Finger food for a 1 year old - advice please!

[lahdeedah]

My DD will be 1 next week (OMG ) - I have a couple of questions for any finger food afficionados out there:

1. DD will eat soft finger foods - eg soft pear, cheese, buttered toast, mini-sandwiches, etc - but just spits out anything with a bit of crunch to it, such as apple, cucumber, etc. The various books I've got suggest that I should be able to give her things like apple by now - but thelast couple of times I have tried, she has choked on it and ended up bringing up the rest of her lunch! I suppose she has trouble chewing as she only has her front teeth (4 top and 4 bottom). Is there any point persevering with the crunchy foods, or would it be best to wait until she gets some back teeth?

1. Do you have any tips for getting DD to eat out of a bowl? At the moment I just put the food on the table in front of her. I would love to be able to give her a little bowl of something like pasta or grated cheese or peas or raisins, but when I've tried this she just immediately tips the bowl upside down and starts gnawing on it - meanwhile the food goes all over the floor!! Very frustrating. It's not that I'm bothered about the mess, it's just that I'm bored of having to place 5 peas in front of her, then when they've all gone, another 5 peas, then another..... Any hints or tips would be gratefully appreciated!!!

TIA

I think with both of your questions it's really just a case of keep trying and eventually she will get it.

My DD is 1 (but 22 months so quite a few months older than your DD) and I honestly can't remember when I started trusting her with a bowl of food. But basically this morning she sat in her booster chair at the table and ate a bowl of weetabix with raisins followed by a yoghurt and only needed a little help scraping out the bottom. I would not have been happy to have a bowl of weetabix going everywhere - you are probably aware of how it sets like concrete!

I think I started putting her bowl on her tray but still holding on to it. So maybe try this. She'll get the idea gradually. Also I would just keep trying the crunchy food occasionally. It might be a while before she gets any back teeth.

My dd1 who is just over 17 months has only just got her top two teeth - didn't get her bottom two until she was 11 months. However, she has been 'gumming' breadsticks and ricecakes for a while - so don't worry about having to wait for more teeth to give more crunchy stuff - even now she gnaws at apples etc.

I usually put a selection of finger foods on her highchair tray and don't bother will a bowl and let her get on and choose what she wants to eat - you get some lobbed on the floor - but I put it back on the tray once then if it gets lobbed again it goes in the bin - so dd1 doeesn't lob so much nowadays - only when she has had enough.

When serving something like fish pie etc, dd1 will now feed herself from a bowl and doesn't make too much mess - I just have to help with the edges as she can't get her spoon around the edges. Hasn't lobbed her bowl for ages - just puts down her spoons and moves the bowl away and says "All gone". At the beginning I found 'sticking' the bowl to the highchair helpful - I had a sticky mat thing from Tommee Tippee - got it from Boots - makes it more difficult for the bowl to be lobbed - though not impossible! HTH

Thanks all - I guess it is just a case of patience and perseverance... but then that's what motherhood is all about isn't it

Hotmama, I did buy one of those Tommee Tippee sticky mat things, but it doesn't stick to our table very well and after a couple of good tugs the bowl will jerk off the mat and the food goes flying!! I think I will try what Bozza suggests and just hold on to the bowl in front of her. Maybe she just needs to get the whole bowl-chewing thing our of her system - eventually she will get bored of it and discover the joys of eating from a plate!!

Tipex - thank you, yes she is good with finger foods really - better than her cousin anyway, still being spoon-fed puree at 15 months - so I should be thankful really shouldn't I!