Advice needed - fruit and veg finger foods for my 12 month old...

[butternut234]

My 12 month old eats toast, fruit toast, raisins (though he puts 20 in his mouth and seems to swallow them whole in one go...) and rice crackers as finger foods.

He is getting more picky about being spoon fed. His acceptance of it is normally in inverse proportion to the time and care I have spent preparing it ha ha. He loves mince and chicken but nothing else. sigh

I give him fruit purees and bung loads of veg in the meat purees.

BUT I am rubbish at giving him fruit and veg finger food as I am terrified he is going to choke. However my fear of him choking is now starting to be outweighed by my fear of him getting rickets and not being able to talk :)

I have tried giving him things like boiled carrots in chip shape, avocado wedges etc but he a) shows no interest and b) can't pick the slippery b*ggers up.

Can I give him peas?? I heard they were a choking risk? Exactly what size and shape should I cut fruit etc (I really do mean a precise size, I am so anxious about this and I know I'm being ridiculous).

What else can I give him as finger food? Raisins and rice cakes are pretty poor nutritionally! I gave him bread sandwiches (as opposed to toast) but then he balls it all up in the roof of his mouth and couldn't swallow the amassed lump.

Help please!

[butternut234]

I should add, he doesn't really eat that much solid food so I'm trying to get him to eat more too. He's breastfed too and we're stuck in a feed to sleep thing that I'm trying to fix at the moment too, so I'm guessing he has an awful lot of milk each day (mainly overnight ha ha) so is not that hungry, and def not hungry enough to eat something he doesn't much fancy.

[gapants]

roasted and cooled sweet potato wedges
cucumber fingers or discs
peppers cut into fingers
apples
pears
homemade chicken goujons
homemade fish fingers

Toast fingers with-- avocado/cream cheese/ hummous/mushroom pate/mackerel pate smeared on it


Do you want to start cutting down the night feeds, my DS would feed all night long, it was awful- we were getting up to 8 feeds a night, I was going crazy. So we did one feed before bed and then no more feeds until 6am at 13m, it sort of forced us into some sleep training with him, but am glad I did it.

[supergreenuk]

Firstly.......he is going to choke. It's part of learning to eat. You need to get over that and accept it. Just always be on hand to pat the back and get some peas out. Sweetcorn is great too.

At that age I would be thinking of only offering what ever I'm eating but cut up. I assume if DC is eating raisins it is picking up stuff just fine.

Have you tried brown bread. White bread can stick to the roof of your mouth.

When you say DC shows no interest don't take this as a sign to give up take this as a sign to keep offering it. Eventually they take an interest.

Good luck xx

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

There is a difference between choking (potentially dangerous) and gagging (normal while they are learning to eat). If you are anxious about choking you might find it helpful to do a paediatric first aid course - HV might be able to tell you if there is one on locally.

Gagging on food looks scary, where they go red in the face and cough a lot, sometimes bringing up whatever it was they were trying to eat, but really it is all about them going from liquid to solid food and learning to chew.

[CharlotteBronteSaurus]

there is a difference between choking and gagging.
gagging is a normal if unpleasant part of the learning experience, and is usually noisy. if you are worried about choking then you can do infant first aid courses at most sure start centres.

anyhow, peas and sweetcorn are fine - i have't read of a choking risk.dd2 also enjoys thin strips of raw pepper, and peeled cucumber cut into thin strips. cooked broccoli is good - easy for them to pick up, though it makes a horrific mess.
with bread, dd2 found ciabatta and sourdough easier to manage than white sliced at first. on if he overstuffs, offer a deconstructed sandwich - thin soldiers of bread, slices of ham/cheese/whatever.

[CharlotteBronteSaurus]

sorry, cross posted, obviously

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

Great minds Charlotte

[butternut234]

Cool thank you :)

Have done two babyfirst aid courses so don't know why am so anxious!

[butternut234]

yes trying to stop the night feeds - 7x a night for months - might need to just go cold turkey asmy softly softly isn't working :(

[howabout]

I would second going cold turkey on the night feeds. I got myself into a similar position and after one horrid night DD discovered it was not so bad eating and drinking during the day after all and I became sane again. Wished I had done it 2 months previously.

[butternut234]

I might give that a try next, thank you. How horrid was the horrid night? The problem is that in the wee hours it's so easy to just feed back to sleep even though I know that contributes to the next wake up call, and I really can't bear to let him cry...

[gapants]

butternut you really do need strong resolve to stop the night feeds if that is what you want to do, because it is not easy and your baby will cry and you will cry and it will be tough. Can your partner take over for a couple of nights? We did this-
Started on the Thursday eve- DH worked from home on the Friday. He did all the night wakings. We did a sort of combo of offering water, shushing and tummy rubs, and leaving DS to cry for up to 5 minutes at a time, but no more. Any time after 6am was considered "morning" so if DS cried then I would go in, feed sat up with the curtains open and then straight down stairs to start our day. So we did over the weekend with GPs giving us a break in the day on sat/sun so we could recharge our batteries and catch up on some sleep. On the saturday night I was really starting to lose faith as I thought my DS was getting worse, but then on the Sunday it finally "clicked" he slept from 8pm--6-30ish. It was heaven. Apart form illness he is a pretty good sleeper now, going 7-7/8 most nights. I still BF morning/eve and sometimes once in the day until he was 2.

Sort of sounds like the weaning is secondary to the sleeping issue?

Alternatively could you co-sleep and feed through the night that way if you are not ready to stop?

Good luck, it is not easy this parenting lark.

[RitaMorgan]

At 12 months they can eat pretty much anything. I'd avoid whole nuts though and cut grapes in half.

You could just give whole fruits? A peeled banana, orange segments, a whole apple (take a bite out to start it off). Brocolli florets are good, potatoes roasted, boiled or chipped, any roast veg really, peas, sweetcorn (baby corn and corn on the cob also good). Whole strawberries, raspberries etc.

Pasta shapes in sauce and those filled ravioli/tortelli things are a big hit with my 12 month old. He also loves fishfingers.

[butternut234]

Thanks all, the food stuff has given me lots of ideas :)

Also, gapants you are quite right, the sleeping is the main thing. I think he'll be more interested in food when the night feeding stops.

Am currently doing it bit by bit (pantley pull off - didn't work - now trying to stroke in cot, then rock, then feed as last resort... am going to try no feeding before day sleeps on Monday and see how we go...). Bit hard to ask my DH to help with the night wakings as he works v.long hours and is possibly more tired than I am :)

[howabout]

Good luck with the night feeding. What about a walk in the pram at daytime nap time to see if that will induce sleep? The problem I had with trying to do it gradually was that I always ended up giving in in the end and then felt like I was just sending mixed messages and not really getting any closer to solving the problem. Does your DH have any holidays / free weekends due when you could resolve to tackle it together?

[gapants]

butternut I think the feeding as a last resort as you say is sending your baby mixed messages, because you have let them cry, or become distressed for a prolonged period then, you feed anyway. IMO it has to be one or the other, but like it say you have to be ready to do it, and have the full support of your partner. Could he take a couple of days holiday to support you? I also found reading the Milton Sleep Clinic book really useful as there are lots of case studies in there that you can sort of match your baby too, and then go from the

[redbird79]

Raspberries are a favourite here- just watch out for the mess, like a scene from a horror film but the look on DS' face as he squished them was brilliant!

[bestfootforwards]

Raspberries a firm favourite here too and a good one to start on if you're worrying about choking.
Roast carrots and parsnip work really well. Fresh pineapple and mango slices too, and he loves cucumber when he's teething.