Finger Foods and the End of Purees
July 1st, 2009 by ariana
Jasper’s strange high chair behavior just before the “End of Purees”.
Recently, Linda Commented:
I was wondering how Jasper is doing in the food department. What finger foods does he like best? Was it hard to get him to eat? I’m having the hardest time getting my 9 month old to eat anything besides banana, so I would appreciate any advice you can spare.
I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while, so thanks for the prompt Linda!
About two weeks ago Jasper started refusing to take purees from me. And when I say me, I really mean me. He takes them FINE at daycare – finishes both his breakfast and lunch purees. He will take them as long as I am not the one to give him the first bite! It’s really bizarre. I actually have to get my dad or anyone handy to give him the first bite so he tastes it and wants more, because as soon as I come at him with a spoon he turns his head away!
Refusal of purees isn’t even something I knew was a stage until I read it on the nest.com message boards. I guess baby’s little independent streak really starts asserting itself around the 10 month mark and feeding themselves is top on the agenda! (My theory as to why daycare can get him to eat them is because they don’t do finger foods with him so he doesn’t expect it as an alternative to purees.)
Luckily, a week or two before the end of purees he had started to really get the hang of finger foods. It took some practice though.. his favorites were all so slimy he had a hard time grasping them! But he has since gotten to be a pro. He can now down half an avocado in one sitting with only a small portion of it ending up as decorative guacamole on his clothes. (Did I mention that he insists on eating without a bib?)
But anyway, to answer Linda’s question, right now Jasper is subsisting on a diet very heavy in avocado, but here are a few other things we’ve tried that he loves:
1) Fish. I think maybe Jasper is a polar bear at heart. Last night he ate an adult size portion of wild salmon! Fish is a great finger food because the flakes are easy to grasp. The trickiest thing about fish is picking a healthy one. Basically I would stay away from all the ones you were told not to eat while pregnant, i.e. the large fish that are very high in mercury (tuna etc.) But even farmed salmon is pretty icky when you read up on it, so we have only been feeding him wild salmon.
2) Egg Yolks. According to the Super Baby Foods book, babies can have 1 egg yolk every other day (or three to four a week).
3) Melon. Jasper goes crazy for Honey Dew! When it’s really ripe it’s so soft that I can give him pretty big chunks which makes it easier for him to pick up without it sliding away from him (same goes with avocado, it’s so mushy we can get away with bigger pieces).
4) Blueberries: at first I was peeling them, but now I can cut them in half or quarters for extra large ones and he just goes to town. (note that berries can be allergens and some books say not to introduce them until later.)
5) Cheese. I added cheese to this list not because Jasper likes it, but because he is probably the only baby (and certainly the only family member!) that DOESN’T like it. We first tried colby with him because it’s extra soft, but he hated it apparently so much that he now refuses anything white that even slightly resembles cheese! This is unfortunate because I think he might like Mozzarella that has a slightly sweeter taste if I could just get him to try it.
That’s about our entire repertoire at this point, so this is where my advice ends. Linda and I could both benefit from your suggestions: What finger foods does or did your baby love at the 9-12 month stage?
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I am so happy that you did this post, Ariana. We are working on transitioning from purees to finger foods, too, and it is an interesting transition. Hadley has also begun to refuse her purees mainly because she wants more of the finger foods we offer. We have tried the following finger foods and they all work great so far: bananas, blueberries, bits of any kind of wheat bread (english muffins, tortillas, toast), wheat pasta pieces, cottage cheese, plain, unsweetened yogurt, and steamed green beans, baby carrots, and green peas that I chunk up. We recently tried deli shaved turkey, too, which she seems to have an easy time eating. This is truly an experiment in the works:-)!
Oops, I should mention that I feed the cottage cheese and yogurt with a spoon:j-). I consider them transition foods, though, since they are outside the realm of her original “baby foods.”
All the foods that Keri mentioned above are in Noah’s rotation at 11.5 months including diced fruits of any kind (peaches, pears, apricots, plums, apples, grapes, etc.). We’ve also had success with ground meats and diced, cooked chicken to add in proteins. Noah’s a big fan of Trader Joe’s whole wheat blueberry frozen waffles with a side of diced banana…seems to be our go-to breakfast around these parts. I’m looking forward to hearing what others have to say!
Keri, I give him some yogurt too in his morning quinoa cereal / pear mix. When I can get him to eat it he does love it! Do you cut up the green beans really small?
Sara, I was always worried that apple is too hard.. interesting! I forgot about bread etc. Jasper can go to town on rolls etc when I give them to him. I should have mentioned that because jasper is on the lower side of the weight curve I have been mostly trying to give him foods high in fat and calories!
Also should have mentioned that he LOVES baby mum mums.. I usually give him one at the start of every meal so I can get some quiet time to prep the rest of his meal!
Aliana is also not liking puree foods lately.. we are giving her grapes, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, loves brown rice, chicken, some ground beef, cheese, pasta, some egg yolk, bananas, she is also loving some lentils soup. Lets see what other have to say so I can try new news with her….
Diana, does she eat the brown rice herself (with her hands?)
Ariana, I do cut the green beans into pretty small pieces, but they are still big enough that Hadley can pick them up and get them into her mouth. I love the idea of feeding her wild salmon. I’m going to try that soon!
And Sara, the waffles sound perfect. Thanks for the tip!
To make slippery foods (banana, mango, etc) easier to pick up, put a bunch of cheerios in a ziploc back and crush the heck out of them. Throw the slippery food in with the cheerios crumbs and shake. A little messy, but now the stuff will be easier to pick up by little hands.
My baby takes purees without problems at daycare, too! He also will eat baby food if we go out to eat, probably because he’s so distracted by everything else.
Adding to everyone else’s list, baby likes: quesadillas, Morningstar Farms veggie burgers, cheese, cheese, and more cheese, Kashi waffles, grilled cheese and fresh strawberries. There are TONS of things that he doesn’t like, though :) I’m happy to see all the ideas here for new foods for baby. I feel like we’re in a rut with what baby actually does like!
Pamela, great tip! The superbaby foods book suggests grinding oats into a powder and coating them with that.
Marybeth, he refuses them from you normally though?
I love hearing all the suggestions. Keep them coming!
yes she eat the little grains of rice with her own hands.. i also make her little balls of green plantains… i boil some green plantains and mash them with a tiny little bit of butter and make her little balls she loves it…
This is great! We’re getting ready to start trying more finger foods with our 9-month-old. Just last night I realized that I should probably start making her purees a little chunkier.
James is pretty much over all purees as well. I give him tiny bits of most things I’m eating… breads, meats, veggies, sometimes pasta, soups and broths. He loves Yo Baby yogurt (finally… he hated it the first probably 10 times), I poach organic chicken breasts in broth and then shred them for him, or organic ground beef or turkey. I buy bags of frozen mixed organic veggies and microwave steam them in small portions (they’re corn, peas, carrots, and green beans, which I halve). Canned organic white or black beans (rinsed to remove salt), cheddar and mozzarella cheese, cheerios and organic puffs, freeze dried fruit (I like Safeway’s O Organics brand banana and mango mix), blueberries, zucchini, broccoli, and just about any other steamed vegetable. He doesn’t much like to touch any slimy foods… he will eat avocado if I feed it to him. No melon. :( I think he’s like his mom and doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. He’s a pretty decent eater… likes veggies much better than fruit, but he’ll eat most things I offer. At this age they can eat most anything you do, if it’s small and soft enough.
My little guy is 14 months now and while he loves finger foods I’m still feeding him from a spoon for the most part. If I leave him to it, it all ends up on the floor. He loves quesidillas and grilled cheese but won’t eat cheese by itself. He loves strawberries, grapes, peaches, bananas apples (He got an apple that one of the girls put down and loved it. I don’t cut it up, just peel it and let him shave it with his little teeth. He can’t bite off a big enough piece to choke on. Keeps him busy forever, like when I’m making dinner.) He loves yogurt and crackers and baked potatoes. He eats diced chicken and fish, loves pasta and rice. And he loves cheetos. Not the healthiest choice, I know, but all things in moderations right? :)
I guess I missed that point :) Baby pretty much refuses to let me feed him. He’ll grab the spoon and cry after the first bite or two. He’s only happy (at home) if he can feed himself.
Kimberly and Lelu have such good little eaters–I’m jealous!
I have the exact same problem. A refuses to eat from a spoon most of the time I feed him. We’ve done (all cut up in baby-sized chunks) – turkey burger, strawberries, orzo, bananna, cantelope, grapes, turnips, carrot, peas, green hamburgers (which is basically chopped kale made into burger form), sweet potato, homemade bread, fresh mozerella. He pretty much digs it all. The problem is, it’s really tough to gauge how much he’s eaten. I always find extra bits in his clothes, high chair, etc.
We do mango, peaches, pears, avacado, pasta, quesadilla with corn tortillas, corn off the cob, applesauce, yogurt (the only purees he will take), banana, peas, watermelon (favorite), bread, green beans, tofu (with baby cereal as the grip factor)….erm….I think that is it. Good luck – we try pretty much any fruit or veggie cut up into small peices and we haven’t had that much trouble.
Yah for finger foods! I cannot even remember what I was feeding Owen at that transition stage… but the more veggies you can get down now (while he’s too young to know better) – the better! Lightly steamed peas and carrots could be fun finger foods i think….
I have been reading you blog for a long time and never get around to posting a comment,but since I am going through the same things I thought I would say hello and let you know that DD LOVED steamed carrots last night. She gobbled them right up. She is also starting to refuse solids here and there. Some days are better than others.
Tofu has been rough, but just read Maggie’s comment about cereal as a grip factor! Brilliant!
Everybody has such good ideas, and it all sounds so healthy and delicious. Definitely black beans. And what about that Veggie Booty? I remember that being a favorite.
Alicia, I forgot, we did do squished (not whole) peas once and he liked them!
JB, black beans are such a good idea – lots of protein! And pirate’s booty too, will have to try that.. they sort of “melt” in the mouth!
oh yeah – Liams fave snack is the pirates booty!
you guys have listed so many, we do the following too:
-nutri-grain bars in tiny pieces (also the fruit newton cookies as a treat in tiny pieces)
-morning star farms veggie chicken tenders, and veggie spinach and artichoke tenders.
- quesadillas (filled with half cheese/half sweet potato puree or chunks)
- he loves chicken! our short cut is to get a rotisserie chicken and use that.
- raviolis
- mandarin segments (i have heard that some people DO NOT reccommend citrus until after a year… we tried and are ok with it… just passing along the warning)
I was going to also recommend Black beans and Garbonzo beans. With the Garbonzo beans, I just popped them out of their casing and let my son go to town!
Great eater Jasper!
OK, what’s with everyone and the quesadilla’s? Did I miss the memo that this is a favorite first finger food? I’ve obviously been holding out on poor deprived Jasper!! :)
You’re not alone… I’ve never given quesadillas, either. I gave James a piece of tortilla not long ago and it got stuck on the roof of his mouth and I had to fish it out…. so we’ll be waiting a while on those! :)
I’m having a bit of the opposite problem. Although Finn will pretty much eat ANY vegetable or fruit when pureed (except maybe asparagus when I don’t mix it with avocado, sweet potato, pear, or tofu or something), he spits food out when there are chunks in it! Finger foods are obviously not going so well. He’ll grab at the spoon and try to feed himself as well as try to put EVERYTHING that he’s NOT supposed to in his mouth, but when I put CHUNKS of banana or avocado or something in front of him so he can work on self-feeding, he just pushes it around! I can’t believe it. Not sure what to do besides keep working on it. I’m having some success with watermelon and other foods that dissolve easily, and am looking forward to introducing garbanzos and other beans (super baby food says wait until 9 months — only one week away!).
Kaity has had waffles :) She loves them!! She has had cheese, sliced and loved that too. Her face lite up when hit her tongue. She had blueberries, but not sure she likes the texture of it right now. She loves Ritz crackers, saltines and graham crackers. I have tried stage 3 foods w/ her , but she’ll get 1/2 way done the jar and turn her head. Go figure! She is a good eater and so far has not had any allergic reactions to anything. Hoping it will stay that way.
Ok, so I don’t have any suggestions, but rather a “thank you!” We’re approaching the finger food months very soon and I appreciate your healthy and convenient ideas!
My friend has a blog about finger-foods and such. You might enjoy it: http://hungrybambino.blogspot.com/