Beyond Baby Food: Finger Foods
I know I still need to fill you in on the time between starting cereal and this point, and I promise I will. However, I need some time sensitive help over here! And I thought some of you experienced moms could help me out.
My onery little girl!
Last week, just a few days shy of 11 months old, Tessa decided that she is through with baby food. Don’t even try to put that near her lips! When Isaac started showing signs of being bored with baby food I just gave him a spoon and let him practice feeding himself while I shoveled in the rest. This worked for about 2 days with Tessa. And then she refused to eat anything that she can’t put in her mouth on her own. Independent little girl indeed!
The thing is, this is my LEAST favorite of all of the transitions. It is just so hard for me to think of foods to give her that are healthy and meet her daily needs but that she can pick up on her own. There are just so many limitations to foods that are soft enough for her to chew at 11 months old (and only 3 teeth) but that don’t require an eating utensil. Because she is kinda stubborn (see above).
The other problem I have with this stage is that I am never certain of just how much to make her. At least with baby food I can measure her meals in terms of cubes or jars of food. Cooked carrots is another story. Then there is the whole issue of steaming a vegetable for her only to have a ton leftover. I know, I know, I am the freezing queen and most of it can be frozen but it is still hard to know exactly how much she is going to eat at any given point. And, well, I am a bit of a planner if you hadn’t figured that out.
So as I sit here rethinking her feeding plan and attempting a grocery list I am pleading for your help. Here are some questions I have for you:
- What were your kids favorite finger foods?
- Did you have a system for making sure they got enough at each meal or just feed them until they stop eating?
- What other “tricks of the trade” did you use that worked?
- What are your favorite finger food recipes? (Feel free to leave links)
Okay, I promise to update you on the journey prior to now soon. It has also been an adventurous one and I know that we will learn from each other as I tell the story. And thanks in advance for sharing your advice.
1. His favorite were sweet potato balls- just roast a sweet potato, scoop out the yummy part, and roll that into tiny balls. He also liked toast, soft apples, pears, watermelon. I wish I remember more because our daughter is close to this stage, and I’m having to think on my feet.
2. I just fed him till he stopped eating.
3. We gave our son the spoon and let him try. It was messy, but it didn’t take him too long to catch on. We just learned to feed him naked and to put a big cloth underneath him so I didn’t have to mop every night.
4. I’m curious to see what people share here. I don’t have any.
I think with Libbie I started feeding her whatever I was making for dinner around 10 months. I just cut it up into tiny pieces and let her go at it. She still ate mostly bread, cheese, and bananas … but occasionally would try something else.
I can’t imagine where she would get that stubborness from…….
Hey now!
The finger food transition was really difficult for me too! I’m sitting here trying to think of some advice to give but I can’t come up with anything! It was that dark of a time
I will keep thinking about it (my memory is terrible) and if I remember anything helpful I’ll let you know. But I’m saying a prayer for you and for this difficult time with Tessa! (She’s so cute!)
You can’t do dairy so that would be a dark time! I would block it out of my mind if I were you too. But you do have another one about to enter this stage. . .just so you aren’t living in denial. lol.
We are going through the same stage. My daughter is almost 9 months old (but no teeth!) and does not want baby food anymore. I feel like I am giving her the foods over and over. But like you said, there aren’t many options that are soft enough and small enough. She’s been having leftovers from dinners-pot roast, rice, potatoes, carrots etc. We need to add more variety definitely. I would feel better about adding things if she had some teeth, lol!
I still give my 14 month old with 6 teeth “baby foods” I put it in a bowl, give him a spoon and let him go at it. Yes it is messy but at least he gets more options. We do oatmeal with banana in the mornings. He loves his grains oats, brown rice, quinoa. Cook whole carrots, over cooked broccoli and green beans whole, big apple slices, big chunks of a cucumber. He loves anything he can grab and take little bites off. Eggs (my kid doesn’t eat them). Tiny cut up chicken in any of the the grains above. Whole wrap with hummus and use scissors to cut up spinach to tiny bits to add in.
I do have to say my kid is good at spiting out anything he can’t swallow. Apple skin comes out or any bite that is too big.
Tricia, she is moving into toddlerhood now, ready or not.
My experience with this stage is that they is a lot of wasted food, unfortunately. Just offer her a variety if food and let her decide when she haas eaten enough. She won’t go hungry; she will eat when she is hungry. As far as food goes, overcooked while what pasta (like bowties) with olive oil it butter and parmesan cheese were favorites in or household. Also, you could do roasted root beverages for your whole family and just cut then into Tessa size bites for her to pick up herself. Good luck, I know this can be a frustrating time.
My daughter is the same way. One thing that seemed to work was taking the same purees I fed her before and putting them inside some sort of mess-protecting carb layer… ravioli, dumplings, etc.
My kids did really well mashing stuff with their gums, believe it or not. Sweet potatoe dices, butternut squash diced, creamed peas with chicken bits. Another food I never would have thought they’d like, but they did, was hummus. Little hummus sandwiches with crusts cut off. It is still a go to for me with my son, who is fussier than my daughter. I’m sure you are aware of wholesometoddlerfoods.com too. There are some ideas there, that’s where I got the creamed peas and chicken bits idea. And of course, I found that freezes well
Thanks for the suggestion and resource. I actually knew of wholesomebabyfoods.com but hadn’t ventured to the toddler side. I’ll have to check that out.
1. Here are some finger foods I fed mine when they were learning to be self feeders.
- cheese toast
- Shaved Turkey Deli Meat
- Tuna Salad/Tuna Salad Sandwich cut into tiny pieces
- baby organic yogurt
- fruit – bananas, cantaloupe, honey dew, peaches, plums, pears etc.
- veggies -green beans, peas, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
- Lasagna
- applesauce
- cheerios
- puffs
- rice puffs cereal
- gerber meat sticks
- mac and cheese
- pickles – I scraped off the seeds and let him suck on it
- jello
- jello with the fruit in it
- biter biscuits (i just make sure to hold it or sit right next to
him in case he bites off too big of a piece)
- graham crakers
- saltine crackers
- plain spiral pasta
- pancakes
- waffles
2. Fed until they were not wanting anymore.
3.
They can eat more than you think with 3 teeth, they have powerful gumming abilities. We kind of glossed over the baby foods stages and fed the kids what we were eating. Just give them the soft stuff of what you’re eating. To plan this, plan soft stuff for the rest of the family and supplement the baby if need be.
Good luck with the stubborn
I don’t think they ever grow out of that (If I’m any indication)
Rice is a good thing to try and with mixed veggies that I steamed. Always remember they will eat when they are hungry.
I, too, just did whatever we were having for dinner.
Macaroni and scrambled eggs stick out as two that worked at that age. Cheddar cheese squares – I cut them myself. Cottage cheese pancakes – I make mine with 1c cottage cheese, 3 eggs, 1/4c flour & 2 TBS oil. Then cook like pancakes. These are very soft & easy to chew.
Since I fed my kids whatever I was eating, I never worried that they got enough. They just ate til they were full.
I just gave them a spoon/spork & let them go for it. (And the # of teeth really doesn’t matter.)
I just remembered that we grated the cheese first, then moved to cubes.
You could probably grate other things too for finger foods.
I have really liked the book – The Healthy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel. There is a Popeye Pasta recipe that I still cook for my 7, 5 & 3 year old.
My daughter (now 4) used to love pieces of avacado. I know it sounds weird, but the flavor is mild and it melts in their mouth. Another favorite was French toast pieces. I was given a great book called First Meals by Annabel Karmel. She has a neat website http://www.annabelkarmel.com I hated all of the waste as well- no sollution for that! Good luck!
My 11 month LO only has 4 teeth but seems to do fine with almost everything. I am not too concerned about the amount she eats and just keep feeding her until full. I find that if she has a finger food in front of her she will often let me spoon feed her. Right now she just eats what we eat. Our diet is very whole food based, so I am not too concerned about her getting too much sodium or perservatives. I cut up pasta baked in tomato sauce for her. She eats small pieces of what ever meat we are eating. Cubed cooked veggies. Bread. Cheese to no end. Bananas, strawberries, pineapple, corn, peas, beans, blueberries, peaches, nectarines. Cheerios.
I am much more relaxed with her compared to my son. This one will eat things my son didn’t eat until he was over 2!
I have kids similiar in age to yours – so know how difficult what I’m recommending is. My older son was fine with tiny cut up bits of everything we ate. My daughter, who is now 14 months old, started refusing cut up foods right at a year old – if it wasn’t in it’s “whole” form, she wouldn’t eat it – she wanted what everyone else at the table had. So we gave in, and our solution is to watch her *very closely* while she eats it.
As for what we feed her, I agree with the above – we feed her exactly what we are eating. And my sister actually taught me to just feed the kids vegetables straight out of the freezer – no need to cook/steam them (they lose vitamins that way anyway). So we take peas or carrot coins or corn out of the freezer a while before we eat, and by the time we’re at the table, they’re mushy enough for her (we don’t tend to have a vegetable side for the adults). Other favorites when we were just starting out were noodles of any sort, bread of any sort (again, we have to watch that pretty close) and bananas like crazy. She also is pretty limited in teeth, but it’s amazing what she’s been able to “chew” through, including meats.
Good luck – this is a frustrating 2-3 months in regards to the food thing!
I went through the same thing. Luckily my little one likes most things.
As far as the veggies go, chop and freeze them in a ice cube trays, pop out a cube and steam, then you have a little bit of soft fresh veg anytime.
The main thing to remember is let them get messy. Learning new things is not always neat and tidy. A little free for all spaghetti with a little sauce never hurt anyone. Also give them some mashed veggies instead of puried. Still messy but she will get the hang of it. Tiny cubes of meat or shredded meats can work. Could even put a cooked chicken breast in the food processor and almost make it into a meal. Stuffed pasta is good at this age also.
I LOVE your vegetable cube idea! I might just have to give that a try!
1. Rotini pasta, cooked chicken cut in small pieces, corn, black beans (or any beans for that matter), puff cereal, yogurt. My sister used to buy DelMonte mixed veggies in the can with a pop-top lid (approx. single serving size), take off the lid and dump it on the high chair tray. While that may not be the most nutritious way to eat veggies, it was quick and simple.
2. Feed them until they won’t eat any more. We taught our boys sign language for “eat”, “drink”, “more” and “done”. While they didn’t always due the sign, they reacted and that let us know they were done. Having a weight problem myself, I’ve not pushed the boys too hard to eat figuring they will eat when they are hungry. I figured if they ate one huge meal, they might not be as hungry the rest of the day.
3. Fill the spoon/fork and help her (cover her hand with yours) put it in her mouth, or use two forks/spoons and swap them out with her.
Well, I am a mom of six, five of whom are five years apart from eldest to youngest. Don’t worry so much. They survive just fine! I began giving them whatever we were eating except, of course, cutting it up to a consistency they could handle. Cheerios started way before teeth appeared! They are quite good at gumming (remember breast feeding!! Ouch!) And I just put them in a diaper, in the high chair, with an old shower curtain covering the floor. Easy cleanup. Kids were happy. I was happy. The big hits were the Cheerios, bananas, scrambled eggs, sliced grapes, hot dogs sliced up small (really works well for eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity)! And the list can go on and on! Oh, cheese! my goodness did they love cheese! I started them on cups at about six months, so by a year they could handle a glass themselves. I have rambled, but what else can you expect from a 61 year old who still has 3 children at home (ages 20, 21, and 23)? Love it!
Frozen veggies were a savior. If she ate all of the first helping, I could always give her more. At mine only ate baby food for about 2 months (around 8 months) before she wanted to start feeding herself. the mixed veggies are small and easily chewed. Also, canned fruit. Though it may not be as good as fresh, it is really soft and easily chewed. I also just gave her small bite sized pieces of whatever we were having. She’s 18 months now and there is NOTHING she doesn’t like.
And I usually just gave her some food and if she ate it all, I would give her a little more. Some meals she would eat just a little and some meals she seemed to eat more than me! But I feel that forcing a kid to eat everything just leads to overeating later in life. She is growing perfectly well, so I think just letting her decide when she is done works for us.
You’ve been given tons of great advice & ideas! The only thing I’ll add is the one thing I read that made me feel better: don’t worry so much about them getting what they need on a daily basis, but think about it in terms of a week or a month. Over a week or a month, what they eat (or don’t eat) balances out much more readily!
I did make a lot of separate meals b/c we like our foods very spicy and it would have been too much for our child. I used the large baby food jars and made toddler meals for him. Any veggie, whole grain pasta, rice etc. All the above suggestions too. Almost anything freezes. What I like about the meals I made, it’s there was always something to eat for him. I would take out a few at time so there was something at all times in the fridge and it was healthy.
One of his favorites was oatmeal – add yogurt or applesauce for some flavor, a fer pieces of fruit and you can reheat the next day. I would make enough for about 3 days at a time.
as far as waste, I would only put a little in his bowl when he was self feeding and then added until he was done. We really didn’t have much wasted. I kept every leftover and still teach him that today…we don’t need to waste. have fun – they grow up too quickly!!
My son loved sweet potatoes and tufo bites. the sweet potatoes were cut up and covered in a little olive oil mixed with pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. I then baked them at 400 for about 17 minutes. I made 2 whole sweet potatoes and they would last for days. I would also take tofu and sprinkle salt and pepper on it. I would cut it into slices and broil it for 4 minutes on each side. Once done, I would cut into bite size portions. I would make a whole block and it would last for days. My son LOVED both of these food items.
You have a lot of great advice and ideas here! I don’t have much to add – but I suggest using a pizza cutter to cut up basically everything into bite sized pieces – it makes cutting quick and easy!!
Oh that IS a good idea!
I have found a pair of kitchen scissors works great too. That way I don’t always have to have a surface to cut on.
1.pasta, pancakes, fruit, cheese
2.we let him eat until he loses interest
3.use a pair of scissors to cut the food into bite-size pieces! Makes things soooo much easier. Don’t mind a mess…lots of things can be finger foods if you accept the fact that they will get messy, lol. (i.e. pizza)
4. he generally eats what we eat, but when he needs his own meal our standbys are scrambled eggs, pancakes, pasta, mini-meatloaves (from the freezer), sliced or diced fruits or veggies (canned or frozen, or steamed fresh), or grilled cheese/quesadillas.
I have a 10 month old right now and as with all of her siblings I just let her eat what the rest of us are eating. Think turkey and things. Those little hands can pick them up and eat them. Veggies are easy too! Oh and she only has 2 teeth right now but does just fine eating at the table with the rest of us. I just put hers in the freezer for a few minutes while I dish up everyone else’s then they are all ready at the same time!
I sure hope this helps!
I give my 13 month boy anything we eat but sliced on sticks so he can easily grab them, like any fruit or vegetable sliced, omelette, pancake or quesadilla also sliced