My baby refuses all food from a spoon now.....what can I feed her?

Question

My 8 month old daughter recently was sick with ear infections and tonsilitis and refused to eat....so I just let her have her formula...but now that shes better shes still refusing the spoon....she wont eat any babyfood or pablum :(....she will only eat fingerfood....Im worried she wont be getting enough good stuff....Ive tried seeing if she can feed herself with the spoon but shes just not ready yet......what are some good ideas of fingerfoods she can eat?......She likes french toast and Im thinking about making her some cooked carrots... I need more ideas !

Answer 1

We never used purees at all, so I have all kinds of ideas for finger foods :)

First off, remember your daughter is still getting her main nutrients from breastmilk/formula, so you don't have to worry too much about her getting a balanced diet from solids. Secondly, think about her week like you think about your day. You want to offer her a balanced diet over the course of one week. It's ok if one day all she wants is banana, and all she wants the next day is chicken, as long as it evens out over time, kwim?

There are a great many things you can offer as finger foods to an 8 month old, our daughter was eating banana, avocado, stewed meats (like chicken cooked in a crock pot until it was falling apart) watermelon, soft cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchini/summer squash, scrambled yolks with stuff in it and oatmeal. You can sneak in all kinds of stuff in the oatmeal and eggs, too. The oatmeal was regular oats, cooked extra long, so they were a little mushier than normal, then I'd chill it in the fridge (it solidifies.) You can then offer it in chunks that the baby can self-feed. The other fruits and veggies, cut into french-fry sized pieces so she can hold the "handle" and still have something to put in her mouth.

If baby's used to eating Cheerios, try the freeze-dried veggies that you can get in the produce section at the grocery. They're called "Just Tomatoes" or "Just Peas" or "Just Apples" They are a favorite here and the only way my kiddo will eat peas, lol. The website for the company is http://www.justtomatoes.com

At 9 months, we started offering cheese, yoghurt (letting baby use a spoon - or her hand - messy, but oh well) well-cooked beans and peas, pasta, etc. She was basically eating what we were eating, sans salt.

A great website with lots of ideas and recipes is http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Lastly, sometimes it takes a little while for baby to be "back to normal" after being sick, so you might just give her some more time. I know that when I'm sick it can take up to a week for me to be eating normally again.

Good luck and glad your little one is feeling better.

Answer 2

Of course he takes forever. You'd take forever too if you had to pick up tiny pieces individually. At this age you can just put dinner on a plate in front of him, no tiny pieces. Even a 6 month old baby can handle big chunks of finger food to chew from. At 11 months old pretty much the only precaution you should take is to cut round things like grapes in half so they don't accidentally slide down the wrong pipe. By the way, BIGGER chunks give him LESS risk of choking. Just give him a whole banana as a snack and a bowl of spaghetti bolognese for dinner, it will be messy (feeding a baby always is) but go down just fine. You can google 'baby led weaning' for ideas, but really: even parents who don't practice baby led weaning would have moved on to ta ble food by now.

Answer 3

Jenny, seems like your girl is associating pain with spoon. need to find the root cause and correct this. Suggest that you may want to rest this spoon feeding for a while first. Also show her ways in which spoon can be used so as to eliminate her fear.
As for fingerfood. cut fruits, animal shaped toddler biscuits, bread with jam, boiled egg (cut into pieces, maybe separate the yolk from the white, dried fruits.

Answer 4

Give her a variety of soft fruit and veg and as long as you are still giving formula milk she should be fine. Be careful to watch the sugar and salt content and don't give processed foods which are by definition high in both. Try not to make an issue of it as she will pick up on your anxiety, most babies go through food fads at some stage and their appetite for varied solids returns in due course. If you are still worried have a word with your health visitor or equivalent if you are not in UK who I'm sure will give you advice.

Answer 5

make her a bunch of different things you would feed her with a spoon except soup and put it in front of her. let her eat everything with her fingers. she will get very messy and make a mess of the floor. Just take her right from her chair and put her right in the bath when she is done makes clean up much easier. and make sure to put a bag or old blanket down on the floor under her chair then throw the bag away or put the blanket right in the washer. I did that with my daughter. She will eventually start eating with a spoon again. It's just one of the many phases they go through! good luck!

Answer 6

Your baby will grow just fine on formula alone. Although, she will need to eat more frequently. Breastmilk would be better. Offer her finger foods and don't worry about the spoon. She'll soon be to the age where she'll feed herself and very few babies use a spoon. Believe it or not, most foods can be finger foods once she's got the teeth for them.

Answer 7

whole grain cereals that she can pick up, dunk them in milk first to make it easier to chew, ripe peaches,pears,bananas, bread with fruit spread,mac and cheese. you could cook up some chicken and chop it ultra small but keep an eye on her.the cooked carrots are a good idea as well. keep trying the spoon though. she'll probably take it again if it's offered enough.

Answer 8

my children LOVE noodles and macaroni and cheese to make it more healthy. I mix leftover babyfood with it... Let her pick up the noodles.. It can get a little messy but, nothing a bath won't fix.. Just get small noodles that are easy to pick up.. Also, thawed baby peas and cooked carrots and sweet potato cut into pieces the size of your pinky nail.

Answer 9

I think I did scrambled eggs, carrots, peas, mac and cheese or other small well cooked noodles. small bits of graham crackers. Anything that was easy for them to gum.

Answer 10

try yogurt smoothies, the yobaby kind are very healthy

as far as finger foods go, my little sister used to love a cut up hot dog (uncooked)
and i used like honey nut cheerios apparantly.

gerber graduates has healthy fruitsnacks, and stuff like that. this line is sold at most grocery stores