8 mo with no interest in finger food

[odbod]

ds is just 8 mo and i've been trying to give him more finger food, he's sometimes quite happy to have roast parsnips and corn snacks - which are stick shaped and easy to hold but has no interest in playing with food (have always put some in front of him in his own bowl with a spoon) - will pick up spoon and just wave in around. wasn't expecting him to be doing finger food but i was hoping he'd be interested in playing with it as a start so we can eat with him at the table... he is hungry because he'll quite happily be fed and he eats very well

am i expecting too much at this age? can you tell i'm a first time mum??

[CanStarveWillStarve]

No it doesn't sound like you're expecting too much to me. What sort of finger foods are you offering him? Have you tried making other veg into stick shapes for him to pick up?

[fizzbuzz]

Can I ask something on this thread. My dd is 7 months, and gags/chokes on finger foods whenever I offer her them. It ususally ends up with her being v sick, and me turning her upside down.

I know to expect some gagging, but this is all the time, even on really soft foods. I tried her on toast as well, and that was the worst of all.

Hv no use, so any advice anyone?

[DizzyBint]

does she actually choke or just gag? the gagging is to stop her choking. gagging pushes the lumps forward in her mouth. the as she learns what she's doing the gagging stops.

when she is gagging you really have to keep calm. with my dd i used to do chewing faces and noises at her to keep her calm and remind her what to do. IMO the worst thing you can do is leap up and start trying to fidh the food out or whacking them on the back, as much as you feel like you need to. after a while the gagging won;t even bother you at all, then dd will stop doing it.

[jabberwocky]

Ds1 was not interested in solid food at all until he was at least a year. I was pretty freaked about it, especially since he had done most everything else early. But of course he eventually was eating just fine.

I would try not to worry and let him do it at his own speed.

[becksmummy]

odbod, my dd wasnt interest in finger food at first either as I started on purees and then heard about blw which
i wanted to try.

At first she just used to push it all off the tray of her highchair bit I kept trying and offered different things for her to try, she will now put everything to her mouth and at least taste it and can manage to eat quite a bit of the things she likes.

I wouldnt put them in a bowl just put them onto the tray of the highchair for ds to pick up himself. I found making things chip shaped at first make it easier to pick up!

[fizzbuzz]

I don't know it it is gagging or choking. She seems to struggle, but doesn,t go blue or anything. Sometimes she seems to struggle to breathe, which is when I turn her upside down. But if I leave her to cope with it, she is usually violently sick (every time. So then have to start all over again........

[jabberwocky]

Imo it sounds like you should give her a little break. Some kids just take longer to get the whole chewing, swallowing thing down. With ds1 we had to make a game of the "food train" Chew, chew, swallow, swallow.

The things one finds oneself doing after having kids

[odbod]

thanks for the replies

canstarvewillstarve - i've offered steamed carrot sticks, banana, chips, toast... had a break through with a baby rice cake earlier... maybe he just needs sometime to adjust?? bought some asparagus yesterday to try. At the moment it seems like such an effort when he won't even touch it! i couldn't even get him to put his hands in his breakfast this morning - he sits there with his mouth open in a 'peel me a grape and feed me' kind of way

beckysmum - how old is dd now?

fizzbuzz - hope others can help you with query - when ds starts having finger food i'll let you know if we have same issues

[DizzyBint]

if she's being sick i'd give it a rest. i wonder if she's picking up on you panicking. i know it's strange to leave them gagging but if every time she gags you're tipping her upside down then she's bound to get het up isn't she? if it's just gagging it's ok. have you looked at aitch's blog?

[becksmummy]

my dd is 7.5 months now and loves finger food, for lunch today she had cream cheese sandwiches and a banana, she makes a mess and some goes on the floor but she enjoys it!!

sounds like you are doing the right things so keep trying and your ds will get better at it!

[deaconblue]

My ds will only actually eat dry finger foods. Anything soft or wet just gets squished in his little fist or into the high chair straps. Maybe try some dry finger food like a strip of pitta bread?

[odbod]

i think part of the problem is that dh has wheat allergy so i've had to keep ds off wheat for the past 8 mo so excluded some of the 'usual' finger foods - started wheat this week so just tried jam sandwiches at lunch which seemed to go ok, when i put it in his hand he put it in mouth! hurray!! also had a couple of bits from apple ring

can't get him to hold banana - think its all too slimey for him

read blw blog and think i need to stop worrying about amount he has and trust that the hungrier he is the more he'll experiment... does that sound ok? just need some reassurance, don't know any new mums and hv just looks at me like i'm being a stress head!

[deaconblue]

Hv's seem to just have those kind of faces I reckon
Ds won't do anything other than squish banana. Organix do rice cakes sweetened with apple juice so not too much sugar, which are nice for a change

[odbod]

the orangix rice cake was the one we had success with earlier today - was orange one though (sounded horrible to me but he liked it!)

[deaconblue]

They are quite nice. Have stopped buying them as I kept scoffing them