We have a new member-pinkypop and her LO is going through a stage of refusing any form of cutlery be it being fed or self feeding and shes tearing her hair out a little. I said id post some food ideas i used for C as shes still a devil on and off for cutlery and can be a fussy beggar with her food to boot and likes to eat with her hands mostly and not often fresh fruit or veg but thought if i started it as a thread other ppl could join in.

First off I have a fab book on finger food by a lady called Jennie Maizels - Finger food for babies and toddlers which is full of good ideas and can be gotten fairly cheap on amazon or ebay. Shes also got a website at http://www.jenniemaizels.com/
Even the demon herself Karmel has a finger food section: http://www.annabelkarmel.com/

I also found once i got over the idea finger food could only be certain things i found Cmuch easier to manage cos anything is finger food is you can pick it up and eat it with your hands so c often eats risotto or cous cous with her hands now. She also liks eating mash with her hands and i often sneak cheese into it (not that cheese is any hardship for her but its extra cals)

http://www.mybabyfoodrecipes.com/recipe/toddler/

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/600522

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/risotto/basic-risotto-recipe

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/risotto



Quick snacky meals full of finger foods are a lunchtime for us. I often give c a plate of - a handful of raisins/other dried fruit, a chunk of cheese, some cheerios and a yoghurt. I know LO wont eat off a spoon but asda does fromage frais in pouches with a nozzle on top and C loves sucking the youghurt out of em. She also likes pouches of fruit puree like the frutapura or ellas kitchen pouches.

What else um...

Oh french toast/eggy bread however you call it is a favourite and nice and high in fats for the skinny minnis
Dips are great, C LOVES dipping and I give her things like Mayo, hummus salsa etc and she digs in

Have just discovered nutella and banana sandwiches too. She thinks its choc-choc sandwichs and will eat em happily.

Uh thats me out of idas for now but hopefully other ladies will pitch in

ooo even though lilly is a few weeks of 2 she can be a nightmare some weeks with eating and she can use cutlery but preferrs using her hands lol!! so i tend to give her things that she can pick up if she is going to be fussy so this is great for me too! thanks mario xx

My callums exactly the same the only thing he will eat of a spoon is yoghurt thats only because he loves it so much x
I find it quite hard as hes really fussy aswell if he dont like the feel of something he wont eat it especially slimmy feeling foods like pasta x

Dinners he eats the most are
fish fingers
chicken burger
sausages
chicken nuggets
(We have tried beef burger which sometimes he eats sometimes he dont)
we are trying proper meat like chicken etc

He loves alphabites. We also do smilies, waffle, roast potatos. He normally likes mash bt wont eat it off the spoon anymore.

Lunchtimes are a nightmare as he wont eat sandwiches and goes of bread in general we have tried chesse bits, rasion/oats bars, fruit pouches, crackers, breadsticks etc xx

The only veg callum will eat easily is peas xx

Tyler won't let us feed him and can't really feed himself either so some of the things we give him are:

for brekkie any cereal soaked in milk, we leave it to soak up the milk and then just tip it on his tray - coco pops and cheerios are the faves at the moment
or toast or fruit.

lunch time we struggle with but he's often at nursery but lunch or dinner meals are things like
spagetti bolognese which he does feed himself with his hands just picking up bits of bolognese in his fingers,
mash he can eat too
fish fingers, beans, spaghetti hoops (he pops his finger in the hoop and eats them one by one)
potato waffles
chicken goujons,
home made pizza (out of breakfast muffins)
baked potato with the potato scooped out and mixed with something like tuna sweet corn and mayo - it gets quite sticky so stays together nicely
any kind of pasta particularly spaghetti or noodles, I normally make him a cheese sauce with milk flour and butter and loads of cheese - you can also blend in some cooked carrots and broccoli or other veg to hide some veg if you have a picky eater - the sauce sticks to the pasta really well for extra goodness or can use philadeplhia just melt it
ooh he loves ravioli too
umm stew he likes,

can't think of anything else atm.

awwww thanks Mario for the info x

Great tips there Mario. Caitlin too refuses to be spoon fed...

Breakfast is geneally toast and a sliced banana/pear or small orange.
Iv never got into habit of giving cereal, she never really loved her baby porridges and (this is pure lazyness on my part) she now frequently drinks all her morning bottle and I dont bother making up a new btl of formla to put on cereal that is 50/50 whether she will let me feed her. Might try the idea of letting her eat cereal off her tray. Even something like dry cheerios maybe something new I could consider....

Lunch can be sandwhiches cut in sml chunks that she feeds herself, or toast and beans picked up in fingers (very messy lol), organix crisps, sliced fruit, raisins, fruit bars... and if im feeling brave and we aint going out I let her feed herself youghurt (or lick it from tub!). It gets everywhere, but she enjoys it, its getting calcium into her and generally gives me 10 mins to sort washing etc as she finds it such fun!

Dinner is a harder She loves pasta so would make spaghetti bolognese with mushrooms etc and she eats it with her hands (use pasta twirls and cut veg chunky), im lucky Caitlin loves veg and usually happily tucks into a bowl of frozen mixed veg or tinned pea's etc. I also give her mash with veg mxed in and let her eat that with fingers, or sliced potato waffle, chips. Meat wise chicken dippers, fish fingers, beef burger, homemade nuggets (well sliced chicken/turkey breast coated in bought crumb- old el paso lol). Caitlin likes dipping too and if is being fussy I would sometimes let her have some ketchup or bbq sauce which usually gets a few more mouthfuls into her.
Tried rice tonight and it went well for a while - until Caitlin realised that if you threw it it was fun and me and Stuart ended up covered in the stuff . I am trying to keep her used to cutlery. She likes holding spoon/fork and trying to get food on it but rarely succeeds and then throws it. Im trying to ignore that. I dont want to take it totally away from her as im hoping in 6mths time she may be more able to use it.