Suggestions for finger foods for a child with numerous allergies... USA branded

[kg0207]

My son is 9 months old and has allergies which have not been exactly identified.  To make a long story short, he had blood in his stool (discovered at 4 months).  Since then, I have cut out the following common food allergy foods from my diet (one group at a time, as suggested by the dr.): milk, wheat, soy, eggs and nuts.  Up until recently, he still had blood in the stool even with my limited diet.  The pediatric GI suggested that I keep to this diet, however, if I am going to continue to breast feed.  Around 1 yr. of age, we are hoping to introduce some of these foods back into his diet to see if he has outgrown the intolerance(s)...

Since my son is at the age when finger foods are introduced, I was wondering if anyone could recommend brand(s) of finger foods (which are available in USA) which do not have milk, wheat, soy, eggs or nuts...What do you give your children?

Thanks so much in advance!

[Buntybear]

Hi, are you just after branded foods? If so I will just change your subject a little to reflect this 

[creations]

I know you've asked for branded foods but honestly I think home made finger foods are the best way to go whether LO has intolerances or not.
Simply steaming, baking or roasting vegies is such an easy way to introduce finger foods and would be clear of all the foods you need to avoid eg steamed carrot batons, green beans, asparagus, apple wedges, pear wedges; baked/roasted sweet potato batons/wedges, potato wedges/fries, butternut squash batons, apple or pear wedges.
For protein you can offer hunks/strips of roasted meat as finger food or make bean/lentil burgers.
And there are recipes for oaty chews (sugar free flapjack type snack) on the recipe board.

One way to offer finger foods is to just offer something from your own meal as you are already on a limited diet.  Kids really like to get just the same as mummy.

[Canadian_Mom]

The only "branded" type of finger food that I have been able to find in Canada is a President's Choice Organics Strawberry Flavour Rice Biscuit, which I buy at Superstore or No Frills.  I doubt you can find them in the USA though.  Absolutely everything else that I have looked at either has or may contain milk, soy, eggs, or nuts (the foods we avoid with my son).  Sorry!  I know that for finger foods instead of those "puffs" that everyone buys we give rice crispies, puffed wheat and Shreddies, but I think that only the rice crispies would work for you as the other two have wheat.  Take a walk down the cereal isle and have a read of some labels and there are probably a few that don't have wheat!

[kg0207]

Thank you for your input!  I guess I am just a bit lost at what to feed my son...At this point, I have been giving him veggies/fruits (pureed) throughout the day, and for breakfast and dinner he has been eating oatmeal cereal.  I will be adding meat, but I NEED to expand his repertoire!  Can someone give me a sample of the foods your child eats (w/o the above mentioned food groups that my son may have an allergy to) for breakfast, lunch and dinner? 

Thanks again!

[kg0207]

FYI- I was able to find an organic brand of finger foods called "HappyPuffs" (the same company that makes "HappyBellies" cereal).  I called their main office and was assured that all flavors (apples, greens, bananas, strawberries and sweet potato) of their finger foods do not contain: milk, egg, soy, wheat or nuts.  Here is their website: http://happyfamilybrands.com/

[creations]

At 9 months your son can eat anything you eat - especially as you are already eating a limited diet for his needs. Any of the foods you puree he can eat as finger food instead of puree, just make them in finger sized batons or wedges and don't puree them.  The best foods to offer are those that your family regularly eat this way he learns the tastes and textures of YOUR family meals rather than someone else's family meals, this means not only less cooking and prep for you (because you don't have to make something different) but also he is less likely to be 'fussy' at family meals because these are the flavours he is introduced to early on.

Maybe you would like to post a few of your own meals and we can give you some info or tips based on those meals and just ok it for you so you feel more confident in offering the same foods you eat?

[kg0207]

Here is the current feeding schedule for my LO:

7 am- breast milk (6-7 oz)
8 am- oatmeal cereal (3 1/2 tbsp.) and fruit (4 oz)
11 am- breast milk (6 oz)
12:30- fruit (2 oz) and veggie (4 oz)
3:00 pm- breast milk (6 oz)
5:30 pm- patmeal cereal (3 1/2 tbsp.) and fruit and/or veggie (4 oz in total)
7:00 pm- milk (6 oz) before bed

The fruit I puree are: pears, apples, blueberries, plums, bananas (mash with fork)
The veggies I puree are: sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, peas
I introduced chicken today for the first time (pureed and mixed in with carrots).  He seemed to like it!

As you can see, I'm feeding cereal twice for morning and before bedtime which in my opinion is less than ideal!  Any suggestions for breakfast or dinner foods?

Thanks!

[creations]

The fruit I puree are: pears, apples, blueberries, plums, bananas (mash with fork)
The veggies I puree are: sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, peas
I introduced chicken today for the first time

You can offer any of these foods as finger foods instead of puree.
Wedges of pear, apple
grated pear, apple or carrot
steamed pear and apple wedges, steamed carrot batons
baked pear and apple wedges
roasted batons (or even whole if they are small) carrots
roasted squash or sweet potato wedges/batons
peas and blueberries can be offered whole to help develop both the pincer grip skill (and all finger foods help with speech development)
plums, at this age I think I halved them and removed the pip but it won't have bee very much later I was offering them whole, fresh and just showing him which part you eat, which you discard (and with other foods too)
bananas offer whole
even chicken you can offer large chunks or hunks so LO can pick it up and have a good grip in their fist whilst they gnaw and chew on the other end, boiled chicken breast is soft, roast chicken, or stir fried strips

dinner foods which don't fit or are much harder to fit with the allergies you listed are things like pasta, bread, pies because you need to get wheat/gluten free but dinners don't need to be difficult. Any fish or meat alongside potato or sweet potato and veg provides a full meal and pretty much unlimited variety and combinations.
I would introduce a wider variety of vegetables but I don't know where you are, what is available for you or what you and your DH eat for family meals so it's hard to recommend... green beans, kidney beans, chick peas, asparagus, cabbage, capsicum, broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, aubergine...any vegetable fits with the allergies listed.  Any fish or meat, just don't cook with the known allergens.
So, a dinner might be baked salmon with boiled new potatoes in mint sauce, green beans, carrots and peas
or
slow roast lamb with roasted veg (like chips/fries - potato, sweet potato, turnip, carrot) and corn on the cob
or
tuna steak with butter bean mash and asparagus
or
meat and bean stew with mixed veg - aubergine, courgette, red pepper, onion, carrot
(mine has always loved stew but I pick out the chunks of veg and put them in separate piles on his plate so he can see what he has clearly, he doesn’t much like the food 'mixed up')

I do a moroccan lamb in the slow cooker which makes the meat really soft and just melt in the mouth, yummy too, DS and DP love it and serve as mentioned above with veg fries and corn, I also make a coleslaw of red cabbage, red onion and grated carrot with mayo - you wouldn’t be able to give your LO the mayo but could give a portion of plain grated carrot instead, that's what I used to do before my DS would eat coleslaw.

[kg0207]

All of those suggestions sound great!  Thanks so much...but will these foods be ok for my son who has no teeth to date (and not even a possibility of a tooth coming out in the near future)?  Plus, any time I've given him fruit or veggies which are slightly more chunky, he gags.  Probably because he's not used to dealing with that consistency yet...but still.  Is that normal?  How long did it take your LO to get used to the chunks? 

Just out of curiosity, how do finger foods help speech development?  I never heard that before.

Thanks again for all of your help!

[anna*]

I think it's not finger foods specifically that help speech development, but dealing with texture and more 'solid' (instead of liquid puree) foods. Chewing, manipulating food with the tongue, all works those many, tiny muscles.

Without teeth, meats he will probably just suck until they are a dry husk Remember those gums are really pretty hard - yeh he would be able to chew a raw carrot but he will totally be able to smoosh up a steamed/roasted or baked veggie.

Don't worry about gagging. It is totally normal and part of the process of learning how to control food in his mouth, and stop it going down too soon. Chances are he'll gag a lot in the beginning but will very quickly get adept at 'managing' food and then you'll hardly see any at all.

[creations]

The gag reflex on LOs is further forward than on adults, this helps to protect the airway because they gag sooner than an adult would. Yes it is normal and with practice it will happen less.  It is helpful to have the foods larger (adult finger sized) so that they can grip part in a fist and gum at the exposed part, this way they are in much more control of how much goes in their mouth.  With lumps rather than finger food they have less control of the size they take into their mouth.
yes the manipulation with chewing and the tongue helps with speech development and they can manage a LOT without teeth. My LO ate hunks of meat, bread sticks, toast, veg, all sorts with no teeth at all.  Mine also swallowed pieces too big at times and then kind of vommed it back up, this is also natural, and you can tell they haven't choked and are not bothered by it because they tend to pick it up off the plate and have another go!

With the meals I listed, if you and your DH like these meals that's great, but I wouldn't make them just for your LO,yk. because he will be learning to like these foods so the ideal is he learns to like the variety of diet you normally eat as a family.  I still make allowances for my DS's tastes even though he is 2.5 but on the whole they are small changes that fit in with us, not entirely different meals (for instance with curry I serve him naan bread or chapati as he still doesn’t like rice, this isn't suitable for you LO with the wheat allergy I realise but just to give example of how small a change I make to our meals).

If you feel unsure about the finger foods and gagging etc you could look out a paediatric first aid course to give you basic procedures to carry out if a choke should happen.  This can help you feel more confident.