finger food ideas (long post)

[REIDnotREEDorREAD]

sorry if this has been done before. My ds is 5.5months old and i have started him on solids (not blw) he so far has enjoyed everything he's been offered. carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, babyrice, porrige (for babies) sweet potato, turnips and fruit.

i want to introduce fingerfoods asap. The only reason i am not blw is because of parents and pil who would not do it, and they look after him while i am at work! My plan is that the more finger foods he eats the sooner the dreaded purees can end and ds grandparents will see thathe WILL NOT choke on anything. (they are both convinced that he will choke if he is given anything other than mush!)

sorry for the long post!

anyone?

have you checked out Aitch's blog ? Lots of great ideas for finger food.

i've had a nosey, just wondered if anyone else had any experiences. i suggested fishfingers but my mum looked as if i had just suggested handing ds razorblades

DD 6.5 mths. Been doing BLW for ~ 1mth. Luckily all family into it, they think it's hilarious and all v proud of her. Have had much help from MN, esp Dizzybint and Aitch. Although rel new to this, have found it quite easy. So far bubs has eaten :
broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, asparagus, courgette, sweet potato, squash, avocado, pear (tinned), nectarine, mashed potato, toast (lightly done, with philly, natex, butter), wholemeal muffins, babybel cheese, dried apricot, rice cakes, banana, sprouts, mango,roasted peppers, celery! Haven't tried meat or fish yet (i'm veggie) or full on sarnies, but will soon.
Have to say chuffed we went this way, fellow new mums still think i'm weird, but i really don't care, and bubbs gets excited about mealtimes, instead of the arching back/clamped jaw i was getting when tried purees.
Have blender/ Annabel Karmel books and ice cube trays for sale if anyone interested!!!
Hope that helps, enjoy! It's best decision i have made xxxx

you could make your own fish fingers- much healthier- but wait until DS is over 6mths for meat and fish.

get a boneless piece of fillet, homemade breadcrumbs etc when he's old enough.

did you show your family the stuff about choking on aitch's blog?

I too have tried most of the stuff on Caspar's list. We are not fully BLW as DS also has puree but he finds the finger foods much more fun!

I find DS does best with stuff that's relatively soft but with a skin to hang onto, if you know what I mean. So quartered tomatoes, halved peaches, apricots, plums, cold baked potatoes chopped into quarters, that kind of stuff. He sort of hangs onto the skin and drags the contents across his single tooth!

Good tip for introducing relatives to the idea - I have a "travel box" of goodies for when DS gets grouchy on the move. It contains (at the moment) strips of dried mango, rice cakes, rich tea biscuits (very good - DS's favourite and not too sugary) and bread sticks. He always impresses friends and relatives with his dexterity in munching the stuff. And the mango in particular is delicious, I have been known to snack on it myself when peckish.

thank you for the suggestions! the travel box is a great idea, will certainly try that. Unfortunately ds hand eye coordination is not great yet, i tried with a rice cake today but i spent more time holding it in his mouth than he did. He just licked it!?! when a bit finally came off he just gagged and it wasnt a big bit either. He has eaten most things on the list below, just in the form of purees!

dizzybint, my mum is too stubborn to accept it, she just says she doesnt agree, mil is a dinsaur when it comes to raising children (despite being very nice most of the time)

it's no good if you hold it. just put it on his highchsir tray and let him do what he wants. if he licks it that's ok. if he gags that's ok too. it's his body learning how not to choke.

He probably will choke quite a bit to start with, so you have to feel fine about it. if your family are panicky, i wouldn't worry about the purees. he'll soon get over them! tbh i only started my ds on finger foods at about 7 mths and he took them fine...ideas:

carrot sticks steamed
broccoli steamed (a top favourite)
sweetpotato sticks
eggy bread

i know what you mean about not holding onto it, it was my curiosity really wanting to see what he would do with it, he did have a go at holding onto it, but drops it very easily. I am going to try him with as many finger foods as possible when i am home, luckily i am always home for his tea so i can persevere with that and then hopefully he will then lead the way when parents and inlaws have him.

thanks again for the advice, it is really helpful (and reassuring)

thanks merry x

if he really can't pick up the food, hold it and eat it, he isn't ready for it.

he tries dizzy, but to be honest he has been poorly teething lately so it has really knocked him off. he cut his first 2 teeth this week and seems to have been in agony. i think he may be a little better now they are actually through iykwim

I started my ds on finger foods just before 6 mths. It took about one week of him dropping everything to him happily eating a slice of toast without gagging! They learn surprisingly quickly. He's had roast parsnips, mango, banana, rice cakes, low sugar rusks & roast peppers. I'm also mashing foods for him as he's a very hungry baby (I don't think he would be entirely satisfied on finger foods alone)

can you tell me recipe for eggy bread???

mental block.
Tar

My dd is 7mths and getting a bit finicky now, but def. prefers feeding herself to me spooning stuff in. I worry she sucks the food she holds but doesnt actually eat enough, so mash up some veg evry now and again.

How do you feed them meat without cooking a whole joint every few days???

eggy bread is just bread (a good dense loaf is best) dipped in egg and fried. we call it french toast in our house...[v posh]

and if you buy chicken thighs or legs they are cheap, cheap cheap and you can stick one in the oven for 20 or so minutes under some foil and call it roast chicken if you're not all eating together.

also, a bit of rump steak isn't too expensive and will last for a few days. you can cut it into pieces first and then freeze is, just taking out wnough to cook when you need it. or cook it and freeze it, whatever you prefer.

plus you can make chicken nuggets in advance and pull them out when you need them. heaps of recipes on the babyledweaning.com blog if you need them.

pasta spirals(fusilli) are perfect. Also, you can get frozen white fish, and if you steam it then flake it for him, it should be really easy to handle for him.

Reid - we do hybrid BLW - was worried about the gagging when DS (now 7.5 mths) was with childminder so he went to her with mush. He started at 5.5 months and having had finger food most of the time (not exclusively though) with us he is now capable of eating almost anything. My point is that as a purist I worried that if I didn't do BLW exclusively somehow it wouldn't work - but it does. There is now practically nothing he won't try and his fine motor skills after 2 months of feeding himslef are very impressive - long gone are the chip-shaped things - he can handle very small fiddly things now. Most importantly he seems to enjoy food enormously.

Oh yes and my top tip for pasta is something called Amori which Waitrose sell - it's a spiral tube (macaroni sized) and because it's more open that normal fusili DS seemed to be able to get a grip on it easier at first.

flora, thanks for that. That is exactly what i intend to do, give ds a bit of both iykwim. Some great ideas guys, thanks again!

i feel much happier and more confident now after all this advice!