Need finger food ideas for 10mo refusing to be spoonfed

[lesliemarie]

I need some good finger food ideas for DD who is 10.5 months old.  She is refusing to be spoonfed more than a few mouthfuls.  She will eat toast fingers but not much of them, pieces of pear and squash, blueberries, soda crackers, arrowroot cookies, the odd piece of cheese and that is about it.

She is happy if you give her the bowl and spoon but then just plays instead of eating it.  I'm just not sure what to do with her at this point.  She isn't a tiny girl though so I guess I shouldn't worry but the kid who used to eat a large jar of food (doesn't want my homemade stuff anymore either) will barely eat a third of the jar now.  She is teething now but she had about two weeks between the last tooth and this one and still didn't start eating much.

She so wants to be independent and I want to let her but I need some more ideas.  Here is what she is refusing as well.

pasta
peas
carrot pieces
apple pieces
I know there is a lot more but I can't think of them at the moment.  Any ideas would be appreciated.  Right now she is climbing all over me and whining so it is off to try to find something else that she will eat. 

[*Kara*]

Just following along... exactly the same problem with my 9 1/2 month old... who also has not figured out self feeding

[Katchloe]

And my (almost) 8 month old who now screams like she's being beaten if I point a spoon at her! Lol. So far mine has done:

Green beans
Chicken
Rice (difficult though)
Tuna
Cheerios
Gerber puffs
Toast

[lesliemarie]

It's so hard isn't it.  I just don't know how to help her figure it out. 

[*Kara*]

LOL @ Kat!  I know hey?!?!  At least Chloe can get the food into her mouth!

[Lemonthyme]

Here's a link to a finger food page on my blog:

http://mamacook.blogspot.com/search/label/Great%20Finger%20Foods?m=0

Hope that works, posting from my phone!

[Shiv52]

We're also at the finger food stage and spoon refusal. 

One thing I will say is don't stop offering foods based on refusal.  So if your LO previously ate certain foods as finger foods keep offering them in rotation.  If she doesn't eat them fair enough.  Repeated exposure is the best way to increase food variety.  Otherwise they may limit themselves further. 

Here chicken, cheese toasties, breadsticks (which i stick a dip on and she licks off) , meatballs, pasta, fish fingers (home made), beans, corn.  She'll eat pretty much anything as a finger food.  Brocolli is her FAVOURITE at the minute.   Yogurt pancakes.  She'd a boiled egg for lunch and I just chopped it into pieces and she fed herself.  Trick here is not to put too much on her tray at once otherwise she chucks it off while she is eating a piece and then wonders where it went! 

[zeri]

same thing, at nearly 10 months he's not liking the spoon at all!
Avocado, grated cheese, grated apple, pear, peach, organic baby mum mums, egg yolk, pasta, green peas (squished) baked sweet potato and reg potato, grilled soft zuchinni.

I really need tips on how to serve meat though - he only has two top and two bottom teeth!

[Shiv52]

Rosa has no teeth and she easily eats chunks of chicken and meatballs and fish fingers.  Her wee gums do just as good job as teeth! 

[zeri]

I am going to try meatballs tonight then (of course, DD won't want them, lol.... I am glad I have one good eater! Maybe the baby will teach /her/... )

[Shiv52]

LOL my 3 YO has started eating loads more stuff more readily because the baby does!!

[cuckoochick]

Charlotte loves little finger sandwiches. She manages them just fine without teeth. Sometimes I make them as open-topped sandwiches with the filling on the top but it gets a bit messier this way. She loves cream cheese (Philadelphia), tuna with a little mayo, egg and tomato mashed up together. She loves grated cheese too but I've found she doesn't like cheese on toast as much.

C is getting a bit better with the spoon if it is food that we are all having. She will let me feed her peas on a spoon because although she has her pincer grip great she knows it's quicker if I give them to her on a spoon. She is also like this with couscous and rice.

I made C some lovely tuna croquettes from the BLW recipe book and they are great as finger foods. C also likes omelette cut into strips and we have given her pancakes too.

These LOs sure know how to play you with the food though. We are at the throwing food stage big time! Before it used to be dropped from the side of the high chair, now it is thrown!

[*Kara*]

If only mine could figure out how to get the food from her sticky hands to her mouth!  LOL!

[zeri]

Well, I tried meatballs tonight and he did try them, but spit it right back out again. I think I somehow gave birth to two vegetarians!

[lesliemarie]

Those are all great suggestions.  DD was MSPI previously but has been on soy formula for approx 3 months now.  I did a trial of yogurt and she seemed to be fine.  Maybe a little red on her bum but she also started teething just after that so I think it was that.  Either way I'm going to start trying the cream cheese sandwiches and such.  She loves to have the spoon and bowl herself but she gets totally covered.  There is no way I can get this girl to eat without needing a full wipedown if not a bath afterwards 

We're away at grandma's for the weekend but maybe we'll start trying new things tomorrow since we're going to a birthday party.  Fingers crossed she eats more