Fingerfood questions

[DanielMummy]

My 8 and a half month old is mostly rejecting being spoon-fed now, so I'm having to think of more fingerfood ideas as main course, rather than just for snacks.
I came up with the idea of making little stuffing balls. I have a packet of Sage & Onion stuffing mix which has no artificial additives, that I'm thinking of mixing up with milk and chicken stock rather than just water. However I'm not sure whether sage is suitable. I don't really have any knowledge of herbs and spices. Anyone know whether I can give sage to my baby. Or what about other flavour stuffing mixes?
My second question is regards some of the baby fingerfood products that are labelled as only being suitable for over 12 months old. Is this just because of the choking risk or is there any other reason? My little one will be 9 months in less than 2 weeks time. He already has 7 teeth and I think that supervised he could possibly try a cereal bar or biscuit. I'm thinking of either Organix, Cow & Gate, Peter Rabbit or Heinz ones specifically aimed at toddlers. Before I buy some, can anyone tell me some good reasons why not?

[Olihan]

My dd was the same with refusing a spoon. She ate finger food from about 7 months with no teeth. She was 1 last week and attempts to feed herself from a spoon but still prefers finger foods. She still only has 2 1/2 teeth (!) but will eat absolutely anything.

I make things like bolognese and serve it with pasta spirals that are very easy to pick up - if you make the sauce quite thick it clings to the pasta, ditto cheese sauce, tuna & tomato sauce. Stuff like shreddies soaked in milk then put onto the tray are also a favourite with her and get a bit more milk into her (she's been drinking about 10 oz a day out of a bottle for the last 3 months or so). Homemade mini beefburgers (Annabel Karmel again) are also good and get a bit of red meat into them, ordinary fish fingers, any kind of veg cut into fingers, mini sandwiches, cheese on toast, omlette cut into strips. You do have to watch them really closely for the first few weeks while they get used to biting off big lumps but dd has never (touch wood) choked on anything, unlike her older brother who was spoon fed until 18 months (lazy boy!). She also eats stuff like chilli and curry, including rice with her fingers - it's messy but she doesn't care!!

I'd second what other people have said about the toddler 'snacks'. They are really awful - you'd be better off giving him rich teas or something!! The organix stuff is nice - the cereal bars are very crumbly but the animal biscuits, gingerbread men and moon biscuits are a nice treat.

HTH

[laudaud]

I've given DD omelette with ham cheese and mushroom - she is 14 months. Can't remember when we first introduced egg but I'm sure we gave her plain omelettes before she turned one. It goes down particularly well if DH and I are having Omelette at the same time. No allergic reactions

[aitch71]

the oatcakes, much to my surprise, take about about ten mins to prepare and then thirty to cook. and mine only took that long cos i rolled them into tiny wee balls as i'd lost my rolling pin. very, very easy. i like cooking but i hate faff, believe me.

[DanielMummy]

Bumbleweed - I did the egg yolk first, as its supposed to be the egg white thats more allergenic. I hard boiled the egg, then mashed up the yolk and gave it to him on toast fingers. I then waited 3 days before giving him egg white yesterday which again I hard boiled and then just broke into pieces. So now I'm just waiting again with fingers crossed that he has no reaction. He did love both. Omlette sounds a great idea, especially as DH is the omlette cook in our house.

Olihan - some good ideas there. Never thought about fish fingers, must add them to the next shopping trip. My little one has been having the Organix moon biscuits for a couple of weeks. Also he loves the Organix carrot wotsits and sweetcorn rings, so I'll try some of their cereal bars and bigger biscuits.

[aitch71]

yep, i'm going to investigate fish fingers too... i've not had them in ages but they were a great favourite with beans in my student days. now there's a question.. baked beans? the fancy organi no-salt ones? is that madness?

[DanielMummy]

Aitch - let us know if you find no-salt beans. We buy Heinz organic and I just looked at the tin. It says each serving contains 1.7g of an adult's daily recommended 6g salt. And it has sugar too. Plus vinegar. I have no idea whether vinegar is suitable for babies.

[aitch71]

i'm sure there will be a recipe somewhere...

[bumbleweed]

check out FrannyandZooey's recipe for homemade baked beans without salt or sugar here

[bumbleweed]

I just got back from tesco and bought .... a bag of spinach .... and some eggs

[aitch71]

ooooooh, eggs... i've just been told by someone on the blog that i should give her egg soon. next time i go to the doctor's sugery she's having an egg yolk sandwich.