Unique baby shower finger food

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 needed 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 them 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.

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Mothers often wonder at what age they should give finger food to their babies.

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

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.

How to know 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 are easy to squeeze 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?

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

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 food

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 8 months old baby whole eggs .
• 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:

• 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 food pieces, 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:

• 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
• Zhevaliy 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).

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"Encyclopedia Baby Food"!

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Our website Encyclopedia Baby Food has useful information on the nutrition of your children, which is useful for everyone, and we update the website "Encyclopedia Baby Food" constantly and try to search and write only excellent, verified and necessary information for you and your children.

Disclaimer No. 1: It must be understood that the author of the articles on the Baby Food Encyclopedia website is not a medical staff, “I am not a doctor.” The information I share is based on my own experience. My goal is not to teach you how to eat or feed your child, but to talk about how we did it, what new things I learned or read. This expands the picture of Baby Food knowledge, gives you a glimpse of the whole process so you can decide if you like it or not.

Disclaimer No. 2 : However, the above does not replace visiting a pediatrician. Before you start complementary foods, you need to get his professional opinion on the best way to introduce new foods for your baby. I also draw your attention to the fact that you need to look at the original date of the published articles, because some of the "best practices" may have changed. Always check with your child's pediatrician about complementary foods and their health.

Disclaimer #3: Keep in mind that every family is unique, every situation is also completely unique. There are no universal solutions. Only you can find what works best for you. Certain goals require certain sacrifices and priorities - not everyone wants to make those choices, and that's GREAT! Just know what you want to achieve, and be ready to get to work, putting the best of your strength!

Disclaimer No. 4: On the Encyclopedia Baby Food website, photos from books on baby food with attribution are used to better understand the information (Article 1274, paragraph 1, part four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Literature on baby food is found in the public domain on the Internet.

Apricot puree with chicken
Banan-global puree
Banana puree
Borsch
Bousse broth with peas and rice
Botterbrod with kolrabi
Quick dessert of zucchini 90 Buckwheat porridge with apricots
Buckwheat porridge with banana
Buckwheat pilaf
Children's sausage
Children's milk porridge with banana
Children's vinaigrette
Children's ketchup
Children's cucumber salad
Children's Olivier salad
Children's porridge biscuits
Children's puree of strawberries, bananas, yellow cherries, yogurt and biscuits with cereals
Children's puree with cottage cheese and fruits
Homemade yeast bread with flax flour
Homemade cheese
Homemade pizza
Breakfast outside
Kohlrabi appetizer
Roast cauliflower
Roasted carrots
Roasted carrots and cherries with millet
Winter salad with Jerusalem artichoke
Cabbage with white beans
Canteen-style coleslaw
Mashed potatoes
Quinoa and pumpkin porridge
Quinoa porridge
breakfast porridge
Quinoa and apple
Strawberry puree
Strawberry puree with banana
Strawberry compote
Dried apple and raspberry compote
in a thermos" for a child older than 8 months
Corn porridge
Corn porridge with pear
Corn porridge with pumpkin
Corn porridge with pumpkin and carrots
Corn porridge with apple and carrots
Chicken liver in the oven
Chicken cutlets with carrots
Chicken with carrots, sweet peppers and potatoes
Navy pasta
Macaroni with orange sauce
Muffins with vegetables and egg
New potatoes in their jackets
Milk soup with vermicelli carrot puree
Carrot puree
Carrot-rice casserole
Carrot with chicken
Amanita from eggs and tomatoes
Meat envelopes
Homemade Tarragon drink for children
Vegetable puree from cauliflower and carrots
Vegetable soup with corn semolina
Vegetable soup with cheese and corn semolina
Vegetable soup with spinach
Vegetable puree soup with bell pepper
Oatmeal
Pollock fritters
Hot kefir fritters
Cauliflower omelet 905 in a bag
Spinach and Cheese Omelet
Omelette Pancake
Peach Puree
Baked Apples 7 months +
Zucchini and Carrot Pie
Zucchini Pie
Rice and Zucchini Pie
Fish Pie
Fish and potato pie
White cabbage pizza
Lavash pizza
Zucchini, tomato and sausage pizza
Tomato and olive pizza
Spinach pizza
Rabbit pilaf
Chicken pilaf with green peas and corn Puree 9019 and cherries
Banana, cottage cheese and porridge puree 4 cereals
Broccoli (cauliflower) puree
Broccoli, courgette and cauliflower puree
Blueberry puree
Pear puree
Pear and banana puree
Pear and banana puree, baked
Pear and pumpkin puree 7 months +
Pear, pumpkin and peach puree
Pear, apple, plum and prunes puree
Blackberry puree
Turkey puree
Zucchini puree 90 zucchini and broccoli
Zucchini, carrot and potato puree
Quinoa and banana puree
Quinoa and carrot puree
Quinoa, banana and carrot puree
Quinoa, squash and carrot puree
Quinoa, peach and raspberry puree
quinoa, cauliflower, apple, peas and mint
Quinoa, apple, pear and raisin puree
Quinoa, apple, carrot puree
Rabbit, broccoli and cauliflower puree
Chicken, carrot, potato, apple and pea puree
Raspberry, cherry and banana puree

Carrot and Apple Puree
Carrot, Potato, Broccoli and Cheese Puree
Carrot, Potato, Apple and Quinoa Puree
Carrot, Pumpkin, Apple and Prune Puree
Carrot, Apple and Potato Puree
Turnip and carrots
Plum puree
Cottage cheese, strawberry and banana puree
Pumpkin puree
Pumpkin and banana puree
Pumpkin and squash puree
Pumpkin and apple puree
Pumpkin, apple and banana puree
Cauliflower and broccoli puree
Cauliflower and Potato Puree
Cauliflower and Rice Puree
Cauliflower and Apple Puree
Cauliflower, Green Pea and Squash Puree
Cauliflower, Turkey and Potato Puree
Cauliflower, Potato and Squash Puree
Cauliflower, carrot and broccoli puree
Cauliflower, carrot, cheese and rice puree
Cauliflower, apple and courgette puree
Zucchini puree
Zucchini and potato puree
Zucchini, carrot and apple puree 90 cherries
Blueberry puree
Prune puree
Apple, pumpkin, carrot and some curry puree
Apple and pear puree
Apple and strawberry puree
Apple, strawberry and cherry puree
Apple, peach and banana puree
Carrot and pumpkin puree
Cottage cheese and banana puree
Turkey, potato and carrot stew
Zucchini, carrot and broccoli stew
Fish, potato, carrot and broccoli stew
Rice porridge
Whole grain rice porridge
carrot
Rice porridge with pumpkin
Rice porridge with apples
Rice porridge with apple and pear
Rice porridge with apple and pumpkin
Fish cakes with vegetables
Semi-cooked fish
Fish meatballs with ketchup
Baby Fish Soup
Salmon and Celery Fish Soup
Carrot and Kohlrabi Salad
Chickpea Salad
Chickpea and Cabbage Salad
The Laziest Soup
Creamy Kohlrabi Soup
Oatmeal Smoothie Pot95 Sauce
Cheesy Pizza
Pea and Bacon Soup
Baked Vegetable Soup
Kohlrabi Soup
Salmon Soup
Cauliflower Soup
Turnip Potato Soup
Meatball Soup for the Picky Eater
Kohlrabi soup with green apple
Rabbit, pumpkin, potato, broccoli and cauliflower soup
Beetroot soup
Pumpkin soup with mushrooms
Broccoli and celery soup
Soup/stew Pork with Potatoes and Carrots
Cheese Pasties
Pumpkin Cheese Sauce (Annabelle Carmel Recipe)
Buzz Lightyear Sandwich
Pumpkin Apple Puree
Pumpkin Apple Juice
Pumpkin Cake
Pumpkin Soup 9 Puree
Fruit Salad

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 one year of age, finger food becomes very diverse, including almost all products that are included in 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 is 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 cooking does not require a lot of dishes and kitchen utensils, usually a knife, a cutting board and a baby plate are required.

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.

And 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 so often hover over my plate just by 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.

Finger food is hard

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 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.

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.

Food hacks for easy finger food

In the article 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.

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.

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. If these physiological processes in a child are going well, then you are confident in your child and you can give him fresh finger food.

We are not afraid and add me to VK and Odnoklassniki, Instagram!

Like this article? Subscribe to site updates

"Encyclopedia Baby Food"!

Don't forget to bookmark us! (CTRL+SHIFT+D) Subscribe to the site, comment, share in social networks.

Our website Encyclopedia Baby Food has useful information on the nutrition of your children, which is useful for everyone, and we update the website "Encyclopedia Baby Food" constantly and try to search and write only excellent, verified and necessary information for you and your children.

Disclaimer No. 1: It must be understood that the author of the articles on the Baby Food Encyclopedia website is not a medical staff, “I am not a doctor.” The information I share is based on my own experience. My goal is not to teach you how to eat or feed your child, but to talk about how we did it, what new things I learned or read. This expands the picture of Baby Food knowledge, gives you a glimpse of the whole process so you can decide if you like it or not.

Disclaimer No. 2 : However, the above does not replace visiting a pediatrician. Before you start complementary foods, you need to get his professional opinion on the best way to introduce new foods for your baby. I also draw your attention to the fact that you need to look at the original date of the published articles, because some of the "best practices" may have changed. Always check with your child's pediatrician about complementary foods and their health.

Disclaimer #3: Keep in mind that every family is unique, every situation is also completely unique.

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