Finding Baby Finger Foods
Baby Mum-Mums have my stamp of approval!
I am currently obsessed with finding different finger foods that Sayle can eat independently. He has two bottom teeth in and his top teeth are rapidly coming through, allowing him to bite and gum food. He is very interested in what we are eating.
During meal time, Sayle stares at our food and watches us put the food in our mouth, sometimes even opening his mouth to demand some. As he became more interested in food, I humored him with small bits of baked potato, sweet potato, cucumber, green beans, and noodles. Now he eats whatever I can mash up, which has been very convenient when we go to a restaurant. Rather than packing baby food, I simply order steamed veggies or get some fruit off the salad bar for him. Watching him try new foods is so fun, his facial expressions are priceless.
I have experimented with a variety of foods, both freshly prepared and pre-packaged. Thus far, the below pre-packaged foods are my favorites. If I can keep one mom from dealing with Biter Biscuit Drama, my work is done.
Mum-Mums are fantastic! They are rice rusks that look like little surf boards and they are perfect for babies who are working on feeding themselves. In fact, you can actually give Baby Mum-Mums to babies who are ready for solids. Unlike Biter Biscuits (blah!), they do not make a complete mess while Sayle gnaws, gums, drools, on them. They dissolve easily so I don’t worry about him choking on them.
Sayle likes them so much that when he sees me open a package he becomes extremely excited, waving his little hands in anticipation. I highly recommend Mum-Mums. The only downfall is that I have only been able to find them at Wal-Mart.
When we were working on Sayle’s pincer grasp in order for him to feed himself, smaller foods such as Gerber Puffs proved to be a perfect teaching food. After perfecting the pincer grasp, he was confronted with the challenge of getting the puff into his mouth. He would wrap his little fingers around the puff as he brought it to his mouth, but couldn’t quite figure out how to uncurl his fingers to get it out of his hand and into his mouth.
The transition from hand to mouth was more difficult if he had a slobbery hand as the slobber makes the puff stick to his hand/fingers. Due to the small size and sticky-slobber factor, Sayle required “puff assistance” but I’m proud to say after a few days of practice he was independently “puffing”.
Sayle does really well with the Gerber Yogurt Melts. They are a bit bigger than the puffs, so Sayle has been more successful in getting them out of his hand and into his mouth. Yogurt Melts do not stick to a slobbery hand quite like Puffs do and they are not messy! I’m not sure if they come in several different flavors, but we buy Peach and Berry and both of them taste great!
What finger foods do you offer your baby?
Baby Mum-Mums are also available at Whole Foods.
Thank you so much for the tip Dana! Where is the closest store?