Finger food faff

[onelittletreasure]

My 17 month old will only eat finger food and I am totally out of ideas! She is a hamaholic and many meals are spent with ham, tomato, cheese, peas, and toast! (Sometimes we delve into the exciting world of fish fingers and chips / pasta - woo hoo!)

I am sure she would eat other things if only boring mummy could think of them! Can anyone recommend a good lunchbox type recipe book or point me in the right direction please?

give her whatewverr you have and let her shovel away

pasta with cheese sauce and peas is good

I recommend bibs with sleeves

ditto. my 2 eldest always had whatever we had.

She's got the bibs with sleeves (though currently refusing to wear them, which at least diverts attention from the battle to get her in to the high chair). We have lunch together, its just at tea time I'm struggling. Also more than a little bored of picking food up off the floor now!

Does anyone have success with mini-pizzas or the like?

if you don't eat together in the evening then just save her something from the previous day and re-heat.

that's what I did anyway. all food is finger food to a 17 month old.
and it's never to early to introduce a spoon. am sure ds2 was self-feeding with a fork at that age.

there will be mess. but hey, at least they're happy

re. bored with picking food off the floor, get used to it

mini-pizzas etc made specially are a waste of time - give her a leftover slice of yours

leftovers are utterly the way to go

Leftovers - I hear ya! Sounds good. Have a friend whose little one is about 2 months older than mine and delights in showing off her spoon / open cup usage. Glad to know am not alone still scooping bits of melon off floor and watching thumbs getting plunged into fish fingers.

I feel so much more normal now! Is mumsnet this good all the time?!

yes, all the time, and full of lazy slatternly absolutley normal mothers

lazy parenting is, quite frankly, the best sort of parenting. benign neglect and all that.
they learn best by being left to figure it out themselves.
i gave ds2 a fork/spoon quite early on and he just worked out how to use it himself. he prefers fingers though as it's quicker

DD has a little fork and spoon, but usually gets frustrated and chucks them on the floor (along with half her dinner, ha ha)

have you tried omlettes?

DS2 (13 months) loves them and you can throw just about anything into them.

I keep recommending these.
(No I don't work for them!)
Totally worth the money- my DS could spoon-feed himself with little spillage from about 13 months thanks to these.
Otherwise- what everyone else said. All food is finger food to a toddler. My DS will use a spoon to eat shepherd's pie, yoghurt etc but chunkier stuff i.e. roast dinner he shovels in with his hands.