snacks- and sippy cups

What type of snacks other than cereal puffs or fruit on a smasher do you give them between meals?

an a silly question ...cheese cubes? what exactly are they?- I give them tiny bit of slices of regular cheese but
is hard for them to grab them.

about sippy cups- all they do is play with it, not really drinking, yet when I give them water out of a regular plastic
cup they love it and acutally drink water- but I can't let them hold it ofcourse because of the spill...

so how do I encourage drinking from a sippy cup?

 

Sippy cups - just keep giving it to them, Eventually, in playing around with them, they will get the idea & will start drinking from them.

Snacks - (not sure what fruit on a smasher is?! ) Cheerios (or any other cereal), cheese cubes (just cheese cut into small cubes so they are easier to pick up), small pieces of fruit, raisins (if they can chew them yet), rice cakes, Gerber Puffs, hmmm, I'm sure there was more at that age... I'll keep thinking!

 

Keep trying with the sippies, they will get it. I found that straw cups are actually easier to learn because they don't need to be able to tip them back.

Snacks: diced up soft fruit rolled in wheat germ.

 

I found with the sippies that if you take the valve out that keeps the water in, the babies figure out what they are for. Sure, they get some water on themselves and their high chair tray, but it is short lived. Once they get some water out and start drinking without the valve, you can put it back in and they will try to figure out how to get it out again.

For snacks, I've started giving pieces of bread, french toast, pancake and, just recently, sweet potato fries (recipe at http://wholesomebabyfood.com/babyfingerfood.htm). Also, Baby Mum Mums are great.

 

Have you tried putting ice in the sippy cups? Aurora wasn't interested until the cup started to rattle with ice.

 

maybe try a couple different kinds of sippies, it took a while for me to figure out that DD prefered a straw cup and DS likes the traditional kind.. and they do love it when they have ice in there.

for cheese, i have found that shredded cheese is really easy for them to pick up, and easier for me to prepare than cutting up tons of tiny little cubes. we are also doing cheerios (cheaper than puffs), yogurt, graham crackers w/cream cheese, pancakes. it depends on how hungry they seem, sometimes snacks turn into a full blown meal..

 

I can't help you with the sippy cup thing; my guys still have no clue, and I've been offering them for the last 3 months. They just shake them, chew on the valves, then throw them off their high chairs.

I'm starting to transition them from finger food snacks to finger food meals. Last night we did really well. We offered them cut up brats with the casings removed, cut up bits of mild cheese, and chopped grilled veggies (zucchini, squash, and eggplant). They loved tasting all of it, and filled up pretty well. I gave them sips from their bottles during the meal, and spoon fed them yogurt and fruit as dessert. I'm starting to see how they are going to move from us feeding them after we eat, to eating while we eat. It was lots of fun last night and I feel like we really shared a meal for the first time!

I also offer them cut up pieces of waffle, pancakes, and toast at breakfast, bits of fruit (cherries, bananas, apples), frozen mixed veggies that I've steam in the micro, bits of meat (salmon, chicken, turkey), and cooked pasta.

My guys are not on the growth chart, so I'm really trying to make their snacks "count" nutritionally, so I lean more toward things that are high in calories and fat, or are getting them vitamins.