DD and finger food

[cheekypickle]

DD who is nearly 1 year has totally gone off jars/pouches/homecooked meals. She doesn't want to be spoon fed. She wants to be independent and feed herself with finger foods.

I'm really pleased that she's being independent but I'm nervous that shes not eating as much. Not that much seems to go in when she eats finger foods independently. Shes by no means underweight so there's no worries there

DH said I should stop making an 'issue' about it.

WWYD??

Finger food is good as long as it is able to be picked up, a carrot stick, bread etc.
Yoghurt to me and my sanity should be spoon fed.

I'm really pleased she doesn't want jars any more and pleased she's gone onto finger food, I just worry that shes not getting enough

Plus, the OP's baby is nearly one, and choosing not to be spoonfed!

All dcs are different

dd1 was weaned on purees, spoon fed - is now at 6 about the messiest eater, always using her fingers, dropping food. Drives me crazy.

dd2 was blw used a spoon really early.

ds -2- purees, eats pretty much everything with his fingers including yoghurt, mess is unbelievable!

"To develop skills and to see food as something lovely and fun rather than just a ritual of mush in mouth and repeat."

Its just food... it keeps you alive. Lovely and fun for a child is playing on a bouncy castle, going swimming, going to the park. Growing up, none of the kids I knew were ever interested in food further than "dinners on the table, eat it, go back out to play". We had no choices, we ate what we were given.

Babies and toddlers do not need food to be lovely and fun!

Cheeky- unfortunately there's always something to worry about with kids! I'm sure she'll eat exactly what she needs!

So being spoon fed makes you more likely to be able to use cutlery than holding the spoon yourself? Nope, don't get that one.

I agree with your h.
She is learning how to co-ordinate using her fingers/spoon/mouth.
Eating should be pleasurable so if that's what she likes then I'd go with that.
1 year olds don't need big quantities of food- their stomachs are small.

I ate like a trooper when young. I don't recall making a choice about a spoon because I was a baby.
Blw cracks me up. I told my mother, does the baby make a shopping list for you? :)

Hazey- that's interesting, and suggests/further proves to me that blw babies develop the skills to self feed better than puree fed babies! (I should add that I'm not a blw activist; I've done both with my two dc. DD blw completely, and DS puree alongside finger food from the start).

My dd was and is exactly the same. I had to make everything into finger foods or she would just refuse to eat! She is now 2 and although she is getting the grasp of cutlery she stil prefers to use her fingers and is such a fussy eater.

"So being spoon fed makes you more likely to be able to use cutlery than holding the spoon yourself?"

Nope, that is not what I am saying at all. I am referring to children who are encouraged to use their fingers for everything, and allowed to make as much mess as they can like.

Mine were both blw-ed and used cutlery (not knives!) from when they started solids. You can give them loaded spoons and they quickly learn to do the loading bit themselves too. I've been very lucky in that my Dds aren't fussy eaters and tbh that is what it cones down to for the most part, luck.

I never had a choice with food.We were just given and ate.
I hear about children having seperate meals made and choices and it makes me laugh.
Perhaps I'm bitter.

Surely being spoon fed will instill the general idea that using cutlery is generally a better and more polite way to ingest food?

My dd was not blw. She is fussy. Ds is blw and has been able to use a spoon since about 10 months (not a cutler genius, just copies dd) he is not fuzzy at all and will eat anything.
At one year old I would not worry about anything other than your dc eating. Ffs its not like the queen will invite you for tea and be horrified the one year old doesn't know which is the fish fork.
The ffs is for the anti-blw brigade, not the op.

DS used his fingers at 6 months, by 12 months he was using a spoon, by 18 months he could feed himself with a spoon and fork.

Allowing a child to feed themselves is more likely to result in one who can use cutlery ime.

I hate the finger food bit, fills me with dread of choking baby DS is 7 months, suppose I should start? Should I give long sticks of carrot and toast for him to bite ( with his gums ) or do I do small bits which presumably he will struggle to pick up? Sorry for hijacking OP!!

Times have changed. Children are far more aware of food/healthy eating etc, and probably far more prone to bad relationships with food due to media images etc etc. Food is lovely and fun. You get problems when you try and get food into kids against their will- not saying op or anyone else does this, btw- it's far more likely to encourage positive relationships if you let them choose.

Try posting on the weaning section, there's loads of good advice there with ideas for what food to give.

I don't think you're wrong slow - as for bitter - only you can tell! But all this messing about with food is clearly a sign of the over-indulged times in which we live. It's my opinion that it is ridiculous and unsustainable but - who knows - maybe I'm being an old fart?

I don't think infants care about what is the "most polite way to ingest food". They do however enjoy exploring new tastes and textures, whatever misery guts suggested that its not necessary to get any enjoyment from food can jog on and live off protein shakes and suchlike!

Let babies eat how they like, promote enjoyment in eating. Then teach them how to eat nicely and have table manners. Not really difficult, is it?

Babies are more likely to choke when someone else is putting food in their mouths. mamababa let him have big pieces of food (eg. chip shaped veg, carrot sticks, toast soldiers) and make sure they are soft. He might gag and cough as he learns how much he can put in his mouth. Don't give anything small or hard (grapes, whole nuts) or anything that small, hard pieces could be bitten off (raw apple, raw carrot).

How is letting children enjoy food a sign of being over indulged!!

Mama - I found things like rice cakes and fingers of toast a good start for Ds