Baby wont eat finger foods

What to do if your baby doesn't like baby foods, purees, or solids

Introducing your baby to solid foods can be fun and photo-worthy, but this milestone can also come with some challenges.

It's normal for babies to balk the first time (or many times) they try new solid foods, since they've only ever had breast milk or formula. Don't be discouraged if your baby refuses food at first – it can take 10 or more tries sometimes to get your baby to eat a new food.

The key at any age is to offer your baby a wide variety of foods and keep trying. Even if they don't like the food at first, keep offering it to them – babies learn to love what they're given. If they don't like sweet potato, maybe they'll like squash. Once they get used to squash, try mixing squash with sweet potato to get them used to the new flavor. If they don't like bananas, try avocado and then go back to bananas for another try.

But if you're serving your baby different foods and nothing's working, read on.

If your baby won't eat solids

If your baby is about 6 months old and is developmentally ready for solid foods (has good head control, is grasping, can sit up on their own), but doesn't seem interested in food, they may just not be ready to dive in yet.

Some babies need a little more time to develop curiosity around food. Take it slow – if you try to give your baby one kind of puree and they refuse it, wait a few days and try a different puree. In the meantime, make family meals fun and engaging by talking to your baby about the food you're preparing and letting them watch you eat.

If your baby is struggling with purees, baby-led weaning could be a good alternative. This method encourages your baby to explore food on their own. Simply offer your child safe foods, like soft scrambled eggs or long spears of very ripe banana, and let them experiment with how the food feels in their hands and mouth.

Keep in mind that whether you start with pureed foods or try baby-led weaning, gagging is perfectly normal while your baby learns to feed themself. The gag reflex helps bring food to the front of the mouth so your baby learns how to chew.

If your baby won't eat finger foods

If your baby is 9 months or older and they don't like finger foods and thicker purees, there could be a few reasons. If your baby has primarily been spoon-fed by you up until now, they may need some time to get the hang of feeding themselves finger foods.

Advertisement | page continues below

Or they may not be ready yet – babies can't pick up and feed themselves finger foods well until they learn the pincer grasp. This usually happens around 8 to 10 months, but if you're baby's a little behind, don't worry. They may just need some extra time to learn, and some encouragement from you can help.

You can help your baby master their grabbing skills by giving them lots of toys that are easy to grasp, like soft blocks, plastic rings, and board books. Play a little game with them by putting a colorful toy in front of them and encouraging them to grab it.

Some babies also have a sensitive gag reflex that makes them gag on lumpy food. (They may have had difficulty latching on when nursing as infants.) If your baby has trouble eating textured or lumpy food without gagging, sticking to thin purees may feel safe, but this could get in the way of helping your child learn how to chew.

Teach your baby to tolerate lumpy food by adding ingredients with a uniform texture – like wheat germ or cracker crumbs – to pureed food. Start with a small amount and add more as your baby gets used to the texture. You can also try giving them solids that will dissolve easily in their mouth, like baby crackers, to help them get used to new textures.

If your baby doesn't like the texture of meat, try a different preparation: For example, if your baby won't eat diced chicken breast, try giving them ground chicken or thinly sliced deli meat instead.

If your baby is sensitive to the texture of finger foods, experiment with introducing different textures in other ways – give your baby feathers, a bumpy ball, or cooked noodles to play with. (Just make sure to supervise in case small items end up in your baby's mouth.) Teething toys that have bumps may help, too. Getting used to new sensations at playtime might make your baby more open to unfamiliar food textures.

If your child still rejects lumpy or textured solid food at a year old, or if they aren't able to feed themself finger foods by 12 to 15 months, check in with your child's doctor. It could indicate that your child has a developmental problem or sensory issue that may be improved with the right help.

Severe difficulty eating a wide range of foods is common among kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or sensory processing disorder (SPD), but picky eating isn't the only sign of these conditions. Talk to the doctor if you have any concerns.

Was this article helpful?

Yes

5 Myths About Babies and Toddlers that Won't Eat Table Foods

Some babies and toddlers have a hard time learning to eat solids, table, and finger foods. When they do there are some damaging myths that must be busted so they can learn to eat!

It’s not talked about a lot. I suppose it’s rooted in the fact that a lot of doctors and professionals aren’t trained in feeding delays. For many, when babies and/or toddlers don’t want to or can’t eat table foods, the most common response is, “They’ll grow out of it.”

As a pediatric OT that has had dozens and dozens of young children on their caseload, I can assure you this may not be the case.

But, what really irks me is that we don’t hear this advice when our kids aren’t talking or walking on time. Those challenges are often met with a swift referral for more help, or even concrete suggestions parents can use at home. I suppose part of the problem is that we all take eating for granted, assuming it always comes naturally.

We may not realize that eating is also a skill. While it’s true that for most babies chewing and eating all sorts of textures comes mostly from born instinct, there are some babies and toddlers that need more help. (Stay tuned for an awesome new freebie to show you how at the end of the post.)

And, to begin to help these sweet babes, we first need to bust a couple of myths that stand in the way of progress!

Myths About Babies/Toddlers that Can’t or Refuse to Eat Table Foods

These 5 myths are spread everywhere, mostly because they seem to make sense. We draw natural conclusions to either make sense out of why our babies and toddlers aren’t doing a basic skill of life: eating. Or, we follow main stream advice that works for some babies, but not those that need more help.

Learning why these common conclusions and advice are “myths” can put you in a position to help your baby eat new foods! Let’s take a look at 5 big ones:

Myth #1: “My baby/toddler doesn’t have teeth yet, so they can’t chew.”

This is one of those myths that tend to be drawn from our own conclusions. It stands to reason that if your child doesn’t have any teeth yet, then they can’t chew. But, the fact is that the vast majority of children get their four front teeth first, and those teeth don’t help us chew. Think about the last time you ate a meatball like a bunny rabbit at the front of your mouth.

Those front teeth do help take bites off of larger pieces of food, but they aren’t entirely necessary for that skill either.

Babies and toddlers should be chewing where there molars WILL BE, on the back of their gums. For most kids, those first molars don’t come in until 13 – 19 months old. See a teeth order chart by age here.

Those molars will ultimately help grind up even tougher foods, but for now their gums were built strong and can manage chewing.

If your baby or toddler doesn’t seem to know how to chew or isn’t getting their food mashed up enough when they are eating, then they may be having a hard time with any of the following:

Moving the tongue from side to side (an important part of chewing, called tongue lateralization)
Knowing how to chew, sequencing the steps together
Having the needed jaw strength to bite down through their food
Keeping their lips closed so food doesn’t fall out of their mouth while they are chewing

All of these skills, fall under what’s called oral-motor skills. Learn about Oral Motor Exercises.

Myth #2: Focus on soft foods

Again, another myth that seems to be common sense thinking. Before taking specialized feeding education, I believed this one too. A go to food for most parents is soft bananas. The thought is that if the food is super soft it will require almost no effort to chew and will thus be totally easy to eat.

While that works for some babies, others that are having a hard time learning how to eat seem to struggle even more with soft foods because:

they are squishy and slip around their mouth easily, making it easy to lose track of and gag on,
they are sensitive to textures and slimy or soft foods feel uncomfortable in their mouth and on their hands, and
they have to be chewed a few times before they’re ready to be swallowed.

It may surprise you to learn that a crunchy food that melts quickly, like puffs, are actually better to focus on. The crunchy texture is often better for kids with a sensory sensitivity and it can be felt in their mouth easily. That means they can get it on their gums and munch down. Head to How to Transition to Table Foods to learn more.

Myth #3: Focus on mixed textures

I’m blaming this myth on the baby food industry, because stage 3 baby food products almost always contain regular baby food with chunks of food in it. Babies that eat stage 3 foods happily are often just swallowing everything down whole because sorting out the bits of food to chew is an advanced skill.

When babies and toddlers are having a hard time learning to eat table foods, those chunks can make them gag and even vomit. It’s usually best to avoid them until your child is eating a variety of textures separately.

Instead of moving to mixed textures, if a child likes pureed foods, I like to slowly thicken it over time, baby cereal works great. This requires their tongue to move more to swallow and they get used to swallowing a different texture, similar to chewed food.

An important reminder at this point is to always talk to your child’s doctor about any safety concerns or delays around eating your child may have.

Myth #4: Gagging is the same as choking

It’s scary when we see our babies gag, right? It is, even for me. But, gagging and choking are two different things. Gagging is when the food hits the gag reflex and their bodies instinctively gag to get the food out of the way before it’s stuck in our throat.

Choking is when a food is stuck in the throat. When this happens there is no noise. You’re child may look panicked, but they won’t wretch forward. This rarely happens, but it’s important to avoid these common chocking hazards. Gagging, on the other hand, is very common and happens occasionally for most babies and toddlers.

Because gagging is so scary, some parents understandably want to avoid it. Head to the Baby Gagging Guide for tips and find out if you should be concerned.

Unfortunately, that may mean they don’t get enough exposure to table foods. While frequent gagging can be a warning sign that there’s some underlying issues with table and finger foods, gagging sometimes does come with this age. Talk to your doctor about your concerns and you can check out an online child CPR class to help with peace of mind.

Myth #5: Don’t worry they’ll grow out of it

Yup, I want to address the most common and blatant myth parents often hear when their babies and toddlers aren’t taking to table foods: Don’t worry they’ll grow out of it. That may be true for some kids, although I haven’t personally witnessed it, but what I have seen is many young children that don’t get help when they are 1 years old will have feeding problems that evolve into extreme picky eating.

I’m beyond frustrated when I talk with a parent of a 7 year old that’s eating less than 10 foods and they tell me that they struggled to eat table foods for a long time. Of course, the parent reached out for help, but they were met with this dangerous myth.

Babies and toddlers actually were designed to learn to eat table foods between 8 and 11 months old. A natural instinct to chew is present in most kids at this age. If your child is falling in this age range, working on some specific strategies or getting more help (like with a feeding therapist) can actually help tremendously.

That’s not to say that chewing and eating can’t be taught once this window has closed, but it will likely take a little more time. This is why being proactive matters!

What is True about Babies and Toddlers Transitioning to Table Foods

It’s easy to worry about how much food your child is eating and if they’re getting enough to grow and learn everything they need to. While we want to see a gradual progression of more eating, we don’t want to see an over emphasis on table or finger foods before their first birthday.

Milk and formula are king until 12 months of age. And, even throughout the next year, milk or formula is usually an important part of the toddlers diet. Head to How Much Milk Does a 1 Year Old Need for more info.

Try to avoid calorie counting and focus on a positive eating environment, that’s on a schedule (here’s a sample feeding schedule for 1 year olds and up).

Free 5 Big Feeding Mistakes That Are Stopping Your Child From Learning to Eat Table Foods Workshop

If your baby or toddler is struggling to learn how to eat table foods, it can be totally devastating. The problem just doesn’t seem to go away. While I hope you gained some great insights and suggestions in this post, I’ve got a lot more coming next week in my brand new and totally free workshop: 5 Big Feeding Mistakes That Are Stopping Your Child From Learning to Eat Table Foods Workshop.

I’m going to reveal my unique 5 step plan with you and I’ll send a free workbook to your inbox!

Click here to save your spot!

Did You Pin This?

Go ahead, save it to your baby or toddler board so you know where to find it!

Alisha Grogan is a licensed occupational therapist and founder of Your Kid’s Table. She has over 14 years experience with expertise in sensory processing and feeding development in babies, toddlers, and children. Alisha also has 3 boys of her own at home. Learn more about her here.

Finger food - Encyclopedia Baby food

Viktoria Levchuk©

Finger food is baby food prepared in the form of pieces of boiled soft food so that the child can independently take it and transfer it to the mouth, chew it or swallow it without anyone help and any problems.

Finger food is a fun way to encourage the development of motor coordination and skills for biting, chewing and self-feeding. Food in pieces should be easy to grasp by children's fingers and long-term storage, and should not contain bones or seeds.

As soon as the child begins to take food with his fingers and put it into his mouth with reasonable hand-eye coordination, then the fun begins! Let your child experiment with soft snacks such as a banana or peach that can be “hand-mashed” to the right consistency. The more a child experiments with finger food, the faster he will masterfully feed himself.

Finger food helps keep a child's food interest. As soon as he begins to feed himself on his own, then new taste horizons open up for him. What child refuses to try to bring the product to his mouth on his own, even if he didn’t really like it before.

Contents:

Very often mothers think at what age should they give finger food to their baby.

Honestly, even for me it's a difficult question. It's just that sometime between eight and nine months, the baby began to eat small pieces of food. The change in the consistency of food by age is very well described in the WHO recommendation, so it should be guided by.

Food consistency up to a year. Click on me!!!

However, you should not do it blindly and try to feed the baby in pieces at a certain age, perhaps he will not be ready yet. Children are all different, some want food in pieces, almost from the beginning of complementary foods, others are not ready for lumpy food for up to a year or more. Therefore, any decision on finger food is made based on the child and his readiness. An excellent preparation for finger food is a nibbler, which will prepare the child for lumpy food.

The child has no teeth

Click on me!!!

A child's gums are incredibly strong, as is the tongue, so the number of teeth is not an indicator of whether to give finger food or not. If the decision has been made to start complementary foods and the baby is doing well with mashed foods, then you can safely start giving small pieces of soft food when the baby is ready for it. At this stage, it is important to let the child try to eat food of a different consistency, more complex, in order to train the maxillofacial apparatus. Thus, the child gradually prepares for the full chewing of food with the help of the entire jaw, teeth and tongue.

Knowing if finger food is safe for a child

A good rule of thumb to help prevent choking is to avoid anything hard (e. g. raw carrots), round (e.g. whole grapes), sticky (e.g. , spoon of nut butter) or too much gummies (such as gummies). At first, the child is given pieces of food in the form of sticks, which can be easily clamped in the child's chick, later, when the child begins to control the finger grip better, you can move on to cubes. At first, finger food should be soft, boiled and melt in your mouth. As a child learns to manage with such products, it is possible to complicate the task and switch to fresh soft foods, etc.

Foods that squeeze easily between fingers are good for older children and for younger children. Around 16-18 months, many babies are ready for more complex textures. During this period, cutting food into pea-sized pieces is also a good idea - many babies tend to put large pieces of food in their mouths, so small cubes are used to avoid choking. We always adjust the sizes of products according to the age and eating experience of our own child.

Usually the first finger food is biscuits or baby biscuits, which are very soft and dissolve easily in the mouth. The baby first sucks it, procrastinates, and learns to roll pieces of food in the mouth with the help of the tongue. A little later, when the teeth appear, you can give the product a little harder, for example, a soft apple, some parents play it safe and give a baked apple without a peel. Later, as new foods, vegetables and fruits are introduced into complementary foods, they are offered in the form of finger food, such as boiled broccoli or cauliflower. In general, the child can be offered almost all products in the form of finger food, which is introduced into baby food.

Should the product be peeled or not?

We give an apple to a child without a peel.

The first finger foods in the form of vegetables and fruits are given without skins. Yes, the skin of many fruits and vegetables contains valuable nutrients. It is often recommended to leave the skin on in order to take full advantage of the nutrients contained in the product. But removing the top layer from fruits and vegetables helps reduce the amount of pesticides that may be in the product. Peeling fruits and vegetables helps avoid choking hazards due to the rough texture of the skins. The peel also usually sticks to the palate in the child's mouth, thereby hindering him, and can be there for a long time, and when the child swallows, the probability of choking in the absence of an adult nearby is higher. Getting rid of the skin at the beginning of complementary foods also helps prevent disorders

Banana is convenient to eat with a small hand

digestion. And we also take into account that there are some vegetables and fruits, such as pumpkin and avocado, which need to be peeled, because their peel is really inedible. It is not worth getting rid of the product from the peel for a long time, only at first. Usually the first couple of months of complementary foods and exposure to finger food. Then the product with the peel is given to the child in the presence of an adult, after which it is advisable to check the baby's mouth to see if he swallowed everything. Forcibly open your mouth should not be, play the game "Show your tongue or where are your teeth." By the age of 1.5, the child copes well with the peel of fruits and vegetables, if it is too rough, then it easily spits it out.

Choking

The presence or absence of teeth does not mean that a child can chew. Sometimes children can bite off a piece of food, try to swallow it whole and choke, so never leave a child alone while eating. Some children can store food in their mouths like hamsters, so we always check to make sure the child has swallowed everything before leaving the kitchen. You can read the article on suffocation here.

Our finger foods

At first I gave biscuits to my first child, later I switched to a fresh apple, mostly fresh fruits, he sucked and procrastinated them more than he ate. Later, food appeared in the form of a toy, i.e. we crumbled it, crushed it, and sometimes something got into our mouths. However, since breast milk is always given at the end of complementary foods, I was not too worried about whether the baby was full or not.

With the second child, finger food was a gradual transition from the nibbler. We used it for about a month, then I ventured to give the first pieces of food. But to be honest, the child himself tried the first pieces of food, namely, he stole an apple and took a bite. The first experience of finger food is always scary, because at first the child often coughs and spits out food, he is learning, so it is important to be with the child, if something goes wrong, then the parent will be able to provide first aid. I remind you that the child is suffocating quietly, not a single sound. If he coughs, clears his throat, then everything is within the normal range, you need to help get rid of the food that interferes. Rules for helping with choking know before introducing finger food into complementary foods. It is imperative to look and study, and then give a new consistency of complementary foods.

Of course, at first, only one type of finger food is placed in front of the baby, later a plate is bought, divided into three to five sections, which is filled with finger food. The baby is already given a choice of what to eat, so you can easily determine the taste preferences in nutrition.

Finger food quick hacks

The first finger food should be well kneaded between the gums.
Food in pieces should be age appropriate - do not offer whole eggs to an 8 month old baby .
If the child cannot raise his head and sit up without help, do not offer him finger food.
The child should always sit in an upright position, not walk, especially at the first meeting, when he is offered baby food in the form of pieces, to avoid suffocation.
NEVER leave your child unattended when serving finger food.

Examples of finger food

The first finger food is a biscuit or a baked apple. Those. food that does not need to be chewed, it melts easily in the mouth without additional help from the child. You can start with foods that have been well received by the child in a pureed form on a spoon, serving them in convenient cubes or pieces - the size of a pea for harder items, the size of a stick or wedge for softer foods.

Examples of finger food are:

Click me!!!

pieces of soft bread or crackers
Soft cheese, Chedder or Mozarella
Banana
Ripe pear without peel
Ripe soft green apple without a peel, the first time you can give boiled
Boiled cabbage
. carrots
Boiled potatoes
Boiled green peas
Boiled pumpkin
Boiled fish
Boiled meat in the form of meatballs
Pasta
Quail eggs, etc.

*All products must be familiar to the child or introduced into complementary foods.

Finger Foods to Avoid

When it comes to feeding your baby with morsels, the biggest problem is preventing choking. So we do not allow him to eat anything without the presence of parents or any adult nearby. And we exclude any food that can get stuck in the child's airways:

Click me!!!

Popcorn,
Nuts, peanuts,
raisins and other dried fruits,
raw vegetables (e. g. carrots),
grapes,
Cherries without bones, hard fruit and vegetables with a peel of
Zhivalino Confinctions
popcorn, pretzels, corn chips and other snack foods
marshmallows, etc.

Most doctors do not recommend these foods until the child can eat them safely - around 4 years (although it depends on the child, closer to 3 or 5 years).

Finger food after a year - Encyclopedia Baby food

What is finger food after a year? What it happens to be, and I wrote the finger food rule in previous articles. Today I would like to discuss finger food after a year, how it changes and how it looks. I just noticed yesterday that I have a large number of photos of finger food. I take photos almost every day since at least one meal consists of finger food. I decided to write an article and show our example.

Table of Contents:

After a year, finger food becomes very diverse, including almost all products that are introduced into baby food. If the first months of acquaintance with lumpy food, it is mostly boiled, we do not give anything raw to the child in order to avoid choking. Then after a year you can give boiled, semi-cooked and raw foods, which is very convenient, well expands the diet of baby food.

Sometimes, when laziness runs faster than thought, it's easier to collect fruits and vegetables from the refrigerator, cut them into small pieces and give them to the baby than to feed from a jar. A good second breakfast or afternoon snack, even as a snack is great. You can also organize breakfast, which consists of cheese / eggs, bread, boiled meat, apple / banana - a great snack, of course, without porridge (grain lovers - without slippers), but once a week you can take a break for yourself, and the child will nibble well such food, enjoy and train fine motor skills. The main thing is to watch and sit next to the baby so as not to choke.

A big plus for is that it doesn't require a lot of utensils and kitchen utensils, usually a knife, a cutting board and a baby plate.

Another plus for finger food. If the products are semi-solid, not very soft, then you will hardly have to wash the child and the place where he eats will remain almost clean.

+ the child trains fine motor skills, the parent does almost nothing, and the child learns.

See how many pluses there are just from the fact that mom put the right finger food on the table for the baby.

Finger food is inexpensive and easy to find in any refrigerator.

Moreover, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that after a year, lumpy food is taken not only at the table, but also on the street, on the move, etc. The child can already move around the apartment with a piece of an apple or pear, playing and snacking. The main thing here is to keep an eye on the baby, they love to make nests, and fruit nests rot or dry well. In short, it's nice to find another cache of a child, and even more fun to pull it out of your mouth when a child has found it.

For long trips, finger food is an excellent solution, it is easy to transport, nothing will overflow, long-term storage without refrigeration is possible. A small advertisement for finger food.

Our finger foods

At the moment we love finger food. We like to eat cheese, eggs, fish/meat cutlets, bread, different fruits, vegetables on our own. The child takes the product in his hands and stuffs everything into his mouth, then chews. Not always, it turns out, to eat all the food, sometimes he loses it, then I find it either on the floor or in a high chair. Therefore, portions of finger food are quite large, but about half gets into the mouth. Partly we play, although we try to stop such behavior, but the child is only a year old, which can be discussed.

Soups can also be eaten like finger food, it's just that we are friends with a spoon, but it's still bad, liquid broth pours out of a spoon. Therefore, we like to catch hard boiled foods from the soup and eat them. Sometimes he scoops up the product with a spoon, then takes it from the spoon, puts a piece into his mouth with his hand, and only then chews it.

I hover over my plate so often just watching my son eat. It's so cute and messy and amazing every time. He tries, sometimes he freaks out, and then the spoon flies to the floor, and his hand climbs into the plate. Every time he comes up with a new way to eat food. Only recently they weaned him from putting his foot on the table, put his foot down, sits on his own, hands in a plate and eats, in general, in my adult opinion, it’s quite uncomfortable, but he sits and eats.

Click me!!! Click on me!!! Click on me!!! Click on me!!!

Finger food is hard

Click me!!!

For some reason, many mothers think that they need to come up with finger food, try to cook original recipes, etc. But it's not.

The child has switched to a common table or partially switched, which means you can give adult products. Ordinary cutlets are perfectly chewed by the number of teeth that the child now has in his mouth, he chews something with his teeth, something with his gums. Cottage cheese casserole, cut into small pieces, an excellent snack.

All fruits and vegetables included in complementary foods can be given as finger food. Just be careful with vegetables, since most of them are still boiled. But the child is already able to digest food 2 days old if it was stored in the refrigerator. Therefore, we cook several types of vegetables at a time and divide them into several meals. If you don’t want to give a pure product, then we make sauces, for example, cheese sauce for broccoli, it’s delicious, the kids like it.

Meat and fish, simply boiled. If you divide raw meat or fish into small pieces, then they will cook for no more than 15-30 minutes. But since the child already eats chicken, beef, when we cook soups or borscht for the whole family, we put aside a piece of meat / fish for the next meal of the child. I don’t know about you, but since I’m on parental leave, I cook every 2 days, so I can feed my family with fresh meals. Of course, it is better to cook the meat each time new, or store it in the broth for a day so that it does not dry out. Then I don’t like meat to taste, but this is my personal opinion.

There are many examples of finger food, see the photo. Even in the group in contact Baby food (Encyclopedia) under the tag #creative breakfast, you can see examples of finger food. Click on the photo and see it in a larger size.

Chicken-carrot cutlet, broccoli and cauliflower Bananas and apples with sugar-free yoghurt Apples baked in the oven. Chicken fillet, cucumber, broccoli, apple, Borodinsky black bread, children's cottage cheese as a sauce Broccoli, carrots and boiled fish fillet — Navazhka Pasta and broccoli Prunes Broccoli and cauliflower Chicken and carrot cutlet, pasta, cucumber

About finger food sauces

I know how much I want to help my child diversify his taste preferences, but it's too early. The kid is still chaotically waving his arms and using them poorly. Although you probably noticed how carefully he takes a spoon or a mug to perform simple actions, but at the same time he strives to drop or turn them over. That's why it's not the time for finger food sauces. Just because the child can turn it over, but most likely it will get dirty from head to toe, which mom will have to clean up. You can put a spoonful of sauce and show the baby how to dip a piece of food in it, but you will have to carefully monitor the actions of the child, otherwise there will be more cleaning.

What is now suitable for sauces. If the child is familiar with dairy products, then yogurt, cottage cheese with yogurt (so that it is liquid), cheese sauce without spices, and, probably, that's all.

You can also offer any vegetable/fruit puree for sauce that your child is familiar with.

Finger food hacks

Banana is easy to eat with a small hand

In the article The Fifteenth Week of Weaning - Turkey and Garlic Stew, I wrote how to cut a banana so that it is convenient for a child to eat. In an article about bananas in baby food, she wrote how to quickly and easily make a fruit convenient for finger food. Now I will not repeat myself, I just attach a photo.

I also pay attention, if a child eats from a common table, then we make a dish under the child's hand. Those. if a cutlet, then a small size, three or four cutlets can be made for the youngest member of the family. It’s just that it’s inconvenient to hold a large chunk in your hand, and now the main thing is a manual grip so that the child can hold the food in his fist and bite off. Therefore, food can be made in the form of a rectangle, like fish sticks.

Pear, it is convenient to take with a small hand, the child eats everything without a peel.

With the same consideration, we prepare children's cookies, cut bread pita bread or bread, cottage cheese casseroles and muffins. The child is comfortable with either a thin long stick, or medium squares. We tear the meat into fibers or cut into small cubes. You should not grind food too much, it is difficult to take it with children's fingers, otherwise you will see a picture of how the baby is trying to take food from the table with his mouth.

An apple corer is very useful. With it, you can make a long round tube without a peel. It is convenient for the child to hold, the peel does not interfere with biting the delicious middle. Suitable for large apples, pears, cucumbers, i.e. medium hard products. Fresh carrots are a very hard product, so for now only a grater. In short, fresh vegetables and fruits of increased hardness (carrots, white cabbage, etc.), which need to be carefully chewed by a child after a year, should be given fresh after a fine grater until the set of teeth expands.

Dividing a banana into three parts with a finger. If the pear has a core, then cut it out. An apple without a core. Next to it is a fruit peeler. We give an apple to a child without a peel.

Basically, if you have any doubts about giving your child fresh or boiled finger food, then boil it, it will be safer. The main thing here is the confidence in the child that he will be able to bite off, chew, swallow without choking, and then digest it and get rid of the unnecessary without pieces of undigested food.