10 month old not eating finger foods

HZ2012

I've posted before regarding this issue and nothing's changing so I figured I'd try and get some more suggestions.
My LO is 10 months old and is still just eating purées. He will eat puffs and Cheerios, but won't eat anything else that I've offered him. Won't eat avocado, banana, egg, French toast, or pasta. I've tried feeding him, and letting him feed himself. He gags and pukes. Today he ate some pasta, but minutes later spit it out. He doesn't want to chew it, yet he chews Cheerios no problem.

Any helpful hints? Anyone else in the same boat? I'm stressing out over this. Before I know it he'll be 1 and he's supposed to be eating anything and everything!

TIA!

aliandchris

Definitely don't stress! While my 10 month old is a human garbage disposal, my now 2 1/2 year old took to solids very slowly....he gagged on chunky purses and showed basically no interest in eating much of anything other than milk until he was 13 months. To this day, he's just not a big eater. But, I supplement his diet with vitamins and offer him healthy options at every meal. They won't starve themselves and I find the more I push, the more he refuses! Good luck!

ASmallWonder

Everything you've offered him is soft so he may not realize he needs to chew it, tries to swallow it whole and gags.  Try giving him things with more texture like crackers/toast/waffles, apples (raw in slices), meats, cheese sticks.

littlebean510

We are in the same boat.  I've discovered that unless it has a hard, crunchy texture it won't get eaten.  I keep trying though.  Grilled cheese has been a huge hit in our house and I think she would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I served it!  We do a combination of purees and finger foods but trying to get away from purees and do more finger foods.  Lots of cheerios, crackers, toast, waffles.   No advice, just letting you know you're not alone.  

HZ2012

Thank you so much ladies. Good to know that I'm not alone and that I guess this is somewhat normal.

I just realized that he will eat anything hard. Yesterday he ate an arrow root cookie and it dawned on me (sometimes I'm not the brightest bulb in the box). So I will continue on with offering him both hard and softer foods. Tomorrow I will toast up some waffles. Fingers crossed!

BC&LM

We are in a somewhat similar situation. LO is almost ten months. He will eat Cheerios and puffs no problem. Other finger foods he will eat if you give them to him, but he doesn't want to pick them up himself. Since I have read you should let the baby feed himself his own finger food, we still do lots of purees while he is working on getting the hang of picking up fruits and veggies. Occasionally, I will hand him a piece to remind him that he does know how to eat it once it gets to his mouth!

ASmallWonder

@BC&LM is it possible it's too slippery for him to grab or too small?  Dusting slippery stuff in crushed cracker, graham crackers or Cheerios works really well for slippery stuff and cutting stuff into spears helps too

Lelo2006

somerandomchick said:

Gagging is 100% normal. My LO has been eating table food from day 1 (baby led weaning) and there was a LOT of gagging at first, and often vomiting. She's gotten a lot better. Just make sure you know the difference between gagging (no big deal) and choking (big deal) so you know when to intervene.

You fed your 1 day old table food?! Don't you know how dangerous that is? The horror!

AlaskaLakota

We're in the same boat. My LO just didn't care much for foods until more recently. It hit me last night that she'll be eating regularly in about 2 months, and that was scary! But, if you think if how quickly baby develops, it seems less scary. For example, one week baby discovered crawling, and by the next week they were really good, then by the third week, they were pros. Things progress quickly in a babies life, and although two months seems close, it's actually plenty of time for them to develop awesome eating skills.

BC&LM

elmoali said:

@BC&LM is it possible it's too slippery for him to grab or too small?  Dusting slippery stuff in crushed cracker, graham crackers or Cheerios works really well for slippery stuff and cutting stuff into spears helps too

At first, I think they were actually too big, but now that we started cutting them up smaller the past couple of days, he is becoming more willing to pick them up. He still makes a face with almost anything other than Cheerios and puffs, and usually throws them down after picking them up and/or licking them. Today he only ate like two or three tiny pieces of steamed apple and asparagus. We tried rolling stuff in Cheerio dust a couple of weeks ago, but it didn't seem to make a difference; it's worth another try, though! Thanks!!!

GracefulStar

Going through the same thing although I get him to eat things like pancakes by putting pieces in his apple or fruit purees, he doesn't notice as much when it's on the spoon. Good luck!

mikellgmiranda

Food before 1 is just for fun! So no worries

coco0723

So glad you posted this! I posted something similar but no one seemed to want to provide any suggestions for me. Glad to know that we are not the only ones experiencing this issue. My LO has never been a big eater, she is more of a snacker. She loves the puffs and will always eat those but getting her to try other foods has been challenging. I've decided to just not force it and take our time. She has now started eating scrambled eggs and chunks of banana. I hope all goes well with you and I guess the key is slow and steady and baby will do it when they are ready.

tuckerandruth

My 9.5mo has eaten just about everything pureed and can feed himself puffs no sweat. I will give him cut up cantaloupe, bananas, soft carrots, etc... and he looks at me like I'm crazy haha! He has never been a big eater, never was chubby or anything. As long as he gets some amount of solids I feel like it's okay. I will say that you hold a strawberry in his face and he will do all but bite your finger off to get that thing! Their main food source is still supposed to be breast milk/formula till close to a year anyway. And I feel like once some molars come in it will help a lot. I'm the worst person to take my own advice so I will tell you not to stress but know that I get stressed about it too and you're not alone