Hi my dd is now 10months and I started weaning her at 4months on advise of paed. She always loved her food and I gave her a mixture of my own purreed food and pouches. I was always weary of finger foods as she had a very sensitive gag reflex. But gradually I've introduced more and more foods and she's enjoying her finger foods. But she won't eat anything I try to spoon feed her. She'll eat a few mouthfuls and then doesn;t want to know.
For breakfast I've tried toast, (which she eats some of and then feeds the dogs!), ready brek and weetabix, aswell as baby cereals. Now she won't eat any of these cereals, apart from dry cheerios which she feeds herself.
Lunch and dinner she'll eat sandwiches- I've tried cheese and ham. She'll also eat organix/goodies finger foods, Babybells and chicken pieces. She loves yoghurts, fruit pots and most puddings! She absolutely loves her fruit and loves feeding herself.
My question is can you suggest any cereals I can try? Also what can I give her for lunch and dinner which she can feed herself? I don't want her living off sandwiches and puddings! Please say this is a phase!!

Bless you, its difficult when you're used to them doing things a certain way, just for them then to turn it on its head. But - don't pull your hair out or stress, it's not that big a problem. Basically it just sounds like she enjoys being independent and eating at her own pace. I'm doing BLW so its all very familiar to me. For cereals, bitesize shredded wheat or weatabix lightly soaked in milk are good finger foods. Is she completely disinterested in spoons or would she let you load it, then pick it up herself to get to her mouth? We do pre loaded spoons for porridge and rice crispies.
As for lunch/ dinner, there's few foods she's not allowed by age so you can offer allsorts, eg, baked potato cut into strips or potato wedges, any meat in an easily grabable stick shape, roast or boiled beg battons, various fruit like bananas, lightly steamed Apple/pear (softens it just nicely) sandwiches can be varied with different fillings, literally any filling you like.. tuna..egg etc and you can alternate between sliced bread, baps, bagels, pittance bread and things too

It probably feels alien to you just offering finger food but they get the hang of it brilliantly over time. Hope I've given some inspiration

Xxx

Sorry my stupid phone autocorrected some of my words!
*veg battons
*pitta bread

And just wanted to throw in the wonderfully versatile egg, scrambled, omelettes, fried or boiled and sliced up for little hands - simple cheap and healthy :0)

hi thanks for your reply. Spoons are for either banging on the tray or grabbing and letting go so the food splatters everywhere lol!
Thanks for all your ideas. If I tried to spoon feed her rice krispies are they suitable for a 10month baby?
Also should I continue to try to spoon feed her at the same time as finger foods? I know nothing about BLW, if she does this does it mean she'll not learn how to use cutlery? (sorry if thats a stupid question!)

Hello,

for breakfast have you tried making up a bowl of mixed friut? try adding some yog to it as well. Also scrambled eggs (well cooked) also a good one. I also do porridge fingers which are amazing and my wee man eats it all up.. low salt croissants and low salt crumpets also good for lunch and breakfast.

i really recommend The baby-led weaning cookbook - thats where i get all my ideas for breakfast , lunch and dinner also gives amazing ideas for dips, puddings and snacks.

hope this helps x

What are porridge fingers? Sounds interesting!!

Hi love, no not a stupid question at all! Basically I'd do whatever you're happy and comfortable, and obviously, whatever DD is happy with whether that's just persisting with puree's and offering finger food snacks, completely combining them both or even moving just onto finger foods. Experiment for a bit first to see what your daughters preferences are, the spoon refusal may just be a phase which will pass, or you might find she comes on leaps and bounds on just finger foods, who knows.

With regards to cutlery in my experience babies who are BLW are happy to use their own cutlery from an earlier age, and this is because they've always eaten independently so have no experience of having it done for them. My little boy soon turns 9months and will eat confidently from a spoon or a fork if I load it up for him first. Spoon fed babied will automatically open their mouths for a spoon, whereas since day one he's reached out to take the spoon from me, and taught himself how to get the food in! it's amazing really as his older sister was 18months before she'd feed herself with cutlery!! (obviously) hands and fingers do play a huge part of it at first though.

As for rice crispies - they're fine at 10months

v quick reply sorry, lots to do but wanted to add in to what others have said.
I have 10 month boy/girl twins. My son will eat anything, my girl is super super fussy and sometimes she drives me mad and will hardly eat a thing all day (just milk and a bite of cheese).

I do about 4 things at each meal, a purree or smoothish thing, eg porridge, yoghurt etc and a couple of finger foods.

With Ellie I've found great success with well cooked omlette, so I add in grated potato, cheese, crushed up peas, etc etc. She'll still not eat lots but will have a few bites and I can get some carbs, veg & protein in those few bites.

I keep telling myself it's a phase. Fingers crossed!