could you please give me some ideas for baby finger food? BLW?

[meladeso]

Hi
I've not done BLW so far (DD almost 1)

I've done mashed up stuff, with some bits always for her to pick up and feed herself

She now is refusing to be spoon fed unless it's yoghurt, so i'm going to switch entirely to finger foods.

I didn't have this with my elder DC, who was always happy to be spoonfed until he could happily feed himself.

what's troubling me is that i put tonnes of effort into what i have been feeding, really varied, loads of veg etc, and i just can't see how i get that much nutritious stuff down her, when she's feeding herself?

i'd be v grateful for any experience, advice, and particularly, specific meal ideas.

How about just giving whatever you are eating?

My Ds is ten months, today he had blueberries and pears, a finger of toast with pear and apple spread, a banana, tomatoes and cucumbers and a few bites of a veggie sausage, a few bites of a boiled egg, half an oat cake, and he'll have chicken curry with green beans and potato for supper.

I don't cook him anything seperate from the rest of us and he shares my lunch (salad a protein every).

Bananas and blueberries are his favourite.

DS is having a mushroom and spinach omelette and veg (cauliflower and sprouts) for tea.

thanks both

sadly she's reacting badly to egg at the mo, so that's off the cards

overmydeadbody how does your DS eat chicken curry?
thanks for all the other ideas

i'm trying to keep some of what we ate the night before now, to give her.

We did blw from the start. My son did well with sandwiches, toast, bread sticks, crackers, short shape pasta, fruit (clementine segments, strawberries, chunks of apple / banana / pear / peach), soup, hummus, cheese... We gave him whatever we were eating and let him play with it or eat it, no pressure. He knows his own appetite so if he refuses food we don't make a fuss.

Whatever we are my dd got. Spag bol, steak chips , salmon and rice ,vegetables, roast dinners , sandwiches, dippy eggs and toast etc etc my dd ate absolutely everything we did/do

Ate not are

My baby reacts badly to egg and dairy too.

In terms of finger food, she'll eat pasta, or cous cous slightly over cooked so it's sticky. You can bake cous cous fingers too and they tend to go down well. You can add chopped veg or veg purée to couscous for added nutrition.

Chunks of chicken, turkey or beef meatballs, sweet potato patties, chickpea patties.

For breakfast, fingers of toast, clumps of sticky porridge (I add frozen raspberries which she likes) or the night before mix oats, yoghurt (or KoKo non dairy) with chopped up pear and leave in fridge. In the morning, is usually set enough to be picked up in clumps or you could cut it into fingers.

Watching this thread with interest as my baby is similar to yours in that she wants to feed herself. Some "adult" meals are slightly beyond her motor skills or palate (or allergies!) so I like to have a few fail safes.

Oh sorry, my omelette idea is rubbish then!

Porridge fingers for breakfast. Obviously fruit. I've also started making pizza bases using Greek yoghurt and self raising flour (2:1 flour: yoghurt ratio, kneed for 5 minutes, shape and add toppings, bake for 15 minuets at 200 degrees). DS loves it.

He just eats the food with his fingers, I have a great suction plate that goes o on his highchair. He might not get much sauce but he'll enjoy it.

hello all, sorry, just sat down (!) and catching up. thanks SO much for all the replies.

Hobbitch "My son did well with sandwiches, toast, bread sticks, crackers, short shape pasta, fruit (clementine segments, strawberries, chunks of apple / banana / pear / peach), soup, hummus, cheese..."

the fruit etc is fab, did you do the same with veg i assume? cooked? raw seems too tricky for them to actually be eating any.

And i guess my main worry is that the first half of your list is all carbs/beige food, you know? she's also happily eating pitta and pasta and so on, but there's just not much of anything particularly nutritious in it, or vitamins etc. I can relate, i'd be tempted to only eat those items too if it were up to me!

Vanillaisboring666 thanks! how does your DC eat spag bol and rice by hand?! i'm just drowning in floor mess and not a lot is getting eaten with things like rice
which i accept is a natural part of weaning, and i don't mind, as long as i feel like a good bit is actually getting eaten.

plimsolls brilliant also thank you - i'm going to try couscous fingers with added veg, and also some patties - that's a great shout. i also like your breakfast idea. I've just been making some of these for tomorrow morning - shall i report back?!

healthylittlefoodies.com/fruity-oat-breakfast-bites/

it looks like a really good website!

RaeSkywalker I like the sound of the pizza bases thanks!

and overmydeadbody perhaps i need to just get my head around giving her more wet foods and just rolling with it!

Meladeso there is a lot of mess! I just roll with it though, I figure he'll eat what he needs, I offer him food after each nap so he eats little and often as well as having meals with us.

He eats a lot of salad, specially covered in mashed avocado or a little mayo. And I cook veg for him too. Cooked beetroot is soft and he loves that, be prepared for the nappies though!

Oh haven't tried beetroot!

I use a wrap as a pizza base, put some tomato pizza or pasta sauce, sweetcorn and ham or whatever other toppings I have, a bit of grated cheese and bake at 200 for 8 minutes.

I also have loads of home made purees in the freezer which I heat up and spread on toast.

meladeso I did offer veg in chunks but he never really took to it! And he's still not a fan. The main way he gets his veg is in soup and sauces.

Which brings me to the beige foods: they're not really as I try to be creative with my sauces! I hide a good amount of veg in them, eg carrot, pepper, courgette and onion in tomato sauce; anything green in pesto; pea or carrot in hummus; puréed veg in risotto...

I forgot you can also do oven chips with root veg, my son will eat carrot and parsnip in addition to potato that way. I also regularly try to give him his veg via savoury muffins but it's not really worked yet...

She's under 1 - so you're worrying way too much about how much is being eaten. Her forumla or breastmilk is a complete food for her at the moment. Any food is just for fun, and isn't providing the bulk of her vitamins.

We love savoury pancakes. Fry up loads of veg. Onion, pepper, courgette, carrot, mushroom, leek etc choose a selection.

THen in a separate large mixing bowl make a pancake batter from flour/milk and 2 eggs. I just add quantaties until the consistency looks right. Tip in the fried veg and stir.

Ladel little scoops into a frying pan and cook into pancakes. Leave to cool. Freeze between sheets of baking paper.

These are so good for BLW lunches I use them all the time

Hi OP - DS (8mo) has an egg allergy too. We only found out recently. It means I'm going to have to get a bit more creative so I've been researching. Pinterest has a few things but some of the recipes look a bit crap TBH.

I got my Abel and Cole cookbook out tonight and this is what I've come up with:

Veg tempura
Homemade pesto (broccoli, spinach, broad beans or kale) with potatoes/pasta/on pizza
Homemade pizza dough with healthy toppings
Veggie burgers and veggie meatballs
Porridge: mix it with mushed banana and cinnamon or nutmeg, or with stewed apple & blackberry, or fruit purees

Toast toppings! DS loves toast fingers:
Cooked beetroot, Brie and a bit of pepper
Finely chopped broccoli and cheddar
Avocado mushed with lemon juice and olive oil
Pesto and goats' cheese
Mashed broad beans
Grated carrot and houmous
Peanut butter
Pate (only give it once a week though)

Pinwheels are good - you take puff pastry (I don't think that has eggs in?) and roll it up like a Swiss roll with different fillings - tomato purée, ham and cheddar, pesto etc.

Courgette cakes (can substitute courgette for pumpkin, parsnip, apple etc) - use egg replacement

IF you want any of these recipes I can post them up

absolutely awesome suggestions so far thanks - i'm going to sit down and write a list based on all your replies.
she wasn't interested in the porridge bites sadly, which was a bit deflating. 4yo likes them ok though, so at least they'll get eaten!