or just wants to play with the messy stuff......I figure he will get the point sooner or later, hopefully sooner as I don't want to be feeding in the early hours due to hunger........decisions, decisions....

[LizzieN]

Hey sweetie,
Yup two refluxers here too, hugs honey nothing is too late  

A great way to go is offer a bit of both, so finger foods and some purees too wtih spoons and forks...Let him play, he will eat what he wants...that playing in the puree, he will lick his fingers and you will be surprised just how much will get into that tummy of his   Also it's a way that babies learn about textures, so if he is sensitive to texture it is probably the absolutely best thing he can be doing!!

Just be patient, he will get the hang of this, most babies eat like birds at this age but they do get what they need, they are really great at eating to their appetite (if only we as adults were!)...

Hang in there, get your camera and take as MANY messy face photos as you can...they are hillarious.  Oh and maybe put down a towel under the highchair

Hugs
xx

[LisaK1]

Fab, I like your view on it, make it enjoyable and fun rather than something to be worrying about - a great view on life.

Yes, we have a lino floor in the kitchen so easy clean.

Well, I'm doing sandwiches, crackers and fruit for lunch today, when he wakes (been sleeping since 10:15am and now 12:25!). Think we're in midst of moving to one nap days but just starting, hey bring on the changes - he he.

Have been out to buy sweet potato and zuchinni (courgette in UK), so will see how these chunks go down for dinner tonight....

Fingers crossed.
x

[LizzieN]

you can make little veggie patties too, just left over veg and some mashed potato, pumpkin and sweet potato all shaped and shallow fried in some canola or olive oil   put a little tomato sauce with them, they are good (just make sure they are cool)...

It is really hard when you see all your hard work smooshed and not eaten, so at this stage I would say minimal effort but lots of variety is a good way to go   My step DD was a very fussy eater (she was older) and it was SO stressful...I wish I had taken a more relaxed approach. 

One other tip is to give your LO what you are eating and all try and eat meals together, otherwise you will end up doing "baby" meals until they are teenagers...it's fine doing something different on nights when you are having curry or something that you don't want to give to your little refluxer, but it is SO much easier when you can just make one meal and it does everyone

I LOVE that my DD eats everything we do, it's amazing!!

Hugs to you
xx

[Buntybear]

roasted pumpkin, sw potato, carrots and onions caremilised with quinoa (excellent, excellent form of protein)

Hi Lizzie, hope you see this - I hadn't seen this thread before! Like Lisa I need to get more protein into Olly but he won't eat off a spoon so am interested in your idea here with quinoa. Please could you share how you do it?

Hi Lisa - how are you doing with finger foods now?

A few more to add are pasta shapes, pieces of chicken (I buy the ready roasted chicken breasts as they are nice and soft), slow roasted/cooked meats ie stews or slow roasts, fish fingers, meat balls, sausages (there is a good chicken sausage recipe on this web site somewhere - maybe in the feeding solid foods section), fish cakes, chicken cakes (like fish but with chicken!), chicken skewers, flakes of poached salmon (MandS do lovely ones). Obv anything like fish fingers etc can be cut down to bite size pieces.

[LisaK1]

Hi buntybear, nice 2 hear from you. We do ok with finger foods but hit n miss unless trusted favourites. I am so excited as nursery today reported that h ate his meatballs n pasta on his own with a spoon! I can't believe it and would love to see it for myself. My lo appetite varies so much from day to day it is very wierd. Is this normal?

[Buntybear]

As I understand it that is very normal! As I am learning anything goes with our LOs!

[Mama2boys]

brb

[LizzieN]

Hey ladies,
Ok so the quinoa (Eloise may have more ideas about this too as she got me onto it)):

I just chop up sweet potato, carrots, pumpkin and one onion and roast them in a bit of olive oil....let them roast until they are nice and caramelised ( I often toss some zucchini/corgette in towards the end of roasting to get some green in there too).  It's good if the pumpkin goes a bit squishy as it mashes into the quinoa and makes it easier for them to get handfuls (it is a messy meal). 

Just simmer the quinoa in water 1 part quinoa to 1.5 cups water....let all the water absorb then take off the heat, toss through the roasted veggies.  For me I add salt and pepper (the kids are ok with pepper so they get a bit of pepper in it too).  You can also toss tuna, salmon or really any meat through it....I find it really tasty and yummy   Hope you like it to!

I usually do it as a "salad" when we have bbq meat and then eat it for lunches the next day etc.

xx

[Buntybear]

Thanks 

[LizzieN]

no worries lovely   hope you like it too!! xx  I LOVE eating food that is good for you too, it gets me all excited!!