Lumpier foods/fingerfeeding??? How?

[Babymay]

Hi, my DD is 9 1/2 months old and up till now i've been spoonfeeding her purees. She's been on and off her food since the last couple of months so havn't really progressed on from purees. I've started giving her battons of carrot, brocoli, friut etc, but she squashes it all in her hands and doesn't actually eat it. The only thing she will eat are rice cakes and occ. toast. With lumpier foods, she just gags then refuses to eat. I dont quite know what to do and how to progress. Am I also to replace whole meals with fingerfoods? Please help x

The squashing is all part of the process - she's learning about new textures and smells as well as tastes.

What about trying to use some lumpy puree as a rice cake topping?

You can replace the meals with finger foods if you like - BLWrs (generally) don't bother with the puree at all.

If your DD has a pincer grip you can offer her things like peas which she can pick up individually - or something like bolognese or cottage pie where she can pick up the mince but it's too small to really squish too much.

Thanks Flisspaps for your idea's. Will try them. I'm torn between spoonfeeding her to eat something at least as she's been off foods for a while and letting her try herself esp. I return to work in 2 months so feels like I need her to be a little more independant.

I gave finger foods alongside puree and phased out the puree as ds got better at feeding himself