Please help me feed my 12 mth old ...

[Millie1]

... who has decided that he will not eat off a spoon. Mealtimes are a constant battle with him refusing everything even before tasting it. He tries with his own spoon and is quite good at getting it to his mouth but loses the food en-route!

Sooooo I need finger food ideas (tonight for example, he had pasta with bolognese sauce) but although he gnaws on what I give him most ends up on his lap and not enough in his tummy. If I had some tricks up my sleeve to keep him interested and let me slip spoonfuls of food into his mouth whilst he munches I'd be a happier Mummy!

He's got 8 teeth and can chew pretty well but gags very easily if something goes down the wrong way - and when he gags the whole lot comes back up.

Thanks in advance.

[TracyK]

2 words I can say to you - eggy bread!
new discovery - but yum yum - does ds love it!
poor mite gets it most nights for tea.

[Millie1]

Tried it the other night Tracy ... let's just say that it reignited childhood memories for me and I ate more than he did!!!!

[TheHollyAndTheTwiglett]

well he can eat anything now

pitta bread and humous
pasta and pesto (I find fusilli is great)
strips of cucumber, peppers, carrots
bread and butter
bread and marmite

[RudolftheredPOSEYreindeer]

My ds is the opposite, hates finger food. But my sister's ds is like your ds and really only likes finger food. She and nursery just bung everything between a couple of slices of bread and he eats it as a sandwich. And I mean practically everthing. Probably very messy, but if it gets some food in him...

[TheHollyAndTheTwiglett]

lumps of cheese

[TracyK]

I have to make 2 slices if dh is around - so that poor ds gets his fair share. but yes yummy!
How many slices do you give ds?
I've got to do finger foods too as spoon with savouries is a big no no for ds.
I do little sandwiches, fish fingers, scrambled egg (it goes quite firm when I make it!) flakes of salmon and broccoli. would be interested if anyone has any other ideas.

[mishiclaus]

hi my ds is like this but what i do is give him a knife and fork so when he opens his mouth to put the fork in i put a spoon of food in and he is happy. I also took to feeding him things like pasta great to get hold of and veg n meat but cut into strips...hope this helps
also dont forget we often think our little ones r not eating much but it if you consider the size of their tums then with liquids in there they will not let themselves starve...

[MissYulie]

silly question here maybe - how do you make eggy bread.

[TracyK]

whisk egg and milk together and put in a shallow wide plate, dip a slice of bread in and let it soak up half the mixture , turn it over and let the other side soak up the rest. Then fry it either dry fry or with some butter in the pan.

[Millie1]

Great ideas thanks but keep them coming! Unfortunately can't do pesto (and how I would love to) as DS1 has nut allergy so need to be extra careful with DS2. I guess I have a hard time getting my head around the fact that finger foods like these are filling enough for tea - lunch is meat & veggie based - cos DS1 always had something 'hot', mushy and quantifiable (for want of a better description!) off a spoon.

Tracy - he took two bites!

[shrub]

just saw the pesto idea and remembered this was on a thread a while ago - someone said that pesto didn't contain nuts as pine nuts are not actually nuts - can't remember for the life of me what they are instead but does cause confusion - would double check this though or search thread do find more info.

[TracyK]

I remembre one night giving ds a chopped up pasta and broccoli sandwichas he wouldn't eat the pasta from the plate. He did eat it though - yuk.

[TheHollyAndTheTwiglett]

any kind of vegetable as a baton .. baby corn, asparagus, carrot, brocolli (DS adores veggies)

I'm sure Pine Nuts are from the nut family .. I also wouldn't go there if you have a proven nut allergy in the family .. sorry for suggesting .. I didn't know

[janeyjinglebops]

My 2 love pasta mixed with tuna and mayonnaise. Add sweetcorn too. DS who is 13 months eats it with his hands and polishes off the whole bowl!

[jamiesam]

Chicken in cornflakes, baked in the oven - cut chicken breast into 'gougons', dip in beaten egg then cornflakes, brush with melted butter for extra fat and to keep moist, then cook in oven at Gas 4 for thirty mins.

Vegetables in cheese sauce - super speedy cheese sauce I've just discovered is to melt cream cheese and grated cheddar while vegetables are cooking - often an option if first meal choice doesn't work

Avocado - really high in fat

Experiment with sticky foods for (self) spoon feeging - my ds2 (now approaching 17mths) has been super independent for around 9mths now, I guess, but has recently taken to porridge - albeit with syrup, but I'm so pleased he's having a decent breakfast.

Good luck. (

(Advice I needed was to have patience, both with slow mealtimes given self feeding baby, and that in time their habits and diet will improve)

[cardigansarenotjustforxmas]

Coloured pasta shapes or just any pasta that he can pick up with tomato sauce to dip in. Crispbreads that he can crunch & toast. My dds liked porridge & yogurt. good luck :)

[princessinapeartree]

mine is just the same, will only use fingers, won't take anything except yoghurt off a spoon. he is 14mths.
breakfast - raisin wheats, cranberry wheats, apricot bites or shreddies can all be eaten with fingers I find!
scrambled eggs, dippy eggs and soldiers, omelette all good ways to get egg in.
pasta in all forms, esp macaroni cheese, tuna pasta bake with broccoli
"pizza" - half a bagel with tomato sauce, cheese, little bits of ham, on top then grilled
loves roast chicken, potatoes, carrots, gravy, cut up small (messy but delicious)
chunks of mild cheddar in a bowl with chopped up pears and banana go down well

best tip is a tommee tippee pelican bib - then they throw it all down their front but can retrieve it from the pocket. I love the noises he makes when he finds something particularly interesting swilling around in there "oooooooh! num num"

[MaryChristmas]

My son will eat weetabix spoon fed him for brekkie.

For lunch is bread and butter cut in small squares, followed by Dairylea cheese strings.Sometimes eats a few cheerios dry.
Plays with raisins and sultanas in and out the mouth. Might eat banana pieces occasionally.
Will always eat petit filous

For tea usually spoon fed jar of penne in tomato sauce, refuses anything different to this.
Again either petit filous or sometimes fruit puree.

Treats the very odd biscuit and sometimes very rarely might entertain a small apple flavour rice cake.

Will eat mashed potato ans some cooked carrot sometimes.
He doesn't really like anything else yet and it's hit and misss if he does eat what I put him at times.

[princessinapeartree]

mary, are you sure about the dairylea cheese strings? they are very high in salt, colours and flavours for this age. maybe he would just eat normal cheese instead? just a suggestion.

[MaryChristmas]

That explains why he likes it then!
Will try ordinary cheese.
Any other suggestion too for a fussy boy?

[Pidge]

A note on pesto - yup pine nuts are fine, as they are not nuts BUT most pestos contain cashews too which ARE nuts. Our childminder gave pesto to dd without realising this (I have nut allergies, but fortunatly she was fine with it!).

On the finger food front - bizarrely I discovered my dd loves brussel sprouts! I'm sure she'll go off them when she realises it's obligatory for kids to hate the things! Another big fave is peas - which will keep her entertained for ages. Fishcakes are good for finger food freaks, and freeze well if you make a big batch. Also home-made pizza slices!

[Millie1]

Thankyou all for so many good ideas ... DS2 will be getting lots of new things over the next week or so!!

[AgaBoo]

We have similar problems, DS who is almost 1 year has been refusing spoonfeeding. Since weaning he has been on a mix of puree and snacking on finger food. Now he eats mostly the same food as us, i don't have the patience to struggle with spoonfeeding.

But recently he's been rejecting all his old favourite staples - bananas, pears, toast with olive oil or tomato, and beef which he couldn't get enough of. And doesn't really seem to be acquiring new favourites.
Perhaps he just wants to try out new things, i have seen him munch happily on olives and smoked salmon and fried seitan!

But i do wonder why he is refusing the spoon when he seems hungry, and whether he is getting enough, especially in the morning. Well we will try omelette as suggested here, and dry cereal like shreddies, if can be got without too much sugar or salt, also sounds good.

He is teething quite heavily right now, the back teeth coming through, could it also be related.

[misshardbroom]

I remember DS2 hitting this phase. This was mighty useful