Finger Food Favorites?

1

1sttimemom

Registered User
My 11 month old only has 2 teeth, and I am out of finger food ideas!

Would love to hear some ideas for some simple and yummy finger foods. I've given her cooked pasta, steamed veggies, scrambled egg with tofu, raisins (soaked in water so they are less sweet/softer)... some she likes, some not so much.

Would love to hear some ideas! :)

Thanks in advance!
 
I wouldn't worry about counting teeth, they can eat pretty much anything without teeth - their teeth are under their gums waiting to come through so they're pretty hard, my little boy could chew steak well before he got any teeth, he used to gnaw at it for ages and get all the goodness out :-)

Try giving him a bit of whatever you're having in a nice big chunk that they can pick up and have a go at. Just avoid the more obvious choking hazards like whole nuts until they have molars for grinding.
 
I've given her steamed carrots cut into small pieces and still found them not "chewed" in her poop.... sorta hard to miss bright orange. So she's not digesting these foods. Should I still give them to her?
 
Yes, their digestion takes a while to move from processing milk to processing solid food, those little bits of carrot are letting the gut know what it's expected to do. It's like walking, they don't do it overnight but they need gentle practice. Purees aren't digested either but they look the same when they come out as when they went in so you can't tell ;-)

Food is fun until they're one, that means that most of their nutrition will and should come from milk as their bodies learn to digest solid food properly. As with all development it varies between babies but they won't pick up the food and try and eat it if they're not ready to learn so you needn't worry about giving her the food too soon.
 
How about French toast fingers? I dip them into egg yolks only with a bit of milk and cinnamon. If you don't want to use cow's milk, you can use rice or soy or even formula. I dip pieces of bread in that and then fry them and then cut them into little fingers. You can also try just toast with a bit of cream cheese on them.
 
Good points, jvn. They won't pick and up and try if they're not ready. :) So little bits of carrot .. still ok :)
Thank you Banane76, good idea! :) I give her cheese melted on lightly toasted bread already, and that works well... I love french toast myself :)

By the way.. I wonder if babies can eat maple syrup...? haha.. yum.
 
My baby doesn't like cheese or yoghurt. I gave her string cheese in her rice cereal but she doesn't eat too well. Yoghurt is even worse. Bread is okay. For cut fruits she chew and spit it out after awhile? Well, maybe some went in?
 
jvn said:
I wouldn't worry about counting teeth, they can eat pretty much anything without teeth - their teeth are under their gums waiting to come through so they're pretty hard, my little boy could chew steak well before he got any teeth, he used to gnaw at it for ages and get all the goodness out :-)
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Yes.. I wouldn't worry about the teeth either... My 10 1/2 month old boy has 7 teeth already, and he is not very good at chewing.... Now, instead of just making puree using the blender, I am fork mashing some of his steamed veggies.. but he still just swallow it instead of chewing on the small pieces.

I guess he is still learning. I gives him strip of toast or cherrios, and he would just chew a little or just leave in on his tongue till it get soft and melt, lol. When I give him pieces of veggies or cheese, I have to make sure it is small, otherwise he would spit it or choke.
 
My 8 month year old has 4 teeth and still on lumpy purees. we've tried giving him more textured foods and he just gags, spits it up or throws it up. We've tried giving some rice cakes to him too and even just some long teething biscuits, but he definitely does not have his pincer grasp down yet so it's frustrating for him to try and pick it up. We have to then guide it to his mouth . . . .will try giving the steamed carrots another shot.....will just keep offering as he'll figure it out one of these days!
 
southside852 said:
My 8 month year old has 4 teeth and still on lumpy purees. we've tried giving him more textured foods and he just gags, spits it up or throws it up. We've tried giving some rice cakes to him too and even just some long teething biscuits, but he definitely does not have his pincer grasp down yet so it's frustrating for him to try and pick it up. We have to then guide it to his mouth . . . .will try giving the steamed carrots another shot.....will just keep offering as he'll figure it out one of these days!
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It's the order they do things in, we didn't give The Boy any purees at all, just finger food which he learned how to pick up and eat for himself so he had to learn to chew before he could get anywhere near swallowing food.

If you give a baby puree they learn to swallow whatever is on the spoon without chewing so then when you progress to lumpy/textured foods they don't realise they have to chew and have to learn how to eat all over again - some get it more quickly than others and eight months is still very young, let him go at his own pace with the finger foods and he'll figure out this chewing thing!
 
I have Annabel Karmel's book on baby and toddler food, and it has some excellent ideas for baby/toddler foods from 6 months onwards. I'd recommend a copy of that for inspiration.
 
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