Your baby will begin eating finger foods around nine months of age, the KidsHealth website reports. You can encourage her to learn to feed herself by offering bite-sized pieces of food she can pick up and put into her own mouth. Allowing your baby to learn to put food into her own mouth will help promote healthy eating habits as she grows into a toddler. Serving healthy foods when your child is a baby will also help encourage your toddler to eat nutritious finger foods as she grows.
Cut-Up Fruit
Offering your baby or toddler a variety of cut-up fruit will help ensure that he gets plenty of vitamins and minerals necessary for good health and proper development. Annabel Karmel and Nadine Wickenden, authors of "The Healthy Baby Meal Planner: Mom-Tested, Child-Approved Recipes for Your Baby and Toddler," suggest making a fruit salad that includes two or three different types of fruit. Cut the fruit into pieces small enough that your child can pick them up on his own; make sure the pieces are small enough that your child will not choke. KidsHealth recommends ripe bananas as a good finger food, but you can offer other soft fruits like peaches, pears, cantaloupe or watermelon.
Cooked Vegetables
Vegetables cooked until soft can be served as finger foods for your baby or toddler, reports KidsHealth. You can serve your child any type of vegetable the rest of the family is eating as long as you cook it until it is very soft. Try offering your baby or toddler a variety of different vegetables, such as zucchini, broccoli, carrots or squash. Serve the vegetables alone or mix several to keep your child interested.
Cheese
Karmel and Wickenden recommend cheese as a nutritious finger food for babies and toddlers because it gives your child energy and will help encourage healthy growth and development. Cheese provides calcium, and offering it at meals or as snacks will help your child develop strong bones and teeth. Try offering different kinds of cheese, such as mozzarella, cheddar or Swiss, by shredding it or chopping it into small pieces.
Pasta
Many varieties of pasta are small enough that your baby or toddler can easily feed them to herself. Pasta should be cooked well, Karmel and Wickenden write, so your child can gum or chew the pieces easily. The soft texture of cooked pasta can help your child learn independent feeding habits. Try putting a small amount of sauce or cheese on the pasta to enhance the taste, increase the nutrition and encourage your baby or toddler to eat it.
References
- KidsHealth: Finger Foods for Babies
- "The Healthy Baby Meal Planner: Mom-Tested, Child-Approved Recipes for Your Baby and Toddler"; Annabel Karmel and Nadine Wickenden; 2005
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