Malakai's very first puree was sweet potato and it was love at first taste!
When it came to finger foods we tried teething crackers at first, which were a big fail. The arrowroot biscuits made him terribly constipated and the Earth's Best teething biscuits broke off into big hard pieces that he subsequently choked on.
Bananas make a great finger food and are good for helping him learn to chew solids. However, it was difficult for him to pick up pieces of banana since they're so slimy. He really loves cheerios so I crushed some into crumbs and rolled the banana in the crumbs. Works perfectly! He is now able to grip them.
Also, Henry whom I watch a few mornings a week won't touch or eat anything wet or slimy like bananas, baked apple or cantaloupe. I usually have to put them in his oatmeal, but with the cheerio crumbs I'm able to get him to feed himself bananas!
The other finger food I made is sweet potato fries. These quickly became Malakai's new favorite. I just diced up the sweet potatoes in to strips, tossed them in olive oil with a pinch of cinnamon and baked them at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. I usually end up dicing them into small pinch-able pieces that Malakai can pick up easily. After baking them, I refrigerated them in a ziplock plate and he'll eat them either warm or cold!
Making Malakai's foods has been really fun. I'm learning to be patient with the process and not push him to to try table foods too quickly. Today he tried to swallow a tiny piece of banana without chewing it. He does this every once in a while with cheerios as well but usually coughs it up. Well he wasn't coughing and I had to sweep my finger across the back of his mouth to try to retrieve it, but couldn't because it was already in his throat. Luckily, he swallowed hard and got it down. It was scary, but I was calm and collected through the whole thing. I'm so glad he's okay and it does me good to know that I can handle such a stressful situation without freaking out and letting my emotions get in the way.
some of our first finger foods were:
ReplyDeletecooked carrots, peas, green beans, pasta, cheese bits, peaches, pears, apples, lil crunchies, puffs, wagon wheels. (none of these can be choked on if properly prepared) And i think those arrowroot cookies are meant for toddlers. We JUST started doing those and dawson is almost 11 months. :) Take it slow. He will just be happy to feed himself. haha Youre doing a great job! And thanks for the sweet potato recipe!
I love both of those ideas for finger foods & hope you don't mind my stealing them!
ReplyDeleteB does pretty well with what I give him for finger foods now but every once & a while he does the same things & me heart drops; thankfully he has always managed to get it down!!
Mitzi- steal away, that's why I posted this!
ReplyDeleteAlysha- thanks for the ideas. I was hoping the stupid crackers would help with teething but that was my bad. Although, I'm pretty sure that my son could manage to choke on anything. He's such an eager eater he'd rather just swallow whatever is in his mouth so he can hurry up and have more!