- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Multiples
Finger foods questions
We're coming up on 9 months and, while we do puffs and cheerios and shredded cheese as finger foods after purees, I'm wondering if I should start making a move toward more meals of finger foods. How do you know how much is enough? And does it take all the livelong day for them to feed themselves? I know that I can shovel a jar of purees into their gaping maws within 10-15 minutes and we're on our way out the door if need be; I'm more than happy to feed them until they are 20 if it stays that expedient.
Enlighten me on finger foods for your 9-12 month olds.
ETA: We still have no teeth, but they are good at "chewing" with their gums.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Finger foods questions
My guys bucked purees around 7.5-8 months. As in, they absolutely would not let us spoon-feed them anything. So they've been on finger/table foods since then. It took me longer to feed them purees. They're finished their dinners before my husband and I are. 10-15 minutes it takes them? Maybe? We try to stretch them out sometimes to 30 minutes just so the 2 of us can eat in relative peace. We let them eat until they're done, pushing food away, whining or just jerking around with it. They eat everything we eat. The only things we won't give them are honey and PB right now. Everything else is fair game.
ETA: They only had 2 bottom teeth until last week. Now they have 6 a piece.
My goal was to have them off purees by 11 months, and we made it. It was a slow process b/c DS really liked his mushy foods. But, I started offering them finger foods at 10 months at all meals, and after about 2 weeks, they were eating enough that I didn't feel the need to supplement with purees toward the end of the meal (b/c they'd just sort of lose interest in eating or sign/gesture that they were done if I tried to feed them anymore bites of food).
Meals tend to take about 20 minutes (not including the PITA clean up). However, they are still drinking a LOT of formula b/c we're still doing bottles before meals. In the next two weeks, we're going to reverse things so they get meals before bottles, and I expect they'll start eating more solids and those meals will take about 30 minutes. Oh, and my kids eat fast. If I put out a whole bunch of food on their trays, they literally scoop up tons of pieces and keep shoving it in their mouths until they are nearly choking. So, I tend to divy up the food a few pieces at a time.
Good luck! I actually prefer the finger foods to purees now that they have the hang of it, although those first few weeks were very frustrating.
Teaching DS2 to eat was a snap. He picks up food and inhales it. I have to space out what I give him. DS1 was a little more of a challenge. For whatever reason, he would not feed himself for several weeks in the beginning. Stubborn peanut. We finally got him to start, and he's just fine now too.
He doesn't eat as quickly, thankfully, but I'd say we're done in under 15 minutes if I don't space it out with silly games, foot playing, and general dinner time enjoyment. They occasionally throw food or their sippy off their tray, but that's the sign they're done.
Once we got over having to feed DS1, meal time is smooth sailing now.
What I should have said was I have no idea what it is like to get a kid to eat without teeth but I would imagine it would make a difference since OP pointed out not having teeth (figuring that was her hesitation, didn't want to come across as saying kids at 9-10 months should have no problem with finger foods when I have no idea when it comes to lo's with no teeth!
Thanks, y'all! I'm really lax about what I feed them. I gave them tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant the other day, figuring they'd just gum it and then felt like an a-hole when DS choked on it. I am always shocked about what they can eat without teeth, but I didn't know how much of a difference it made.
Mostly, I fear change. I've got this double barrel spoon feeding thing down pat, and just found the holy grail of divided bowls (BRU store brand of all things). When I give them finger foods, they shovel it in like there's no tomorrow but it just seems so weird that they'd eat the whole meal like that.
My girls are basically on all finger foods now. I have a few jars of purees that I am just finishing up. They eat 3 solids meals a day and have one snack. For breakfast I've been giving them oatmeal with fruit puree (just trying to get rid of it), then I give them some cut up fruit (peaches, mandarin oranges, bananas, watermelon, etc) and either frozen pancakes or waffles. They can also have toast, english muffin, etc. For lunch and dinner I give them lots of different things: grilled cheese, cream cheese and jelly sandwiches, lunch meat, raviolis, any pasta, lasagna, baked ziti, pizza, turkey/hamburgers, omlettes, cooked veggies, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. Then for a snack around 3pm they get yogurt, fruit, puffs, etc. My girls take about 15 min to feed themselves. Like a package of mac-n-cheese was enough for 4 meals for them. I just put stuff on their tray and they eat what they want.
My girls fav thing is baked sweet potatoes and apples: peel and cut them up in small cubes, put in ziploc bag and pour in a little olive oil. Dump on baking sheet and sprinkle on cinnamon and brown sugar, bake at 400 for 35 minutes. They love it!!
I should add that my girls only have 2 bottom teeth.
Cut the Crap - Weight loss journey of a Few Fat Chicks
Okay, this blows my mind. I feel like I'm stuck in cheerio purgatory. Let me ask this.. When you give them, for example, grilled cheese do you just hand them a sandwich or do you cut it in strips or small bites? Same question for waffles and pancakes.
We also do all kinds of finger food, and one girl only has her two bottom teeth. My general rule is to cut everything up to about the size of a pea (or a little larger). So, toast gets cut into little squares. Grapes get quartered. Lunch might be shredded cheddar cheese, cut up bits of rotisserie chicken and black beans cooked until they're really soft. I might mash a little avocado and spoon that in between their bites.
It's amazing what they can mash between their gums. Soft cooked veggies, fruits, beans, pasta, proteins...anything you can cut down to size and put on their tray, they'll eat it! We're also avoiding honey and peanut butter, and are waiting on strawberries because my mom has a strong allergy. Other than that, it's all fair game!
Things need to be big enough that they can pick up, but obviously not too big that they'll choke. Pancakes are a great way to start since they have size for grabbing but mash down in their mouths quickly.
I cut the sandwich is bite sized pieces. The waffles I just hand them whole since they are frozen they just gnaw on them and the pancakes I give them the mini ones and give them whole.
We went to a birthday party at an Italian restaurant and I just gave them a big slice of the crusty bread they have on the table and they gnawed on it for awhile. Then I gave them a big chunk of pizza crust which they also gnawed on. You'd be amazed at what they can actually eat. I really started giving them more table food around 8 months because they were able to get it in their mouths at that point. Now I just give them whatever I have in the house. It makes taking them out to eat easier because they can eat french fries, pasta, veggies, etc.
It's definitely scary because they gag, but they have been able to work it out. Hannah shovels food into her mouth and Lily is a little more cautious. But its so much easier for them to feed themselves!
Cut the Crap - Weight loss journey of a Few Fat Chicks
It's true! You would be surprised what they can handle! I cut toast into 4 pieces and they chew and suck on a piece and actually consume quite a bit! Sweet potatoes we steam and cut like french fries. Waffles I give whole. I give on of my girls a half a banana whole as well, because she seems to be finicky when it gets slimy... which it does it you cut it up.
Common sense of course... keep a close eye on them and try different sizes, see what works best.