Inexpensive finger foods for sensitive 1 year old?

taliwillow

Hello,

I seem to have hit a little bit of a wall with what to feed my 13 month old and wondered if anyone on here could help. We have had problems with feeding up until now as (the doctors say) she has an oversensitive gag reflex. Plus she only has 3 teeth so chewing isn't terribly easy but shes getting there. In the last couple of weeks we have finally made what to us seems like significant progress and she is now eating small slices of toast, rice cakes, brocolli, cauliflower, courgettes and very well cooked carrot sticks. The problem we have now is that she is so impressed with this revelation that she can actually feed herself that she is being very awkward about eating anything that requires a spoon (and therefore requires mummy or daddy to feed her) so I would like to find other finger foods for her but don't want her to end up living on toast and sandwiches. Also, any ideas on sandwich fillings that are quite soft as I am going to try her with sandwiches over the next few days.
Also cost is a consideration as money is extremely tight as I am on maternity leave at the moment with baby no 2.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks
Taliwillow

Krystaltips

The gag reflex is there to stop her choking so if she gags food back up it is a good sign... She can then just chew a bit more before she swallows again...

Any vegetable that can be cut into strips such as butternut sqash, roasted parsnips etc would work, dairylea triangles and maybe at her age her pincer grip is developed enough you could pop her peas and raisins on a plate to pick up?

Welshlassie

How about dips for the finger food she is able to eat, hummous, tomato based sauces (could dip with pasta) etc

Sandwich fillers, cream cheese, wafer thin ham and other meats, tuna with small amount of mayo.

My DS loves dried fruits and has really helped his pincher grip develop.

He was desperate to feed himself so I bought a spoon and fork set from Boots that we bent at an angle to help them go in his mouth. I then gave him that cutlery and had a spoon myself and we managed to get quite a bit in him that way until his co-ordination was good enough for him to do it himself. Now at 17 months he feeds himself everything, with the occasional encouraging spoonfull from me or dad.

My_Fathers_Daughter

I haven't actually had my son yet but all being well we will be trying Baby Led Weaning...this forum may be of help for some ideas:

http://forum.babyledweaning.com/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=e72509049860802480bb3a83020e42fb

suekjw

My little one was just as independent lol! I used to give my little girl small slices of omlette. Just make a basic omlette and cut it to size.

fernliebee

My DD (7 months) much prefers to feed her self, but if she is hungry enough she will tolerate me spoon feeding her sometimes!

She like rice cakes spread with hummus, marmite (apparently babies shouldn't have this now, but I risk it!) Tahini, Oat cakes, dry cereal though a lot of it is too sugary IMO.

She also loves bananas split down the middle into thirds (Ilove that trick!) any fruit cut up (you can steam harder fruit to soften it if your DD finds it easier, Pasta in tomato sauce (not ketchup ) I also make mashed food like vegetables or lentils etc and spread them on rice cakes or brown bread. Also if she has something to hold she is much more co-operative with the spoon feeding. I haven't done it but I saw an article on BLW and it had a recipe for making vegetable bread sticks. If I remember rightly you get a load of veg and steam them until soft mix with flour and bake, cut up while still warm then allow to cool.

I've also found that she tends to 'snatch' the food off the spoon and put it into her own mouth, so I started to make the mix very thick and gloopy and she would be able to get most of it in just off her hands. Not the most effective (or easy clean) method but it works on occasion.

jenhug

give her a spoon and let her dig in!

tessie_bear

my son likes eggs boiled and chopped in to quarters or omelette sliced up or mashed up ...that does get messy

sarahsarah

My dd used to like:
New potatoes
Yorkshire Puddings
Pancakes
Steamed veg eg baby sweetcorn, green beans, mange tout, parsnips, carrots
Tinned fruit eg peaches and pears
Slices of Advocado
Cubes of cheese
Toasted Muffins or Bread Cobs made into a mini pizza
Sausages, Burgers, Fish Cakes (you can make your own burgers and fishcakes really cheaply!)

If you have a look in the library, they usually have quite a few books on feeding babies and toddlers, a lot of them have sections on finger food and you will probably find a few books specifically about finger food..

This phase of only liking finger food and nothing that needs a spoon will soon pass though, my daughter eats exactly the same as us now and has no problems clearing her plate with no help at all.. As long as you let them experiment with the spoon themselves and even get their hands in and pick up even sloppy food they will soon learn to get 99% of it into their mouth!

rchddap1

cucumber was one of my daughter's favs...still is. I'll back the give her a spoon motion as well. In fact it was advised by physio and portage development people who were keeping an eye on my daughter. Perhaps she had decided that she now wants to give it a try. Yes it'll be very messy.....but she'll have lots of fun and she'll learn from it.

Although....my daughter is now 2 and still prefers fingers.

sarahsarah

Just wanted to add, get a bowl that sticks to the table or higchair (cheapest from tesco when we were buying) and a mat under the highchair if its on a carpet, then strip the bubba off to nappy at feeding time and don't fret about the mess. It's all good experiences for them, and they will learn so much quicker if you let them do it themself. :T