15 Month Old Not Eating Finger Food

Hi H.,
My son also 15 months took his time with the finger food too. I just kept putting it in front of him. I would also take a bite & he then seems more likely to try it too. I found as soon as I stopped obsessing about it he was fine. We do cantaloupe( his fav.) strawberries, cooked carrots, chicken nuggets, apple, banana( but the slim factor bugs him a little). I make a large batch of banana pancakes & freeze them, so every morning he has a pancake( no butter or syrup).then the normal bunny grahams, puffs, raisans,OOohhh I almost forgot when he 1st was giving me a hard time not wanting to touch the slimmy stuff I got zFreeze dried fruit. One brand is called "just tomatoes" & they have all kinds of fruit. He loves the mango, banana, strawberry, peach. so that was good & now he will eat the real deal cause he knows the taste from the freeze dried stuff. She will catch on when you start to worry about the next thing( haha). Good luck.

My son went through a weird stage where at one point he ate veggies and fruits cut up small & then wouldn't eat them again for some reason. So I started giving him baby food veggies and fruits and fed them to him. He was so happy & ate them up. I did that for about 3 weeks then slowly introduced cut up veggies/fruits once again & he ate them no problem! So why no go back to the baby food for a little while & see what happens. They go through "picky" stages several times! My son did but is usually a great eater. Good luck.

Could your daughter possibly be using food as a power play? She is starting to hit that toddler stage. Maybe because you want her to eat it.. she will not? My daughter, at about 15 months, decided that she was just not going to eat. She could go 2 or 3 days without eating a thing.. then eat only a little. She is growing OK and weight is ok... and dr's tell me not to worry.. but still. ugh. She is now 2.5 and will eat only select foods. I have never catered to her fussiness and she gets what is put in front of her but the cycle still hasn't broken she can still go days w/o eating if one of the meals i serve isn't what she wants.

Just a different option as to waht might be happening. You know your daughter best and any of the above things might be the problem...

hi there
try sliced bananas coated in wheat germ, easier to pick up. We call them 'sprinkles'. Diced tofu sounds gross to some, but my kids liked it and very healthy. ANother idea is dipping (hummus, yogurt, etc) Its a MESS, but they love it.
:)

I would roll any wet or slippery food in rice cereal. It gave them a little more to grab on to and then it didn't feel as "slimy". It might be worth it. I did it with avocado.

Good luck!

Have you tried adding some chunks to the baby food or pureed/ mushed food? Maybe she needs to slowly get used to the different textures. One thing we tried was some bits of fruit in yogurt or veggies in applesauce to get my son used to textures. He's very texture-sensitive too, but has slowly started to try to things, so just stick with it - good luck!!

Mine wants what I'm eating, no matter what. Try not forcing it, but try eating in front of her, not letting her have any (that is the sure fire way to get mine to try anything). He will try anything I eat, and I don't make any bones about it if he doesn't want it after he tries it. I thank him for trying it, and we go on to other things. We usually have a bunch of things on our plates, and I make sure he sees that I enjoy lots of different things. It will come.

Try giving her a baby fork or spoon to pick things up with. Some kids just don't like to get their hands dirty and also like a challenge. It will be quite messy at first, but you can start with stuff that sticks to the spoon (mashed potatoes are good) and move on to yogurt, etc.

Hi H.! My daughter went through a very similar stage when I was eager to have her eating finger foods but she only wanted the mashed--at the time she was our only child and this is what my husband and I did...For a couple of days we ate each meal right with her and we all ate finger foods and made a big whopping deal out of it--we ate chunks of banana, grapes, strawberries, chicken, potatoes, everything we could cut up and lots of which we could dip. After the first meal and seeing our joy, she began trying a few things and giggling with the fun of it. After a couple of days she didn't even notice when we went back to eating like adults and has been a pretty good eater ever since...SO, you know what free advice is worth, but this did work for us and was fun for everyone, too! Good luck :)

Just because my kids are grown doen't mean, i can't remember....I remember plenty... IT IS MOST LIKELY BECAUSE OF THE WAY IT FEELS TO YOUR CHILD...SOME KIDS JUST DON'T DO THE STICKY STUFF, OR MESSY STUFF...THEN SOME KIDS JUST LOVE WHATEVER YOU PUT IN FRONT OF THEM... HAVE YOU TRIED DRIED FRUITS WITH YOUR CHILD? SOME MIGHT WORK. I KNOW SOME DRIED FRUIT MIGHT BE LITTLE HARD, BUT I NOTICED IF YOU BUY THEM FRESH THEY CAN BE JUST AS SOFT AS THE FIG NEWTONS.. JUST LITTLE HELP IN THAT AREA.... QUESTION I HAVE..???
WILL YOUR CHILD EAT FROM YOUR HAND TO HER MOUTH? BECAUSE SOME STUFF SHE IS NOT WELLING TO TOUCH MAYBE IF YOU TRY TO GIVE IT TO HER, IT WILL WORK??? OR NO? I PRAY YOU FIND A SOLUTION-I HOPE MY LITTLE TID-BIT HELPED. k

Texture is often a big things with kids this age. My son stayed on baby fruits & veggies for a long time because of this. Don't worry about it - the nutrition is more important at this stage. You can't get into a power play with them because ultimately they are in control! (Same goes for sleeping and potty training - just so you know!) Whatever she isn't doing now (eating finger foods), she will do later. Meantime, she is working on other developmental skills so try to recognize those milestones without stressing about the things she ISN'T doing.

There may be 2 issues at play here - what textures doesn't she like in her hands, and what textures doesn't she like in her mouth? You can try feeding her or helping her get started with a fork. Put the food in a small, sectioned plate so that, if she tries to pick it up or spear it with a fork, it doesn't slide too far.

If she doesn't go for the fruits, try other things like cubed up PB&J sandwiches, cubed up French toast (that gets the egg in her too) - try making French toast with cinnamon - that gives them a sweet taste without sugar or syrup. I make a bunch and freeze the slices between pieces of waxed paper, then heat up the amount I need in a toaster oven.

Try canned pears - the kind packed in pear juice, not heavy sugar syrup. Peaches too. They are just as nutritious but also soft and easy to chew. These might be a good transition food before chewier fruits like apples. Some kids like mandarin oranges - you could try those.

If bread products & crackers go over big, try something like zucchini bread, or apple muffins. Grate the zucchini & apples very finely to start, and then gradually make them a little chunkier. Either way, it's the same nutrition and a sneaky way to get fruit and veggies into them.

You can also blend blueberries or strawberries or other fruits into smoothies with her milk or formula. A lot of kids will eat veggies if they can dip them in something like ranch dip or even hummus. The dipping becomes a game! You can always give them a try, and just eat the same things in front of her.

If all else fails, stay with the pureed stuff for a while, then reintroduce textures later on.

Good luck and hang in there!

Just keep offering the food.... Some kids take longer to adjust!

Hi H.. You say your baby is "very healthy and growing at a normal rate" If she is bright and energetic and happy then she is getting all she needs. Keep offering her finger food, she will begin eating it when she is ready. Be careful no to let the books, or well meaning friends, or family make you think that she should be doing it differently. She is beautiful, she is healthy, she is clearly loved, she just doesn't want finger food, YET.

Hi H.!!

I did see your post last week and have been thinking a bit about your dilemma. I see a dietician (for myself) each week, but I bring my 2 girls along and, of course, end up talking about them and their eating habits along the way. Might as well start them out right. Anyway, I have some interesting issues with my 16 month old that I didn't have with my now 4 year old. So she shared with me that one of her grandchildren would only eat 3 things (and very specific--down to the exact flavor AND brand of yogurt) for quite a while. The mother (her daughter) was beside herself until my dietician said that it would eventually work its way through. It was definitely a texture issue. At this point, the baby is now a much older child in her teens with no food apprehension at all.

This being said, I have a couple of suggestions. My 16 month old does not seem to have texture issues, but she was becoming very picky. I now feed her two full solid meals per day with a light snack in between. We know that she likes all food, but she was becoming extremely picky about which foods she would eat and when. This solution solved our problem. Could your daughter also be willing to be choosy about her foods because she isn't hungry enough to just eat what is put in front of her?

If the issue is texture, keep offering your daughter the good finger foods and she will eventually start to eat them. Start off each meal with them, offer a few during the meal, and then again at the end. But, don't push it. Follow her lead. Overall, don't sweat it. If it is a texture thing, she'll grow out of it and this will all be a distant memory.

Good luck to you, congratulations on your beautiful surprise!