Finger Foods - Sunray,TX

I didn't read all the responses, but have you considered rolling those slippery foods in crushed Cheerios or graham cracker crumbs? Also, how about spreading those more spreadable things (mashed fruits, mashed potato, etc.) on salt-free Saltine crackers?

I don't mash my white, red, and sweet potatoes for my 9 month old, I bake or boil them then cut them in to bite size pieces. She can them pick them up and gum them to death. She loves it and it takes most of the mess out.

She also loves green beans and broccoli. I tear off the tops of the broccoli and only give her the tender tops. She can almost out eat her brother in broccoli.

We have allergies here, too, so I give her whole grain rice to feed herself, and I get the whole grain organic "rice crispies" for her at Sprouts. These little pieces have really improved her ability to grab, but I only give her about a Tablespoon at a time. It cuts down on her desire to send them flying rather than eating them.

I got this recipe on this site from another mama. It has been a real hit with my daughter though it wasn't really meant to initially be for her. I add Tony Chachere's seasoning to the mixture but just a HINT of it. Her Daddy and I put more on our individual servings. Good luck.

baked sweet potato fries recipe
slice potato (however many you want depending on how many people) into however you want them. mine usually turn out in rectangles.
mix 1 tbsp of olive oil and the smallest dash of salt in a big bowl, toss in potatoes and mix.
heat oven 450 put fries on baking sheet (spray with canola oil or wipe on) then cook for about 12 minutes then flip for another 10 or so. just keep a lookout so they don't burn.
they are wonderful and low calorie. enjoy!

I would suggest this feeder from Munchkin for those slippery foods. We loved ours and I always give this as a baby gift now.http://www.munchkin.com/products/detail.html?section=prod...
They can be a challenge to wash sometimes, but it was worth the trade off for us!

One of my son's favorite morning snacks was pancakes. I use to mix the Gerber jar fruit in the batter and serve without syrup.

start with the fingers, you could try the spoon but she might get frustrated. Put the spoon on her tray and show her how to use it but let her decide what she wants to use. My 3 year old still chooses his fingers over his silverware and my 19mo old does both mostly fingers. As for finger foods, try dry cerial or toast with jelly.

try grapes cut up (my doctor told me this), also you can give her cut up pieces of peaches, anything that is soft or easy to break down. At this age she is learning to chew, so you would want to encourage that, but watch her because you don't want her to choke... since chewing is new and all. My daughter is 10 months and I went through the same thing. Now my daughter eats bits of apple I cut up and I even let her chew on it, of course she doesn't get much because she can't master the whole bitting thing yet, but she does bite. Try kiwi, that is another soft and easy fruit for her to try. My daughter liked it. Have you tried the gerber cookies? My daughter loves the banana cookies. I only give her one at a time and usually break it up in 3-4 pieces. I would also go ahead and give her the mashed potatoes, I gave my daughter mp at 8 months and she loved them! Just be careful with the amount of salt you put. I can't think of other finger foods besides fruits... sorry! Hope this helps anyway! Good luck.

I am sure that you have tried the animal cookies and stuff like that. I am afraid that I am no help with your finger food ideas as my son will turn 16 in January. However, I strongly suggest that you introduce her to the silverware and let her start there. It is never too soon to start with table manners once they start feeding themself. There will still be the eating with fingers but it lets them start learning how to use the spoon/fork from the beginning. Good luck.

Tofu and dairy are on the list of common allergens and not a good idea for children under 12-18 months. Since you have food allergies, it is great advice from your physician to avoid them with your litte girl---but I would go one further and avoid any highly allergic foods.

How about green beans--fresh steamed, then cooled. If she has teeth, then I would consider baking an apple with cinnamon (no sugar, the apple already has plenty) and then cutting it up for her. How about butternut squash that is baked, then cubed.

Please stick to fresh foods for her. The prepared stuff is full of chemicals for preservatives, colors and artificial flavors----not the way you want to start her off.

Best wishes in your new journey of motherhood!

My youngest LOVES green beans, fruit cocktail and cheerios. The doctor said the only thing she couldn't have at that age was hot dogs (because of the skin) and popcorn. Mine also really like scrambled eggs, but ask you dr before you do that. Some doctors want you to wait until 1 yr for egg whites.

Let her get messy with the mashed potatoes! We bake sweet potatoes and then smash them up. We just made sure it was right before bath time!

Have a blast! There only little once!

My daughter loves canned green beans and they are softer than frozen green beans so its easy for her to chew but I get the low-sodium can and I wash them off give her a couple and refridgerate the rest and even then I'll give them to her out of the fridge. I do the same thing with Kidney Beans, and Corn.

You can try cold apple slices, she probably won't chew them but when she is teething it will make her gums feel better.

Goldfishes are good but I have tried those Mac and Cheese crackers and they are alot softer than Goldfish so it might be easier for her to chew.

Hope it helps=)

I haven't read through the other responses, but you can always roll the slippery fruits in bread or graham cracker crumbs before giving them to your baby and that makes them MUCH easier to grab onto. Pasta is always good at this age, too.

Don't worry about a spoon yet - if she wants it, fine. If not, no biggie!

I used to smash up cereal into fine crumbs and roll slippery fruit in it so my girls could pick it up.

Ditto on the pancakes - put applesauce and/or rice cereal in the batter and you don't need syrup or butter!

I sometimes mash up crackers or graham crackers (the honey is not dangerous in these) and roll bananas and other slippery things in it. Here's our list:

frozen peas (FAVORITE!) Straight out of the bag still frozen, they're tender (we call them green baseballs!)

frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, melon, cherries, raspberries - he eats tons and tons of these - you might have to thaw for a few minutes, they're harder, or run under water for a sec)

canned corn, peas, beans, lima beans, garbanzo beans

black olives (sliced)

pickled okra

Multigrain Cheerios

Bumpers Peanut Butter Cereal (be careful with peanuts)

scrambled eggs (another favorite, sometimes I put a little squash or sweet potato baby food in with the eggs - I do this with everything for my family to sneak in some more veggies, and they never even know)

Multigrain Club Crackers

baby marshmallows

Granola Bites and Morning Minis

grapes

bananas

pumpkin muffins

chicken vienna sausages (they have nitrates, so I go easy)

organic cheese puffs

grilled cheese (I mix grated cheese w/ sweet potato baby food and a little butter to make a paste and spread it on - he likes this on crackers, too)

frozen pancakes

bagels with cream cheese (my family loves Bagelfuls)

pasta

Hopefully, this gives you some ideas. I have trouble thinking outside of the same old foods, too!

First Meals by Anabel Karmel is a great book that tons of ideas for finger foods.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Meals-Expanded-Annabel-Karmel...

We let our daughter just dig into the mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes at that age (until about age 14 months when she began using a spoon better- though at 18 months she still grabs a handful occasionally) and then I gave her a bath following dinner. The apples weren't too slimy when I sliced thinly and put them in a ziplock steamer bag for a bit. When things ARE too slimy you can try rolling it in baby cereal.

Other fav's around here were green beans, plums, peaches, SOMETIMES broccoli (mashed up)covered in cheese (she wouldn't eat it plain)new potatoes, tortilla strips (have to make sure the tortilla isn't too tough to chew, puddings, jello, black olives, diced grapes, scambled eggs (with some baby food veggies in it to give it a healthy punch)_, noodles...

Lots of these are messy... I set the high chair on a garbage bag if I KNEW it'd be super messy and lay a towel in the high chair. Then make sure you have your camera- nothing cuter than a messy baby!

My 10mo likes the foods you mentioned and also pasta. He is crazy about pasta. Go ahead and let her feed herself messy stuff. Give her a spoon. She won't use it initially. My little guy thinks spoons are lots of fun, but doesn't quite get how to eat with them. They do learn. It's messy in the beginning, but gets better.

I have 10 month old twins girls and definitely had/ have your same frustration. I had the same problem with mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. They would just stick their hands in it and make a mess..not really geting much in their mouth. So I started boiling the potatoes to where they are soft, and then cut/ break them into small bites. They LOVED them. She will eventually get the hang of the slippery foods, my girls finally did. I also have cooked frozen english peas; they loved those as well!! Another thing I did was toast the bread and then dip it into some of the pureed food. They liked that, too. There really isn't a whole lot of options at this point. Hope some of this helps. Good luck.

My son was a very picky eater at that age so I had to get creative too. Some of the things I did find that he would eat are the Earth's Best Organis cereal bars, and at Costco they have dried apples & pears (I think the brand is Brothers) that have no additives - he LOVES those. Those are also great when you're on the go. He also LOVES ravioli - there's a brand that has Sesame Street characters on it and they make little toddler-sized raviloi that are great. We let him eat with his hands - he HAS to have a spoon on his tray - and he tries to use it - but he gets most of it in with his hands. Then we just put him in the tub after dinner!

use toddler feeding forks/spoons.

could you perhaps use plastic gloves to chop bananas/avacados?