When did they start feeding themselves only...

So the past 4 meals, Lilly grabs the spoon, (and we fight over it, she's strong!) and doesn't want me to feed her. I can get some bites in, but it's a big struggle and there's food everywhere! Owen doesn't mind me feeding him at all. We always do some finger foods after I feed them, but I don't think they're anywhere near being able to get enough food in their tummies without my help, but maybe I'm wrong?

So when did you let them do all of their own feedings? The other thing is, I'm running out of finger food ideas. Of course they like Puffs, but I want more nutritious things. We've done mixed veggies, cheese, bananas, and that's about it. I need more ideas please.

I'm hoping this is a phase....

 

Often times we'd give them a spoon to hold while we fed them. It helped cut down on the outside distractions.

 

They weren't really feeding themselves until 15 months or so, I think. Before that, I would give them a spoon to hold while I fed them once they started wanting the spoon. When they first started trying to feed themselves, we started with me putting some yogurt on a spoon and then handing it to them.

 

I haven't had to deal with my girls grabbing the spoon yet - and they are not protesting to me feeding them yet either - but I have started them on finger foods - I'm having alot of fun with this too. so far I've given them - canned carrots - green beans - cut up - avocado,banana, sliced turkey lunch meat, waffles, pancakes, bread, pears, last night I cooked a whole chicken - no spices salt etc. and cut up little pieces of this and tried it. they ate a little. I JUST started giving them whole puffs this weekend - they seemed so big and hard - but I feel more confident and the girls loved them. oh-cheerios too. baby dried fruit - pricy but the girls LOVE it. yogurt. That's what they've gotten so far that was not baby food per say. oh - I did give them small pieces of a fig newton too. I know - lots of sugar - but I wanted to see how they reacted. the liked it. Are your babes ABLE to pick food up off high chair tray?? My Natalie can pick up dried stuff - but still has trouble with the wet stuff. I need to cover it in wheat germ - Carley still just smashes anything I put on her tray - she opens her mouth when I offer though. Sorry no help on the spoon thing - but I thought I'd offer some finger food ideas. oh - I've also mixed banana and avocado together- put it in my bullet until it was just chunky. they liked that too. good luck!!!

 

Thanks for the tips! Mine LOVE banana with avocado too! I think it's yucky, but glad they like it!

QUOTE(kim j @ Oct 29 2007, 06:50 PM) [snapback]472182[/snapback]
I haven't had to deal with my girls grabbing the spoon yet - and they are not protesting to me feeding them yet either - but I have started them on finger foods - I'm having alot of fun with this too. so far I've given them - canned carrots - green beans - cut up - avocado,banana, sliced turkey lunch meat, waffles, pancakes, bread, pears, last night I cooked a whole chicken - no spices salt etc. and cut up little pieces of this and tried it. they ate a little. I JUST started giving them whole puffs this weekend - they seemed so big and hard - but I feel more confident and the girls loved them. oh-cheerios too. baby dried fruit - pricy but the girls LOVE it. yogurt. That's what they've gotten so far that was not baby food per say. oh - I did give them small pieces of a fig newton too. I know - lots of sugar - but I wanted to see how they reacted. the liked it. Are your babes ABLE to pick food up off high chair tray?? My Natalie can pick up dried stuff - but still has trouble with the wet stuff. I need to cover it in wheat germ - Carley still just smashes anything I put on her tray - she opens her mouth when I offer though. Sorry no help on the spoon thing - but I thought I'd offer some finger food ideas. oh - I've also mixed banana and avocado together- put it in my bullet until it was just chunky. they liked that too. good luck!!!

 

for the most part my girls feed themselves lunch and dinner. Finger foods though, not with a spoon or anything. We are on mostly table food at this point. Breakfast is different cause they have oatmeal or yogurt, pureed fruit, cottage cheese, and I feed them those with a spoon. Lunch is usually a cut up sandwich or some pasta with veggies or something like that and dinner is meat and veggies cut up, rice, pasta, whatever. They feed themselves all of this stuff. It can go on for quite some time, but they feed themselves well and I feel comfortable that they are getting enough...

 

I give them their own spoons to hold and then they don't try and steal mine anymore. I also usually try a combination of having at least one finger food and also something to be spoon fed at every meal. Some finger foods we do are cheerios, little soft cheese pieces, baked sweet potato fingers, little pieces of fruit (hard for them since it is slippery but they are catching on), pancakes with fruit cooked in (they love this for breakfast), little steamed veggie pieces (carrots, zucchini, broccoli). Usually they are satisfied enough with something to pick up that I can also slip in bites off the spoon so I feel they are eating enough. I also found that they will eat off of a hard piece of toast which I use as a spoon. So I use the hard toast (called a rusk over here in Europe or Zwieback) and scoop up the puree and put it in their mouth. They are more than happy to eat this way when they wouldn't touch it off a spoon. Go figure.

 

My guys were spoon grabbers from day 1 of solids. I bought some of the plastic take & toss baby spoons and we'd go through several of them at each meal. I'd give them a spoon to play with and feed them with another. They'd inevitably drop the spoon onto the floor at some point so I'd have a pile of them ready. I put the spoons through the dishwasher so one package got us through this phase.

At 9 months, they were self-feeding pretty well with hands and guiding in a spoon of food that I handed them successfully. At 10 months, we had full-blown spoon refusal so it was all about finger foods.

Pancakes were a huge staple food for us. I made them with whole wheat flour, egg yolks (waited until 12 months for egg whites), spices, fruit, and veggies. I'd make a double batch in silver dollar size, freeze them on cookie sheets, and dump them into gallon freezer bags. They liked them straight from the freezer.

Other good stuff -- cooked barley, rice (great for working that pincer grasp), mushy cooked noodles, bits of tender meats, shredded cheese, soft-cooked veggies, soft fruits or steamed if they're firmer, and all kinds of cereals & crackers.

 

I just started telling them things like "hand's down" then wait for them to do that before I put the spoon near them. Maybe they were just good babies, or I guess reinforcement of the pattern worked and I never had any trouble. Now that they have tempers more, and are more aware of things, they will swat at it just to get it away.

As for finger foods, anything you can think of is fair game (as long as it's soft enough, small enough, and safe for the age.) I haven't fed my girls anything except for cereal and yougurt, soup, etc. for a few months. So my girls just eat table food now, which is nice. They even had grilled cheese yesterday--of course healthy bread. I do a lot with frozen veggies just cooked in the microwave. That way I can just prepare whatever I want for myself (like cereal for dinner since I'm putting off real cooking) and it's fast and easy. I also cook lots of veggies or a whole chicken at one time and freeze single portions for them.