Ideas for finger foods - 8 months old

[MunroMagic]

I wonder if anyone could share some ideas about good finger foods?

My DD is 8 months old. We are weaning with purees in combination with finger foods. I decided against exclusive BLW as wanted to make sure DD gets some iron (she is bf) and vitamin D.

She happily takes cheese sticks, avocado, very ripe nectarines and plums, melon, strawberries and cucumber. But I've sort of hit a brick wall - any ideas would be much appreciated.

Toast
Breadsticks
Bananas
Chicken

My 10mth old is hit and miss with finger foods - we're doing a mixture of using up purees and finger food.

My LO loves mini sandwiches for tea - one slice of bread crusts removed cut into 6 squares and top with diff fillings e.g. houmous, philidelphia, dairylea, marmite, fave puree etc.

Dried cereal is another popular one - my little girl has a few cheerios after her porridge.

Have you tried cooked pasta shapes? My LO won't touch twists (often recommended as first pasta) but loves lengths of spaghetti or tagliatelle she can play with!

Will watch this post tho as also looking for new inspiration!

Jane

Thanks for these.

Sparky - I tried out some toast for breakfast and she devoured it.

Jane - Do you put sauce with the pasta or leave it plain? I think sauce would make it quite slippy? Mini sandwiches are a great idea.

If you are looking for iron rich food, then you can give meat, liver and dried fruit as finger food? Unless ofc you baby actually love pureed kale (or meat and liver)! There's always weetabix (I like bite sized oatabix). They are fortified.

I don't think you can get any meaningful amount of food for vitamin D.

I'm curious what are you pureeing for an 8mo that's actually iron rich?

BTW, I give pasta with sauce in. By 8mo, they should be able to eat all the pasta shapes (except maybe spaghetti, that one is very tricky). Mac & cheese is always a favourite. So is pesto with fusilli.

I'm in agreement with OneLittleBabyTerror - you can give meat as finger food.

Although you're giving puree, why not have a look at the BLW site for ideas for finger food, absolutely no reason why you can't give the stuff on there alongside puree :)

I'm not sure why pureeing food would give a baby any more iron than BLW though...

For the past 6 weeks she's been happily taking good amounts of pureed lamb casserole, beef casserole and thick lentil purees, all of which are rich in iron. She also takes pureed dried apricots mixed in with her porridge.

I have been trying strips of meat as finger foods but she isn't at all interested. I'm hoping as she grows she will become more interested in them. She has just got her first tooth so that might help. In our case she is definitely getting more iron through purees than she would with BLW.

For vitamin D I've been adding vitamin drops to her purees. Now it's summer it probably isn't so critical, but it did concern me in the winter. She spits out the vitamin drops on their own; if we were BLW I couldn't get them down her. Adding vitamin C to her purees also helps with the iron absorption.

Weetabix is a great idea - I'll try that. I'll definitely dig out the pasta too - I reckon she could manage it.

I've got the Gill Rapley book so I'll have another read. She gets finger foods with every meal as I know it is important to develop chewing skills, finger manipulation etc. Plus she really enjoys them!

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Watching this with interest - my 8 mo isn't enjoying having his food poked in with a spoon and is eating very little. He loves to eat finger foods but he cannot survive on veg sticks, crackers and toast alone! Ideally I would like to avoid giving wheat at every meal. But I can't think of finger foods that could be as nutritious as my lentil stew or chicken casserole...

So some helpful ideas here thanks gang, and keep the tips coming please!

When giving fruit with skin on do you wash the outside first? Presumably it needs to be organic to avoid ingesting nasty pesticides that go onto such fruits. Tried this with papaya with some success but was worried about getting chemicals or indigestible fruit skin into his tummy - maybe I should lighten up a bit??!

I am now watching DS happily eat a segment of avocado in it's skin and it's very effective - he's enjoying it and it's much nicer for both of us than me forcing the blimming spoon into his mouth. Leaves my hands free for MNing as well!

Cheesey you can give meat as finger food. Not just bread and veg. Using your example of a chicken casserole, you can give chicken, potatoes, carrots inside the casserole to your LO. In fact I'm struggling to imagine how is it easier for you to mush up the casserole, then to just

Plonk down the casserole on the highchair tray! Lentils admitted is trickier, but you can give beans. DD can do beans and peas at 9mo and I think that's pretty normal progress (according to the BLW book).

I didn't bother with organic fruit. Just a good scrub with a sponge and hit water on the skin of fruit.

Sorry for the horrible spelling and autocorrect. Darn phone!

My LO in almost 8 months and I also started with purees as I was nervous about him choking! I quickly stopped giving him purees as I found it soul destroying as I made batches of casseroles, fish stews etc etc and he was not interested!

He feeds himself now and he is doing really well! Every meal I try to give a protein, carb and veg/fruit!

Different ideas include:

I have made my own meatballs, chicken burgers (made with minced chicken) and am now braving pieces of chicken breast, steak and fish!

I have also made sugar free banana muffins, eggy bread (he loved this but obviously I don't want to give him this too often) and omlette.

Tonight I made cheesy rice balls and he liked them too!

I try to do potato a variety of ways - wedges ... he opens them up and eats the soft spud and potato balls made with philidelphia and chedder!!

TL12 what's wrong with eggy bread? (not that I ever eat it, so DD doesn't get it) Sounds like things are going great though.