Feeding my eight month old baby finger foods

Naydene - posted on 09/25/2009

Hi there, Your child is exploring their food through taste and touch using all of their senses. It is expected that your child will mash the food about. I know it can get very messy and this is all part of the process of developing self help skills. Try going outside with the highchair and let your child go for it. It will get better (less messier) as your child develops their hand/eye co-ordination and the more practice the better for when they're able to eventually feed themselves. Hope this helps, Naydene.

Jennifer - posted on 09/25/2009

My daughter wants nothing of pureed foods and will only eat table food. She had a hard time with the spoon at first,I think she assumed if it was on the spoon it was baby/pureed food, so I fed her tiny soft pieces from my hand and she ate very well. It is messier for me but I just want her to eat well so it is not such a big deal. Now she is starting to take the spoon again and is doing really well with all kinds of textures. And she is just now developing enough fine motor skills to be able to feed herself finger foods successfully, she loves the graduates sweet potoato puffs and they disolve in the mouth so it is a good food for this age. I would just try several different ways of presenting food and make sure it tastes good. Also if you wait until she is too tired or too close after a bottle she won't be interested, maybe try a different time.

SARA - posted on 09/25/2009

Hi there, i found feeding solids challenging at first too and finger food used to scare the ... out of me i was so anxious he would choke! I used to put him in his high chair out side and let him go for it! then i found a great spoon that he couldnt just push the food off with his lips, only fed him the vegies he liked at first and slowly introduced others and also gave him his own spoon to play with while we were feeding so he didnt grab the one i was trying to feed him with. he got the hang of it in the end, he still lets me know if he doesnt like something but it has gotten easier with time. :)

Anita - posted on 09/24/2009

I'm having the same problems with my eight month old, but she is still eating stage 2 and i'm afraid to move on because she gags on the really thick ones. But she's driving me crazy with the spoon and I'm not sure what to do. And she's such a picky eater.

Stephanie - posted on 09/23/2009

My daughter hardly eats jar food now. She will eat about half a stage 3 jar for lunch and dinner but other than that she eats only finger foods. With our daughter, we have found she is very independent and she won;t even allow us to feed her her favorite finger foods either. She turns her head and only wants to do it herself. Your daughter will figure it out...she is rewarded every time she gets food in her mouth. It will be very messy but its an experience that they learn by doing.

Ps...the grabbing at the spoon thing....try giving her her own spoon. It will distract her enough that you can keep feeding her and she feels like she is helping! It worked for us!

Linda - posted on 09/23/2009

Thanks everyone for all your help full ideas.

Linda - posted on 09/23/2009

My LO did that to it was really scary so I just started with lumpy foods then once I could see she was chewing I started to give her finger foods again now she is much better

Jami - posted on 09/22/2009

I tried to give my son the puffs that mely in theirmouth but he made a gag reflex face and i got so nervous that im afraid to give him finger foods again... is there anything that i can try, he has 2 teeth n i would like for him to try again...

Marcia - posted on 09/22/2009

It's all part of the learning game. She's interested in the texture and smell and what to do with it. When I started weaning my son a few months ago and he could hold the spoon and feed himself, some days I'd let him feed himself inbetween me doing it, or near the end so that he could feel what it was like. Sometimes he'd try and scoop it out the bowl with his fingers and eat it like that, others he'd try and use the spoon or eat what fell off onto the highchair he'd bend and try and eat it like that.



It's something new, and feeling a foreign object in her mouth other than her mommy's boob or a bottle teet, is weird for a lil one. Just keep trying a teaspoon at a time, and if you smile alot even when it's bugging you, she'll be going by your responces. So if you're happy smiling and encouraging, she'll be more likely to want to know what it is you're giving her as you're so happy about it. It's all about stimulation and play so your baby know's it's a good thing, it's nice and tastey, failing that, eat a little yourself so she'll want to copy.



I hope it's works and have fun with her, and stick with that food dor 3 days, and try something else, then go back to it. It's best way to prevent a faddy eating toddler and you could try a baby with something and it can take upto 10 goes before a baby will accpet it. The older they're getting they're taste buds are changing, they're born with hundreds more than we have now, and will adapt to the types of foods they're eating,



Aaron has 4 teeth now, so tonight I gave him a long chunk of apple to hold and eat himself as his first Finger food. He's only had puree's I'd made before, smooth when he was 6 months, and more lumpy and chunky after that, so it was interesting watching him, and he kept giggling when sucking and biting at it, he loved it, so keep with it.





Good luck :-)

Roxanne - posted on 09/22/2009

I put the food in my hand and put it in her mouth. It is easier than using a spoon and it helped my daughter get the connection.

Eva - posted on 09/22/2009

We had the same problem here. DD wanted NOTHING to do with being fed, so we started offering her finger foods. It took her quite awhile to get the hang of it, but eventually she did. Don't get me wrong, cheerios still end up spread out all over the floor, stuck to her bum, stuck to me...they are everywhere! But, she squished stuff, threw it, pushed it around, but eventually made the connection between hand and mouth. I would just keep at it, and feed different textured things. Good Luck!