Any finger food suggestions for a toothless nearly 8mo dd who refuses to eat off a spoon

[honeybunny]

Totally fed up of the battle ground that has become mealtimes with dd. Had the same prob with ds1, and food remains an issue still with him. Dont want to make the same mistakes again so feel I should just let her have a go at self feeding. I need soft enough food to gum but firm enough to hold, whilst still trying to give her a balanced diet.
Have tried chicken and apple balls (AKarmel) roasted root veg sticks, various soft fruits, various veg-beans, broc, baby corn etc,. Not sure how much if any is going in, theres an awful lot of gagging, spitting out and mushing with hands etc..... and now, joy of joys, she's night time waking looking for milk. Clearly not getting enough daytime.

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

All v v not good when trying to cope with the trauma of awaiting diagnosis of ds1 with possible growth hormone deficiency.

[TracyK]

At 8 mo - still need a lot of milk. Offer meals - then fill up after finished with some milk?
have you tried eggy bread/french toast - always a winner here.

[sorrel]

avocado
butternut squash

[PeachyClair]

Avocado, fish fingers, home made flapjacks,
Slices of hard boiled egg, polenta slices, veggie burgers in strips?

[zubb]

pureed stuff spread onto bread, or that she dips the veg into?
Will she still take food from a spoon or does it all have to be finger food? If she is distracted by chasing lumps of cheese across a plate can you get a few spoonfulls in?

[honeybunny]

Just a bit fed up at the moment with the distraction method. She'll eat her b'fast off a spoon, unsweetened muesli, just not at any other meal.

Still b/feeding 3x a day. 1x pre b'fast, post nap at 2pmish and pre-bedtime. Not really interested after mealtimes.

She has roasted butternut, cut into fingers, steamed chunks is too squishy, she just mushes it and wont eat it, likewise avocado.

Havent tried egg as both boys threw up on it in babydom and are still fairly intolerant of it in a neat form.

Am doing thick soups/veg purees to dunk into, but bread seems to get chucked on the floor more than eaten. She will put a spoon into her own mouth if I load it, at times, but its a game to then chuck the spoon on the floor.

Anything else???

[SamN]

Hi honeybunny. When I weaned ds1 I wasn't aware that milk (breast or formula) has far more calories than most of the first foods we give to babies (as shown here ). Ds2 has reflux and worries us from time to time with low weight gain, so I weaned him completely differently to ds1. I also found with ds2 that quite early on in the weaning process he started to refuse 'mush' on spoons and far preferred to hold food himself.

What I try to do is that I give him milk before any meals (and he's 1 now and I still do this). Then he can play to his heart's content with whatever solids we're offering, and there's not so much pressure on him to eat it. It's just when he doesn't take much milk that I get worried!

Also, if it's any help, here's the kind of foods we offered him at around 8 months:
mango pieces; cooked pieces of apple; pieces of fairly ripe pear; rice cakes with margarine; little bits of lamb, turkey, chicken and pork softened in milk or water; broccoli; banana; potato or sweet potato chips; rice pasta; avocado; blueberries; cucumber

There are some good ideas for finger foods in a book by Jennie Maizels which I borrowed from the library - although I suppose they are mostly suitable for slightly older babies. But I don't use them very much, now ds2 is older he just has bits and pieces of whatever we're eating. I try to make sure he has good sources of fat and iron, but I don't stress about it.

[Jen28]

The latest winner with my DS (10 mts) is blackberries. He also likes raspberries and strawberries if I slice them up. Although I have read in some places that berries are an allergy risk - don't know if that's a concern with you. Small chunky slices of cheddar, rice cakes with marmite (just a smidge) and toast, toast, toast - any kind of bread at all - he just loves toast.

[spidermama]

MY ds2 wasn't interested in solids until 10 months. My friend's baby was more like 14 months. As long as babies are getting enough milk, I wouldn't worry too much about rushing them onto solids. They'll be interested when they're ready to be and you don't want to start off on the wrong footing by creating meal time tension.

[Mum2Ela]

We are having this finger food problem with DS atm.

Presently he is living on:

Cheese on toast
Malt loaf
Dried apricots
clices of pear / apple / banana
Chunks of broccoli / carrot / baby corn
Homemade potato wedges
fish
erm, not much else really!

Not the best diet in the world. But I figure its just a phase and he'll soon grow out of it. At meal times I also offer him a meal off a spoon, like a home made spag bol or veg lasagne, but more often than not he'll have 2 spoonfulls then no more, so i've kinda given up with that one.

Personally I thnk the finger foods you are giving your DD are balanced and varied and I ditto what everyone else said about milk.

x