Finger food ideas for a baby with no teeth?

[aristocatz]

My DD is 11 months old & has decided she no longer wants baby food. She has been spitting it out the past few days and only wants finger food. No complaints here-I'm very excited for her to eat regular food!

The problem is, she still has no teeth, and it makes her finger food choices limited-ESPECIALLY in the area of protein. For protein, she will currently eat yogurt, cheese, and scrambled eggs. Looking to increase her variety.

Any other protein finger food suggestion for a baby with no teeth? I was going to try tofu, but I read that too much soy might not be good for babies.

I loved the baby food for her because she was getting nice balanced meals. With finger foods, I feel like she is mostly just getting carbs.

Thanks~

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My DD is 11 months old & has decided she no longer wants baby food. She has been spitting it out the past few days and only wants finger food. No complaints here-I'm very excited for her to eat regular food!

The problem is, she still has no teeth, and it makes her finger food choices limited-ESPECIALLY in the area of protein. For protein, she will currently eat yogurt, cheese, and scrambled eggs. Looking to increase her variety.

Any other protein finger food suggestion for a baby with no teeth? I was going to try tofu, but I read that too much soy might not be good for babies.

I loved the baby food for her because she was getting nice balanced meals. With finger foods, I feel like she is mostly just getting carbs.

Thanks~

mac & cheese, Hamburger (well done and broken up into small pieces), cottage cheese (messy but works).

 

[SLCborn]

Having had 3 kids who teethed like crazy but got teeth VERY late these are a few things I remember feeding them

Sweet potato, bananas,avocados, roast chicken, cheese omelet, pasta with marinara, sweet potato fries, swiss cheese, apricots, peaches, pears, green beans, squash, mozzarella, tomatoes, cherries, plums, mac n cheese. These are all I could remember but I know my kids loved a lot of them! Good luck

 

[thedonduck]

We did baby led weaning with both of my kids. They were both very late teethers, but I always just made sure. I cooked everything soft enough extra. We had great success. Here is a website that we used that provided good information. http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/solidfood8to10montholdbaby.htm

 

[aristocatz]

mac & cheese, Hamburger (well done and broken up into small pieces), cottage cheese (messy but works).

Thank you She does eat mac & cheese-I guess I didn't figure that as a protein lol!

I will give the others a try.

We did baby led weaning with both of my kids. They were both very late teethers, but I always just made sure. I cooked everything soft enough extra. We had great success. Here is a website that we used that provided good information. http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/solidfood8to10montholdbaby.htm

Thanks-I will check out that website!

 

[aristocatz]

Having had 3 kids who teethed like crazy but got teeth VERY late these are a few things I remember feeding them

Sweet potato, bananas,avocados, roast chicken, cheese omelet, pasta with marinara, sweet potato fries, swiss cheese, apricots, peaches, pears, green beans, squash, mozzarella, tomatoes, cherries, plums, mac n cheese. These are all I could remember but I know my kids loved a lot of them! Good luck

Thank you-this list is so helpful!! She does great with steamed veggies & most fruits. I didn't think to try avocado, but I'll bet she will love that!

I was wondering if grilled cheese sandwich would be soft enough to "gum" properly (in small pieces of course).

 

[minkydog]

Having had 3 kids who teethed like crazy but got teeth VERY late these are a few things I remember feeding them

Sweet potato, bananas,avocados, roast chicken, cheese omelet, pasta with marinara, sweet potato fries, swiss cheese, apricots, peaches, pears, green beans, squash, mozzarella, tomatoes, cherries, plums, mac n cheese. These are all I could remember but I know my kids loved a lot of them! Good luck

Me too. I thought I was the only one whose kids were toothless until the were over a year old. But that didn't stop them from eating pretty much anything, except meat. I gave them fruit cocktail, cooked green beans and carrots, potatoes, shredded cheese, baked beans, pasta, cottage cheese mixed with small chunks of fruit, cheerios, bananas, small bits of toast with pureed veggies spread over it. I even gave them small amounts of peanut butter (no one in our families have any food allergies.) I just made sure the food was cut small and easily mashed. I never really pushed the meat too much and none of my kids were very keen on it until they were in elementary school, anyway (and one of them is now vegetarian.)

I'm sure most of us know to stay away from hot dogs, grapes, caramels, gummy bears, popcorn, nuts, marshmallows, and other hard or sticky foods until they can easily grind their food up.

 

[Erin1700]

Thank you-this list is so helpful!! She does great with steamed veggies & most fruits. I didn't think to try avocado, but I'll bet she will love that!

I was wondering if grilled cheese sandwich would be soft enough to "gum" properly (in small pieces of course).

Vegetable soup, canned peaches
Use the baby food like jelly and put it on tiny pieces of toast.

 

[JLiz]

Shredded poached chicken and/or turkey, baked soft fish like Tilapia, catfish, or tuna. My 13 month old has a mouth full of teeth, but I make her tiny meatballs from ground beef or ground turkey and poach them in broth or water; she loves them.

For non protein choices, my munchkin loves strawberries cut into chunks, blueberries cut in half, cantalope, honey dew, banana slices, peaches, mangoes, very ripe pears, and baked apples.

Green peas are fun to pick up, smash, and eat, also small pieces of cooked broccoli, green beans, cooked yellow squash or zucchini, and shredded, cooked cabbage are good.

 

[aristocatz]

I'm so glad I posted this-I was a bit hesitant feeling like a dumb first-time mom for having a hard time coming up with stuff

We do feed our baby grapes, but cut into very small pieces. I'm assuming the "no grapes" means whole grapes to avoid choking, right?

We actually had her try baked beans a few days ago-she was not a fan lol!

Great idea with the fish-I'm going to pick some up this week for her! Are most non-shellfish OK for babies?

& spreading baby food on toast-I never would have thought of that!

 

[abdmom]

Babies (and small children) don't need much protein. It's hard on their kidneys. Cheese is especially hard on their kidneys, because of the protein plus the salt. I'd concentrate on the grains - pasta, cereal etc and veggies and fruits.

 

[Poohforyou]

Thank you She does eat mac & cheese-I guess I didn't figure that as a protein lol!

I will give the others a try.



Thanks-I will check out that website!

Mac & cheese really isn't a protein but babies don't need a ton of protein. One thing my dd loved as a baby was beans. I'd get no salt organic canned beans like white or red kidney beans. They're easy for a baby to pick up.

I also use to make silver dollar pancakes and add cottage cheese and/or Greek yogurt to the batter to up the protein. I'd also make a plain inlet and add a little rice cereal to make it sturdier to pick up.

As someone else mentioned, fish sticks are another good option.

 

[minkydog]

We do feed our baby grapes, but cut into very small pieces. I'm assuming the "no grapes" means whole grapes to avoid choking, right?

We gave our kids grapes, too, but I peeled them and chopped them into small dice pieces. One fruit I did not give them was watermelon. It's a pretty fibrous fruit for a baby with no teeth.

 

[aristocatz]

Babies (and small children) don't need much protein. It's hard on their kidneys. Cheese is especially hard on their kidneys, because of the protein plus the salt. I'd concentrate on the grains - pasta, cereal etc and veggies and fruits.

Mac & cheese really isn't a protein but babies don't need a ton of protein. One thing my dd loved as a baby was beans. I'd get no salt organic canned beans like white or red kidney beans. They're easy for a baby to pick up.

I also use to make silver dollar pancakes and add cottage cheese and/or Greek yogurt to the batter to up the protein. I'd also make a plain inlet and add a little rice cereal to make it sturdier to pick up.

As someone else mentioned, fish sticks are another good option.

This is so helpful to me She actually has been eating mostly grains, fruits, & veggies, so I am feeling much better about her diet now. She seems to be a breakfast girl-french toast, pancakes, toast, waffles, eggs with fruit and veggies seems to be her main meals lately.

I had no idea about cheese being hard on her kidneys-wish my pediatrician had mentioned that to me at her 9 month appt. We have not gone crazy with cheese, but it would have been nice to know.

Canned beans are a great idea. I'm guessing chickpeas would be too hard for her, but kidney beans sound great!

 

[Carina]

My oldest started teething at 6m but did not get her first tooth until 16m

What you are not realizing is even babies that have teeth before age one, don't have molars...lol

They are not chewing any better than your toothless baby.

Molars usually appear about 18m

 

[tcufrog]

What about Greek yogurt?

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Mine liked salmon, which easily flakes apart into little pieces, and lentils. I bet he would have liked to dip things in humus, plus crumbled pieces of falafel although I didn't think to try them at the time.

 

[Help Please!]

One of my go-to recipes was a broccoli-cheese bite..I think off of this website?

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/babyfingerfood.htm#.UhwQ1tKsiSo

Instead of regular white flour pancakes, I would make a pancake batter with whole wheat baby cereal, cut up a banana, and dip into the batter...cook on a skillet. You could add some protein by adding almond butter to the batter...would probably taste great.

 

[jenflamingo1]

When my twins were looking for more solid food and didn't have many teeth , I made applesauce PLOPS ... LOL. These were just a plop of applesauce on a plate that I popped into the freezer for about 30 minutes . I'd make a bunch , remove them from the plate with a pancake flipper , and put 4 or 5 on each highchair tray . They were able to explore self-feeding , and BONUS the cold seemed to help teething . Super easy ! You could expand on this ... try doing this with baby food
The kids also seemed to enjoy the frozen texture and novelty , too.

 

[scrapquitler]

How about hummus? You could do turkey or chicken cooked and cut in very small (pea size) pieces. Cooked beans. Yogurt.