Hi! I'm hoping someone could reassure me here. My 9.5 mo daughter is happily eating purees but just doesn't seem to get the concept of finger foods. She seems to be the only baby I know who doesn't put anything into her mouth, be it toys or food.
The Health Visitor seemed quite concerned about this when she was weighed yesterday (although her weight was absolutely fine, no worries there) and, after hearing everything I'd already tried, suggested my only option was to cut back / stop the purees for a week or so until she eats the finger foods out of hunger. I'm not keen on this idea so was wondering if anyone could tell me if they'd been in this situation and had any luck with an alternative solution or if your baby just got the idea all by themselves? Or should I just do as the Health Visitor suggested?
So far I've tried the following:
- Let her play with finger foods at the table whilst I sort out her puree. It stays in front of her throughout the meal and she happily plays with it but doesn't put it anywhere near her mouth.
- Eat my breakfast & lunch in front of her whilst she eats her meals (I eat dinner later with my husband when she's asleep)
- Let her have some of my meals if she seems interested but again she just plays with it, not eating it.
- Even tried putting the finger foods into her mouth for her, but she wasn't keen on this although she did eat what went into her mouth.
- Tried everything I can think of as a finger food: fruit, cooked veg, salad veg, toast, rusks, rice cakes etc. Not cheese though as she's been diagnosed as milk & soya intolerant.
- Made the purees lumpier and let her get messy with them but she's not keen on anything lumpier than a sort of ?mashed? texture.
Can anyone help? Even if it's just to tell me I'm worrying about nothing? Thanks in advance!