Finger food ideas for a 9 month old

[story3girl]

Hi,

I need some food ideas for my 9 month old.  We're kind of all played out on purees, and I'd like to move to more "real" foods, but I'm feeling uninspired.

Right now, she eats:

Cereal (1-2X per day) - rice, oatmeal, or mixed.  Recently tried whole wheat which was less delicious than we'd hoped.

Purees - sweet potatoes (love), squash (eh), carrots, peas (both a bit of a struggle), green beans (okay, well she'll at least taste them), peaches, pears, unsweetened applesauce, strawberries, prunes (LOVES all the fruit)

Toast - a huge hit

Pasta - I've seen her eat it.  I swear.  But now?  Not so much.

Chicken - She'll eat a little pureed with other things before starting to protest.  She likes the Earth's Best jarred chicken a little better than anything I've made, but isn't entirely convinced by that either.  Shredded it just ended up on the floor - but maybe it was too bland?  Should I season it?

Peas, diced carrots - Mostly just plays with them

Cut up banana, grapes, and blueberries and cooked diced apple and pear.  Usually eats pretty well.

Cheerios and Gerber puffs.  Likes a lot, but I'm trying to cut back in favor of real food.

Yogurt almost every day.  Loves.

Cheese, as finger food and mixed with purees.  Loves.

Any other suggestions?  She's a big girl, and needs more food, but I'd hate to see her just eat cereal, toast, and cheerios.

[greenteamomma]

Hi!  We are doing BLW but have had to be creative with finger foods.  You've mentioned lots.  You are probably more burned out and feel you are feeding the same thing but she doesn't. Sounds like shes happy. 

Sometimes the toast is the vessel to the food on it.  We "butter" lots of toasts with stuff: hummus, butter then cream cheese, butter then avocado, butter and sweet potato.  She likes yogurt and toast so dip the toast in yogurt.    You can make the yogurt thicker by lettting it sit overnight in a sieve with a clean coffee filter in it.  The liquid comes out and it makes the yogurt thicker.  The liquid can be added to soups or a smoothie for you.  Its good stuff too.  Butter has good vitamines and fats. 

You can season meat with stuff or cook it with other things but try to avoid salts.  We do a beef stew with tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic.  The meat is so tender because it cooked so long, it just falls apart and the tomatoes and potatoes make a gravy like sauce.  I just dump some on her tray and she picks what she wants.  All cut up to the size I want.  You could try mashed if she isn't into chunks yet. 

We make spaghetti sauce for us and then I add cooked sweet potato to it.  Served with pasta shells or rottini and lots of parmesan.  The cheese seems to really appeal to her.

Cheerios are still fine and we offer on days we are out.  We also buy post shredded wheat squares we "soak" in her milk.  Then we tear them in to manageable pieces.

Hope this helps.   

[julesdq]

hiya, i've been doing baby led weaning since 6 months (LO now 9 months)
a few suggestions for fingers foods:

sweetcorn patties (a huge favourite!!) it makes a lot so you can freeze them after cooking.
525g sweetcorn kernels, tinned or cut from cob (3 cobs)
2 eggs
125g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1.Place 2/3 of the sweetcorn and all other ingredients in food processor and blitz. Stir in the rest of the corn.
2. Heat a tablespoon of oil in frying pan and heat to medium-high heat.
3. Drop 2 tablespoons of mixture per cake into pan, cooking 3 at a time. Cook for 1 minute each side, or until golden.

i also give slices of avocado, melon and mango with the skin on (washed) otherwise it's too slippery
you can make a bowl of oats porridge and leave it until cool then cut into slices for LO
fingers of cheddar cheese
eggy bread
i make an omlette (but use cream instead of milk and put in the oven instead of fry) and add lots of ingredients like cheese, spinach, mushrooms, peppers and put all the ingredients in an oven dish. cook on 180 deg for 15 mins then 150 deg for 30 mins. you can give it to LO in pieces.
corn on the cob (i loosen the Kernels with my teeth) i also slice off kernels with a sharp knife and it comes off in chunks.
if i give her spag bol etc i cut up some small to eat off a spoon but also put a clump on her high chair that she eats (most of it doesn't reach her mouth but she's getting better at it)
sausages (95% pork - Brownings organic) they are small and just the right size for a LO
if you boil chicken pieces until soft you can give that
otherwise look on baby led weaning website under recipes.. LOTS there

hope you get lots more suggestions (i need inspiration too)

[greenteamomma]

you can make a bowl of oats porridge and leave it until cool then cut into slices for LO

great idea!!!!!

[ZacsMumme]

The latest thing my DS loves is sweet potato fingers, roasted in olive oil till soft (but not too soft) then a touch of cinnamon sprinkled over them, easy to freeze too.

We also make homemade rusks - toast fingers with marmite and melted cheese, grilled, cooled then cut up into fingers. YOU can use other spreads too.

I love the porridge idea to, DS loves porridge. We made apple oat pancakes, these were a hit too. Ill fish out the recipe and post it. DH loved too with maple syrup and bananas (no maple syrup for DS though )

[~inbalance~]

More ideas here too:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=70142.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95978.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=178221.0

[Lemonthyme]

Here are some recipes but I'm going to check out some of the ones above:

http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/05/quiche-frittata-and-small-things.html
http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/04/potato-cakes.html
http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/06/salmon-and-spinach-fishcakes-for-babies.html

And the ever present muffin-fest!  These are my best recipe I think:

http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/05/spinach-and-feta-mini-muffins.html

[greenteamomma]

I tried to oatmeal and it didn't work...can you maybe elaborate on how you made it with some measurements?  I know its pretty easy to make.....mommy brain?

[julesdq]

hi greenteamomma, i haven't measured the porridge but i make it so it's not runny and you could also put it in the fridge overnight (don't think i mentioned that part - sorry)

[story3girl]

Thank you all so much!  Much to read!

[julesdq]

just started giving her raisins, peas and chickpeas too :-)

[ZacsMumme]

Raisins are great! And good for their pincer

[story3girl]

I thought raisins would be a choking hazard?

[julesdq]

i think they're too small to choke on. i read that you should be wary of things the size of a grape :-)

[story3girl]

Oh, good tip.  Thanks! 

[Lemonthyme]

I think they can choke on raisins, some people don't give them as a result but we've been giving them for about 4 months now (my LO is 14 months) without problems.  You do have to watch out that he doesn't have too many and have raisin poos.  Squishy!

[ZacsMumme]

M LO loves them, and here they are so small, given 1 at a time I don't think he could choke. That said I do think ya got to watch them when they eat them as sometimes the raisins get 'stored' in the mouth and then you get a raisin risk of choking!!!

[Lemonthyme]

Oh he grabs handfuls now and shoves them all into his mouth at once! 

[MamaLiz]

Our LO really likes fruits and toast sandwiches cut up into little pieces.  We've used avocado, cream cheese, hummus and purees we needed to use up for the filling - I just smoosh the toast down with my hand and then put a light layer of whatever spread on and put another smooshed piece on top, then cut into strips and then into small squares - not sure when to give the strips like little toast fingers, but my LO doesn't have teeth yet so not sure about the biting a piece off.

Also - since fruits are so slippery, I read that you can smash up cheerios and dust the fruit with it to make it easier for LOs to grab.  We do this - especially with cut up bananas - I just put some in a baggie, smash them with the rolling pin, drop cut up banana or mango or melon or whatever in and shake to coat and then I can put the pieces on DDs tray and she has no problem!

I am pumped to look at some of those recipe links - thanks for sharing!

[greenteamomma]

Have you been smooching the chickpeas?  Chickpeas seem so hard compared to other beans. 

This is our little sandwich secret.  We toast one toast and then cut it horizontally so you end up with two thin pieces of bread. Sometimes the middle part turns into a gob of dough because its still hot so I just remove that part.  THEN I add butter and cream cheese or avocado etc.  The sandwiches stay together and they are a better thickness to bite into.  Imagine biting into a burger or sandwich that is too big, how you feel overwelmed.  Two slices of bread together for them is a HUGE bite so I find she just refuses it cause its too much work

[Lemonthyme]

That's melba toast or it would be if you toasted it again but then it would probably go a bit crunchy.

[greenteamomma]

Melba toast is too hard, she spits that out.

[ZacsMumme]

We just use sandwich slice bread and I kind of squish it down a bit so it is less thick and DS handles that well. We just had a yummy new combo. Cream Cheese + Chopped up dried aprocots. DS loved it!

We also do a similar thing with the toast but I toast bread, put marmite and cheese on it then bake in the oven for a bit and chop up for a yummy snack on the go! A few other things we have just started trying and had success with are:
Sweet Potato fingers roasted in olive oil and dusted with cinnamon
Dried Apple Rings
Cheesy Rice Balls (Made with risotto rice with cheese, herbs ie chives added and rolled into balls.)
Homemade Fish Fingers or Mini Chicken burgers with apple.
Mayo and Salmon or Tuna mix on toast/crispbread or in sammies
Quesadillas with grated apple and cheese (better for 10 months plus)
Breakfast sausages (with skin removed)

 

[Lemonthyme]

Do you make your own dried apple rings, if so, how?

[ZacsMumme]

I haven't yet, just got some from the organic store. But I don't think it would be too hard. Maybe just cut into rings and then dry out in low temp oven for a long time...? Ohh now you have me inspired to find out!