Getting Babies to Eat Veggies & Finger Food

When my son was about 7 months old I would let him sit in his high chair with a spoon and just set a handful of cheerios on the table with him between meals here and there. He always seemed like he was having a blast trying to get cheerios on his spoon and feeding himself.

Each kid is different on what they will eat and what they won't, but I would suggest simply continuing to try new stuff. I'm not one of those parents that makes my son eat things he doesn't like; he just has to try it, no matter what it is. Don't have to like it, do have to try it. And do him a huge favor by never making him eat the step 3 foods. If they are ready to eat that, you might as well give him real food. I also introduced the Gerber Little Entrees to him fairly early, around 10 months maybe, and he really liked those. Also loved the Gerber pinwheel puffs and just about every other finger food.

I've also had my mom tell me you could always buy the frozen veggies at the grocery, you can get bags of squash amongst just about anything else you can think of pre-mashed and see if he likes that better.

Hello I have a 7 month who LOVES the gerber puffs I started giving her a few before her meals and for a couple of weeks they would always end up in her lap or stuck to her face but after a while she started getting most of them in her mouth. She doesn't grabb them with her fingers but she has learned to grabb them with her palms them roll them to her finger tips to get them in her mounth. So as far as finger foods I would say keep giving him the puffs he'll adventually get the hang of it

try giving him italian style green beans my baby loves them and he likes bananas but cut them in triangle if chockes its really easy to get out. plus its a soft food should have no problem with bananas. but try thhe green beans and also try a thin slice of tomatoe all my boys love them.

With my son I tired the combos i.e. chicken and brocoli, sweet potatoes and ham and all those other combos and that seemed to help with getting him to eat more veggies..like the other mom said I tried all the Gerber Graduates stuff and it works to help with the child learning to feed...it is a SLOW process..my son is 21 months and I don't let him use a spoon because he gets it all over the place b/c he flicks it back and forth...good luck

I have experienced lots of success with the Gerber Graduate foods the puffs, as you mentioned but also the biter biscuits, cookies and entrees. My 15 month old loves the turkey /chicken,mashed potatoes and veggies. I also just discovered sweet potato fries (for baking) in the frozen food section at the store and he loves them (should you discover that your little one isn't allergic)He also likes the breakfast bars in the Gerber graduates. I didn't think he would EVER start eating finger foods but then one day he just did! Good luck!

I had a similar problem. What seemed to work was to mix up the baby food he wouldn't eat with a little bit of applesauce or another baby food that he did like.

Also sometimes babies have an instinct for knowing when certain foods don't agree with them. My son never liked creamed corn babyfood and grew up hating corn. Turns out he was allergic to it.

As for finger foods, if he hasn't quite got the grasp down yet, you can always wait and try again in another month. They pick up new skills so fast.

On the finger food idea...they WILL get dropped and lost much of the time at first (and for a person that hates to throw food away I really struggled with it at first, but I did get over it eventually) Ideas for things to try:

*Biter biscuits - for the life of me I can't remember what they are called but they are hard as heck, dissolve slowly and are SUPERIOR when your little one is teething...it feels great to them! One negative is they are messy so have the warm rags ready to clean him up!

*Cheerios, Kix and Rice Krispies. They all dissolve well and once he decides that he likes them, his breakfast cereal options are easy!

*American cheese slices (the Kraft singles) torn into little pieces (they also stick to the high chair so they don't fall to the floor LOL!) and when your comfortable doing so cottage cheese...trying to grasp the lumpy stuff also makes mealtime last longer...which is great when he eats with mom and dad! It's a great way to keep baby occupied.

As far as him refusing the veggies....it make take awhile for him to get used to them. Those fruits are so sweet and yummy and peas and beans....well, they're not sweet so try, try again! Persistance is the key. You might try them fist before the fruit or you might try to puree the "real thing" (ie. not use traditional baby food for veggies)and see if it makes a difference. Trust me. Taste peas from a baby food jar and tell me if they taste like what you eat. Maybe the "real" thing would be more appealing and accepted.

I also used the idea of combining the veggies with something (like a little bit of beans with the rice baby cereal) to hide a little of the taste and then work to giving bean only bites.

Best wishes!

I read that if you put some of the food on the tray of their high chair and let them experiment with it a little before you try bringing it in with the spoon, they don't respond so much with disgust. My son hates green beans and I tasted them and they taste the same as regular green beans so maybe he'll like them eventually. I agree with the other mother who said to mix them with foods they do like it has worked for me. As for making your own babyfood, it's a good idea but you aren't supposed to add butter, spices or salt to the food. You don't flavor it to your taste, it's supposed to be bland otherwise they expect it and they don't need unhealthy fats and cholesterol, especially if they're drinking formula, it has enough fat and salt already. Just keep trying...try one bit of something he like followed by one bite of something he doesn't.

Hi M.! I am having the same problem with my 10 month old. Don't feel bad. Some days I start to worry about my baby not wanting to eat finger foods (even french fries) or combo foods but then I remind myself that she will do it on her own time. I am also wondering if she is getting bored with the foods I give her and if I should blend the foods that my husband and I eat. She doesn't like the puffs and she gags at the chicken and rice combo. She does however, eat most of the baby veggies and of course, all the fruits but sometimes it is difficult to get her to finish any of them. Anyhow, my neighbor had suggested buying one of those magic bullet blenders that you see on the info commercials. I know it sounds corny however, she has a daughter who is disabled and they have to chop foods for her. She says it is great! I am thinking about purchasing one and trying it. I hope this helps and I wish you the best!

Hi M., my little girl went thru the same thing she would not let us even get close to feeding her anything, so one day we said fine you win, gave her real veggies (frozen veggies cooked in just water) all she wanted was to feed herself. She loves peas and carrots and eats them like they are going out of style. At first we just mashed them up and worked our way up from there. It took her about a week to eat her frist actual puff. she would put them in her mouth and spit them right back out. Cheerios are another good thing, they do not disolve as quickly as puffs but she ate a cheerio before she ate the puffs. Another thing we would do is we would eat a pea and show her what we were doing and then we would say ummmm, then she started to try them after a few days of that.

Good luck

I didn't have trouble with my boys, but my sister did with her children. She said that she would trick them. She would alternate spoonfulls, one of the food they like, the other with something new. Sometimes they would get two spoonsfulls back to back of the same thing just to mix things up. Then he will get exposure to new foods, never knowing when it will be one of his favorites, or a new one.
You can also introduce other fruits, by mixing them into his cereal. I would think you could also mix some vegetables with rice cereal also. The flavors may be overwhelming, and the cereal may help tone them down.
I would keep offering finger foods like the Gerber puffs. That will encourage him to try to reach and grab, and help him develop the fine motor skills necessary to feed himself.
God bless !!! J. <><

Hi M.,

I am a mom of two. I have an 11yr old, and a 9 month old. I am also a child care provider with 11 years of experience. My advice to you is this: keep on offering the foods he "doesn't" like. You cannot say whether or not a child "likes" a food until you have offered it at least *17* times. Sounds crazy? It's true! I never gave up on my now 11 yr old and she is not a picky eater at all! To this day if she doesn't like something the first time, she will still try it again later!

Also, have you tried purreeing your own baby food? Neither of my girls liked the jarred food. I make my own for my 9 month old and she loves it! There have been some food she didnt like at first, but I just kept trying. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you HAVE to stop trying- for example peas made my baby gag (literally) so I waited a month before trying it again, she still isnt very fond of them plain, but likes them mixed with carrots.

As for finger food that varries alot from baby to baby. My baby girl gags on anything that is not mush. lol. She has a really bad gag reflex. Usually 8-9 months is a good starting point. My best advice for starting finger food is over cooked veggies or boiled fruit (until it is real mushy). Also a good start are those "Safety Feeders" that you can buy. Babies will usually chew on the food in them and learn the basic concept of it, and you dont have to worry about choking. My baby loves hers!

I also wanted to add about the spoon feeding thing- I have this recipe for baby "yogurt." It is about 3-4 TBSP Tofu (I use the Nasoya silken), about half a peach (boiled with skins removed) and half a banana. Put it all in a blender, blend until smooth. My baby LOVES this! Plus it "sticks" to the spoon, so it will help them learn to use the spoon :) Another good idea is to make their rice cereal a little thicker then usual, then that will stick to the spoon as well. The tofu is great though- so healthy for them. My baby also likes it mixed with carrots, and most other fruits.

I hope some of this helps!

Veggies are hard if they don't like them but from what you have given him it sounds as if he has a sweet tooth. Bananas, pears, and carrots are full of sugar and carbohydrates, and sweet potatoes are probably a little acidic so that might be the diaper rash problem, if his skin is sensitive. I would suggest, broccoli with a little bit of butter cooked well, and put in the blender til it is mush, also califlower works well this way too. peas are great and you can mush them right out of the can. You might try combining carrots and peas, and he might like that. As to finger foods, we started with those large super hard crackers, they don't break easily so you don't have to worry too much about chocking, but they can knaw then to death. we always started with cheerios, because they dissolve easily, but you still have to chew a bit, but with the hole in their it would be very hard for them to choke.

Hi M.,

We wasted a lot of food at 8 months old. Don't worry about it. Some babies aren't even eating any solids at that age yet and still getting good nutrition from breastmilk or formula. My son certainly wasn't ready for crackers or wheels yet at that age. Every new food had a funny and negative first response.

I eventually learned that he wasn't going to eat straight veggie's out of a jar. I mixed in a tablespoon of a veggie a 1/2 cup of cereal and that was enough to enjoy the taste without being overwhelmed by it. I gradually increased the veggie's in the mix. He didn't eat straight veggies until he was 10 month old (around the same time he started eating puffs and learned to chew). Nutritionally, the rice and veggie mix is healthier anyway.

I stopped using jar food after buying The Super Baby Diet book. I save around $100 a month making my own baby food and it tastes better. I just used my Osterizer and ice cube trays.

As for trying new foods, it sounds like the fruits he is eating is good, so I wouldn't fret too much. At least he is eating several instead of none. Your child will be ok! As for finger foods, I would check out http://www.onestepahead.com/product/85206/307755/117.html
there is this great thing that you can put whole fruit in, cookies, what ever, and your child can chew on it without fear of choking because the food is in a mesh bag, so your child gets some of the food, but it is all mushed up. My son started using it at 6 months and loved it!

i'm a mother of 2 and i started both my kids on finger food at 8 months. it may not be the taste of the food that bothers your baby, maybe it's the consistency? hard to tell, you'll just have to try it and see. you could introduce soft finger foods and see if he'll eat a wider variety (cooked carrots, banana, avacado?) - it sounds like he's excited to feed himself. and, remember, it does take awhile for babies to learn how to eat finger food - could be several weeks. but, once they get the hang of it, it's worth your while. that's a TOUGH time btw baby food and "real" food, i remember :) hang in there!

I agree with Kim's approach. You should try making your own baby food. You can steam peas, carrots, zucchini slices, green beans, etc, cut them up and put them on right on the high chair tray for your baby to pick up and eat. My youngest son loves ripe avocado slices, since they are so soft. If you have ever tasted baby food from a jar, you know it is pretty bland. I've always had better success with fresh food than with jarred baby food.