Won't eat finger foods

[hayles21]

Hi All,

Just joined this site tonight and i'm hoping that someone can help me as i'm having a problem getting my lo to eat finger foods.

He's just turned 10 months old and refuse's to eat any finger foods i put in front of him. But will eat most things if i feed him from a spoon. So have been spoon feeding him Banana!!

He will pick up anything else and put it in his mouth (he's teething) but not food.

I've tried all sorts of different foods, tried eating with him, eating exactly the same as i've put in front of him but nothing seems to work.

Any ideas anyone?

Many Thanks

Hayley

[noababy]

I would spoon feed him and also leave a bit on the high chair in front of him. The more you try to pressure him or show him how much you want him to do it, the more the little buggers assert themselves and do the opposite.

[éinínsmom]

I would just keep with the spoonfeeding and like noababy said, leave the finger foods on his tray!he'll do it in his own time and probably when you least expect it!and when he does you can give him loads of praise and a clap!!

xxx

[hayles21]

Thanks ladies, managed to get him to try a little bit of a bear biscuit, but he didn't like it very much!

[cathyg]

Freddie didn't really eat finger foods much til he was 1, that was alot to do with me though as everytime we tried he choked, so i stopped. have you tried just putting some food in his hands & leaving him (hiding round the corner out of sight) to see what he does, he might think that when you are about then you must feed him. x

[hayles21]

Thanks cathy, will try that one!

[hayles21]

well still not getting very far. He will now take food if i hand it to him, but won't pick it up from the highchair tray and still won't eat it, just squashs it in his hand then throws it on the floor!

Tried all your tricks ladies but nothing is working so far!!

[sam10]

Hi - my little one when he was a similiar age to your little one wouldn't do finger foods. He wanted puree mush on a spoon.

This is probably not good advice but I didn't bother with fingertype foods for a while. I stopped worrying about it and then we tried about 6-8 weeks later he was willing to give it a go.

My little one was very late in his teeth coming through so he was always behind on the eating techniques and loved his puree stuff. So I put his reluctance down to that reason.

[hayles21]

Hi Sam10,
Lewis doesn't have any teeth at the mo, so may that is something to do with it!
Although he did eat two mouthfuls of a cream cheese sandwich today so am hoping that he will keep trying now

[lorna97]

Hi, I was wondering if any of you who have had this problem - baby happy to be spoon-fed but won't finger feed - could post updates on how/when your baby started feeding himself?

Niko just had a checkup with the health visitor and she sounded a little surprised that he's not started finger feeding (he's 10 months), so she's got me worried. He'll eat anything I give him, either from a spoon or my hand, and will pick up and play with food on his tray, but won't put it in his mouth, even if I give him a taste to show it's food. He'll try to grab food from my plate but he won't try to eat it. He doesn't chew his toys or try to hold his cup yet.

I have no idea how to teach him to put food in his mouth. When I put something in his hand and try to bring his hand to his mouth he gets so upset. He was in tears this lunchtime and the last thing I want to do is make mealtimes difficult.

Should I persevere with this at all mealtimes, giving him finger food, or wait for a couple of weeks and try him again? I don't want to push him into something he's not ready for but I don't want him to not feed himself because Mummy never showed him how to.

Any advice would be appreciated.