I don't get Finger Foods

I love the idea of finger foods and self-feeding, but either me or my girls don't get it. I have tried almost everything that's said to be great first finger food: avocado, baked sweet potato sticks, banana, papaya, tofu sticks, broccoli ...
My babies have not yet developed the pincer grasp but apparently that's not really necessary. So they grab the food, squish it between their fingers and that's basically it. They can't eat the mush that's inside their little fists. I also find that coating slippery foods in wheat germ doesn't help: they still have a hard time grabbing stuff like avocados and in the end the wheat germ sticks to their hands and the avocado is back to being slippery. How do your babies do it?? Should I just wait until they developed the pincer grasp??

 

Have you tried Cheerios and Gerber puffs(or something similar)? You could crush the cheerios and roll whatever in that. The Gerber puffs tend to stick to your hands, so those might work too.

I would keep trying. Just give them a little bit at mealtime/snacktime. In due time-they will get it.

 

I agree I would try the Gerber puffs. They stick to their hands so they don't lose them as easily. Allie will grab a handful but only get one in her mouth. I like the puffs because they disolve easily too - that's why they're sticky - so they can't choke as easily either. I give those to the girls during meals so if they're too impatient to wait their turn they can eat those and to just learn to pick up foods.

I like using baby cereal as a coating finger foods. I mainly only do it for bananas though.

 

Cheerios are great for developing that grasp.
Were your girls born early? My full term son really got into finger foods at 8 months, and I can't really remember now when my 35 week girls did, but I want to say closer to 9 or 10 months.
I wouldn't give up trying but offer some finger things, especially to give your self time to get the rest of the meal ready, then still spoon feed them to their hunger level. Try not to stress, I know how hard it is to resist the pressure to keep your babies "on track" but they will get it and in the scale of their whole lives, getting a few (or even several) weeks later is no big deal.

 

Practice is what will help them develop that "grasp" I wouild do it every day at least once a day! so they can learn!

 

Our boys didn't really get into finger foods other than Gerber Puffs and Cheerios until around 10 months. Like a pp said, keep trying, but don't get discouraged - they'll get there when they're ready.

 

as others have said, i wouldn't stop trying - it's the practice that is going to get them there. it sounds like they're doing great for their age. my girls didn't really get good at finger foods until closer to 10 months, but we let them try from about 7.5 months on. i gave them something to feed themselves at every meal. i was pretty gung ho about reaching the point where i didn't have to feed them anymore. :laughing: