Healthy Finger Food

My son always liked to eat cooked red beans and black beans. Also, avocado is great too! It's nutritious and its firm enough for a finger food, but soft and creamy enough for a little one to eat on her own. Very cooked vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower are usually a good choice too.

My daughter did not have teeth until she was 15 mos old. She gummed everything anyway, even meat.Fresh is best, if she can not eat it so hard cook a little but today veggies do not need to be cooked to soft. The more we cook the more we lose what we need in the food. Canned food is the last of the three to serve. Too much salt or sugar. Frozen is next in line with fresh. She should have a ton of to chose from. At some point some children become picky but let her try it. She needs to be limited to new foods so you can see if she is allergic one at a time but try it all. G. W

wholesomebabyfood.com is for making baby food but she has it split by age and has a great list of finger foods and then goes into toddler food ideas too. it's a great site. laptoplunches.com is another one that is awesome to get ideas for the whole family.

Hi B.! Looks like you got some great suggestions and ideas already but I wanted to add that I would give my daughter pieces of sliced deli meat. Have them cut it pretty thin. I would also back chicken and give her, essentially, shredded chicken, as well as hard boiled eggs.
Another good one that you may want to test, is a grilled cheese. Most of the time I would even add a slice of turkey or whatever. I would change it up but my daughter really loves a grilled cheese with munster cheese and turkey. :)
Have you tried small pieces of avocado? I would also do small pieces of oranges. (When she was really teething and in pain, we would let her gum orange slices in the bath to cut down on the mess lol)
Feel free to message me if you need anymore ideas! Good luck!

Try giving her table food in small bites. she should be able to handle it. you might also considder making her baby food. Steam the veggies, and blend. I find that the fresh and frozen taste better than the canned. And it seems like the baby food companies use the canned. Once steamed, blend and put in Ice Cube trays to freeze. Pop out a cube or two for a meal and microwave for about 30 secs to a minute. Good luck. You can do the same thing with your dinners. Just blend and add to trays.

You'd be surprised what babies can do with those gums!! :) I have been feeding my baby table food from 6 months of age (recommended by my pediatrician). You may want to try and steam some veggies until they are good and soft (carrots, brocoli, etc.) My little one is almost a year (he's got 8 teeth) and he LOVES bananas. Gerber makes some little snack foods that are made for little ones. These are only snacks though. Hopes this helps some.

Pretty much anything you can steam and dice or shred. Feed her right off your plate. Soft fruits, diced ham, steamed broccoli, cooked carrots, green beans, black beans, shredded meats (boiled chicken or crock-pot meats usually come apart in small pieces), mashed or baked potatoes or sweet potatoes (you can microwave a sweet potato and it separates from the peel easily, then dice it up for nutritious, squishy, fun food)

Eggs are good but I don't think they allow them until they are a little older. Nevertheless, our toddler loved soft scrambled eggs mixed with cheese.

You'd be surprised what she can eat. My kiddos only had 3 teeth by 1 and were on all table food by 9 months. The jaw/gums are stronger than the teeth. The teeth are just for tearing things apart so as long as things are soft she can eat anything. Shredded cheese, mashed potatoes, any vegetable (canned, steamed, etc.), all canned fruits or fresh fruits, bananas, applesauce, yogurt, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, pinto beans, black eyed peas, vienna sausages, chicken noodle soup (just take out most of the broth to eliminate mess) most anything but meat. The sooner your introduce her, the better. Have fun...such a great time to feed them table food because they will eat almost anything!

My son is 14 months. I agree that fresh is best but with a little one that is hard. Some of his favorite things are sweet pototos. I bake them, but not till really smooshy, 5 or 6 at a time then I cut them into cubes. I keep a container full in the refrigerator for the week and put the others in the freezer you can then thaw them in about a minute.
I also by LOTS of the steam in a bag veggies. This is really easy. Carrots, peas, brocolli, califlower, and they even have some great mixed veggies. This week I bought a pasta with veggies (birdseye) and added a few extra veggies. It is a great way for him to get used to differnt sauces.
My son also LOVE turkey dogs (cut in 4s) and scrambled eggs. Just cut everything tiny and you will be surprised at what she can eat!

little cubes of firm tofu; canned peaches and pears (get the kind in juice, not sugary syrup!) cut into small pieces; bananas sliced, then each slice cut in quarters; overcooked macaroni (so it's almost mushy); well-cooked peas. Introduce as wide a variety of flavors now as you can, before she's old enough to protest ;) It'll make things easier when she's a toddler!

once they are one they can eat anything but honey i think. you've had great suggestions. don't get carried away with how small to make each little piece. they can eat more than you think. when my girls were one i was starting to give them some of whatever i made for dinner. a piece of bread, the veggies, chicken cut up, noodles. their gums are pretty tough.

Hi B.,

There is a great book about what to feed a baby when, including nutritional information and when to introduce different textures. I highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Food-Ruth-Yaron/dp/09652...

I always gave my kids whatever I was eating and they are really great eaters now at ages 6 and 4.

Peace and Joy,
M.

TUFU - I give my 1.5yr daughter cubed tofu spritzed with BRAGG's Liquid Amino Acids. Bragg's taste's like Soy Sauce, but is really just pure Amino Acids, which are awesome for all of us. We use it in place of Soy Sauce on everything. I buy the tofu pre-cubed in the Produce section and only lightly drain it, so that she gets some H2O intake with it. Evie loves it and can easily gum down with only a few teeth. The already cubed is firm, but you could buy softer and cut it yourself if you want it easier for her starting out. You can find Bragg's at any health food store, Sprouts, Whole Foods, or local smaller ones.
SWEET POTATOES - cube and steam them, they are very soft and she can finger eat.
HARDBOILED EGG YOLK - is also a great choice. Egg allergies are usually to the White part, strangely, so our allergist okayed the yolk just lightly crumbled and Evie loved it just plain!
AVOCADO - cubed is awesome too, as long as your Pedi/Allergist okays it. Just plain, and cubed.
RIPE BANANA - just sut into bits
PASTA & RICE - Well cooked

Will let you know if I think of more...

How about delicious gummie treats made from fruits and veggies? They taste great and will help her immune system. Email me for more info. You would need to cut them into quarters or eights if she only has two teeth.

Be careful feeding her too much processed food...there's time enough for her to get addicted to that later. The Cheerios are a pretty good choice but I would stay away from Cheetos, chips, etc., no matter how nutritious they try to make them appear...they're not! Fresh fruits and veggies are the best way to go at this age (or any other). Train her taste buds now to appreciate healthy food and you will thank yourself later.

Feel free to DM me for more specific info.

M.

Avacado, cooked pears, banana, sweet potato, steamed squash, peas, green beans, etc. Small bite of chicken and just watch her. My 11 months old granddaughter loved it all and is the best eater now, even salad and she is 27 months old. Try it-she may like it or maybe next time you give it to her. Just go slow and enjoy.
One thing I caution you about that I saw below-gummie treats are very bad for thier teeth as it is sticky and has sugar. I was a dental assistant and it is to be avoided as well as juice, unless you water it down to 1:3 or 1:4 ratio with water. If they have a bottle at night, be sure and hold them as the milk stays on their teeth and gums at night and isn't a good thing either.

At age one, babies are allowed to eat most anything. Just be sure that it is cut up into small pieces and don't leave them unattended while they are eating. Most any fruit or vegetable that is cut into small pieces and soft - potato, sweet potato, carrots, peas, banana, cooked apple, etc. I would make meatloaf that had grated veggies in it and feed my children small bites. In the baby food aisle, they have lots of junior foods. They are kind of pricey, but might give you some ideas. Also, in the cereal aisle, you will find some unsweetened cereals like wheat puffs or corn puffs.

we did mixed veggies, well cooked. He even liked them leftover. I would make a good portion, steam them til super soft, give him a few, then save the rest.
Bananas and super ripe, peeled pears, shredded cheese...hmmm, I will think some more and repost!