Finger Food Ideas for My 11 Mth Old?

Sounds like you've already given him a lot of different options, but here are some others that I give my son: mandarin oranges, kiwi, rice, cheerios - all of these are pretty easy "on the go"!

we went through a lot of deli lunch meat cut up in bite size pieces, shredded cheese and cottage cheese. Good luck!

Looks like you already have a lot of great ideas, but I wanted to sugguest homemade pancakes, french toast or waffles. We always make one of the above on Saturday or Sunday morning, (or sometimes during the week for "breakfast for dinner"), and I make a huge batch to stick in the fridge and have during the week. They re-heat easily in the microwave or toaster. I also add fresh fruit or pumpkin or sweet potato puree to the batter. My 10 month old son only has 2 teeth, so I cut them up into tiny pieces. He loves pancakes especially, and could eat a pancake at every meal! I also buy snack sized baggies and prepare a weeks worth of food on Sunday to save time during the week. Good luck!

These work good for teething also frozen peas in a little measuring cup... helps develop dexterity and fine motor skills,

break in half corn on the cobb, after an adult has eaten most of the corn off of it.

water melon
S. Beck
www.lovingtouch.com

Sounds like you already have a pretty well balanced diet. My son is 16 months old, and that is pretty similar to his diet. :) It does get boring after a while. The only things I can think to add are cheesesticks (my son loves to chew on them, but you do have to watch him closely), but they are a great to go food. Yo-baby yogurt and I also give him black or kidney beans - which he loves, and cottage cheese is our staple!. I just recently discovered at walmart they sell a wide variety of "graduates" food for toddlers. They have great things like dried yogurt bites, soft "real fruit" rolls, and more - you should check it out for some healthy to go snacks! Good luck!

This suggestion is a packaged food, but it's a healthy one. My little boy loves the freeze dried fruit you get in the baby section. It dissolves quickly because it's freeze dried and it is nothing but pure fruit; no additives and nothing artificial. You can buy a generic brand at Walmart that is a lot cheaper than the Gerber stuff and they have a bigger selection. You can also buy a box of freeze dried apple slices, strawberries, and bananas at Costco, but they are more expensive than the ones at Walmart. My son also loves raisins. I buy little boxes of raisins and keep them stashed all over the place; particularly in the diaper bag. If I loosen the raisins in the box he can hold the box and feed himself. It's is great for his coordination and dexterity.

I also make homemade whole wheat rolls. My son loves these and they travel well. I am not sure how well your son chews yet and if he can handle a whole roll all by himself, but if he can it's a great self feeding snack.

How about mini muffins? You can have fruit or savory. They are quick to make and freeze well. Also little chippolata sausages occassionaly. All kids love the little red ones and they can be eaten warm or cold. If you have time you could try a vegetable frittata, make it for dinner at night and he could take some leftovers in his lunch box the next day. Another thing my girls loved in season were sugar snap peas, they are sweet, crispy and crunchy and don;t cause a choking hazzard as the 'pea' is pretty non-existent. You can also get cheese 'sticks' but they tend to be bit expensive.
Both my girls went to full time daycare. I was lucky though that they provided all lunches, lovely roast meals, and casseroles and sandwiches and fruit. Sometimes they made there own bread and coloured it shocking pink or green. The kids loved it!
So how much pasta sauce ended up in his hair? LOL
kind regards, Y.

Our one year old loves yogurt, so we put cut up pieces of fruit, raisins or Bunny Love cereal on a tray with yogurt and he goes to town. His favorite (messy) finger food is a whole, pealed mango. He RELISHES those, and chewing on the pit helps him with teething.

I cut up anything that doesn't seem like a choke hazard from my plate. I rarely cook something extra for him.

We also buy frozen organic veges/fruits like cubed squash, cubed sweet potatoes, peas and carrots, mushrooms, chopped spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, hashed browns, cubed mango. You can pack it frozen and put it in his diaper bag, and it thaws by the time he eats it. He likes beans (we buy canned and rinse them), hummous, fresh fruits of all types, frozen bananas and pickles in those little mesh bags they sell at baby stores, raisins, avocado, potatoes in any form (oven baked fries, baked, mashed, hashed browned), rice, rice noodles, chicken sausage, fish, bits of chicken or ground meat, and (this is odd) chicken leg bones with all the little bones and cartilage removed (good for teething). He likes to try anything we eat and enjoys spicy foods, sour food, corn tortillas and even hearts of palm.

You could do some deli meat in small pieces, with some cheese and crackers. Apple sauce, yogurt, mixed fruit. My dd loves fresh pears and watermelon. I also gave my dd gold fish and pretzels for snacks. I don't know if day care has a microwave but I used to send in a microwaveable plate with a little elbow noodles, green beans, carrots and corn. and then in a seperate container some fruit to add to the plate when ready. You can pretty much fix some of the things you had for dinner the night before if it is cut up very small pieces and not alot of spices.

If you have a costco card we love the freeze dried fruit they have there by brothers there is 10 pouches of fuji apples and 10 of straberry and banana slices. I love them because they are big pieces perfect for our 11 month old's fingers to hold on to. And he loves gogurts.

Hi J.-
I always gave my kids cooked beans (in addition to the other foods that have already been suggested). They're the perfect size, packed with nutrition and fiber, and there are lots of varieties. You can buy organic cooked beans in cans and rinse them before serving, or cook them yourself. Introduce them gradually, as they may make the baby a little gassy at first, but their systems will adjust.
Have fun with that baby! Best, E.

hi,
As a blind mother I hated to feed my kids baby food. It was such a messy proposition that I resorted to sitting in the empty bath tub so I could clean the sloppy mess more easily. first, I would like to suggest that you start letting your little one use a fork. This opens up the world of semmi solids like mashed potatoes, stew, and eggs. I hav always fed my kids whatever we are having and they are all well rounded eaters, no pun intended. I make "quick" meals by putting left over food on a-1/2 inch plate and putting it in a gallon sized zip lock bag. I pop it in the freezer and then it's just as convenient as any pre packaged meal.

You might try familyfun.com or Rachaelray.com
Sometimes they have some fun ideas..

C.
www.AHomeCareer.com

Any fruit would be good, bannas,pears, peaches those are all easily cut up in small pieces and you can put them in a small container to send to daycare. If he has teeth you can cut up hot dogs (cut them lenght wise into 4 pieces and then cut the strips into really small pieces for him to handle). Peas are another veggie that works.
Hope that helps.

Just about anything can be cut down for them to eat, block cheese cut into samll pieces with crackers (Ritz or saltine), Go-gurts, frozen then cut up, little guys love these. Anything with pasta, a little margrine/butter, a little garlic and some parmesean, yummy, the rainbow colored noodles are really good his way. Canned grean beans with Ramen Noodles, keep the flavor packet seperate, cook the noodles, drain,add a little of the flavoring, as little or as much as you like, and the green beans and you can even add a little bit of cut up chicken. Just a few ideas I can think of at this moment.

How great your son is a good eater! Try tofu (with or without cinnamon), black beans, strips of cheese, or--one of my daughter's favorites--ham n' cream cheese roll ups. Good for you for giving your son health food!

Absolutely anything with cream cheese on it; cooked carrots (I make enough for the whole week); any kind of fresh fruit except maybe grapes or cherries, cut into slices and maybe peeled is great. My daughter loves strawberries and watermelon and bananas. Cheese sticks from Costco. Anything with eggs is good. Raviolis and tortellinis, with various things in them are good. Try french toast sticks, mini waffles and quesadilla slices. We also buy these potatoe cakes at Vitamin Cottage (in the freezer) and Amy's makes some frozen mini pizza bites that are good.
Look for the book, Feed Me, I'm Yours, which has great ideas and tells you what foods to avoid as choking hazards.
Also try fruit smoothies. My daughter loves hamburger pieces, too. Oh, hummus on tortilla works great for vegetables. I hope that helps. The mom that suggested putting things in zip-lock bags is totally right. Everything in a bag is more fun to eat, and sometimes less mess.