Finger Food For Baby?

[hannahsue01]

I am having problems thinking of some good quick convienence foods for our 11 month old (8 months corrected age). We gave our older daughter allot of gerber products or quick desolving crackers but as we all know they seem to be full of gluten. I want things that she can feed to herself.....she has just started this so she needs things that desolve easily and quickly. What gluten free options are out there for her....healthy options are preferred. Thanks for any help.

[Generic]

if she isn't lactose intolerant, you could feed her grated cheese. You could also make silver dollar sized gluten free pancakes. It's been a long time since I have been around a littel one, so that is all I can think of for now.

[hez]

PerkyO's cereal is shaped (notice I did not say taste) like Cheerios. I can only get it off the web. I would also try soft gluten-free pasta that she can grab herself along with stemed zuccini (sp). Canned fruits can also work because they are softer although harder to grab.

Hez

[Michi8]

Some ideas for finger food:

puffed rice

puffed millet

mozzarella cheese sticks/cubes

soft cooked carrots sticks

raisins (although with adjusted age these may not be suitable)

banana slices/cubes

Healthy Times has wheat & soy free cookies and teething biscuits, but I don't know if they're actually gluten free.

It's been awhile since my kids were that young...I may come up with other ideas yet.

Michelle

[hannahsue01]

Thanks guys....sounds like some good ideas!

[abc]

I am having problems thinking of some good quick convienence foods for our 11 month old (8 months corrected age). We gave our older daughter allot of gerber products or quick desolving crackers but as we all know they seem to be full of gluten. I want things that she can feed to herself.....she has just started this so she needs things that desolve easily and quickly. What gluten free options are out there for her....healthy options are preferred. Thanks for any help.

I have a 10 1/2 month old (corrected age 9months!!) - who is not needing to be gluten-free, but some of the snacks we use that I know are gluten free:

bits of cheese

cut up banana (if you are not into messy, well, not so good an idea)

enviro kids cereals (some of the puffs (Gorilla & panda) are gluten-free--do know panda is peanut butter if that is an issue)

enviro kids crispy rice bars (there is a peanut butter and a cocoa flavor)

small pieces of gluten free bread - it often falls apart anyway, so its very manageable for baby

firm tofu cut into small bits

peas

freeze dried fruits (the corn and apples are made by gerber and I believe contain only corn and apple...just veggies also makes a line that is freeze dried and I've seen at Whole FOods...expensive, however, but they have just about every veggie/fruit you might want)

clementines slices cut in half

very very very soft carrot chunks (cut too small for choking)

bits of chicken nuggets (Wellshire Farms makes a gluten free, whole breast, all natural one that his sister likes, so he gets some too)

small bits of turkey/ham...also gluten free all natural

grapes - peeled and halved

chunks of canned/jarred peaches, pineapple, mandarin oranges (again, messy - but you have a baby, how clean can mealtime be???)

small bits of mango

sweet potato fries (toss sliced sweet potato w/ olive oil and roast on a cookie sheet in 425 oven for 20-25 mintues (depending on thickness)...salt if you like.)

most teething biscuits I've seen are full of gluten as are arrowroot cookies etc. I'd be very wary of raisins - they are awfully hard to chew at this age. This baby is MUCH more adept at eating things than my daughter was..his 23 lbs shows it...so I would be careful when introducing some of the food I suggested - you know as you are already a parent - just keep an eye out. Hope this helps!

[Izak's Mom]

Just to add to the list - my son is now almost 16 months, and not sure how your baby reacts, but we have to really watch it with the fruit (goes right through him), although bananas are OK. Apples in moderation are OK - I peel & slice on up, then stick the slices in a frying pan with a bit of butter & waters & steam/sautee them until they're nice & soft - sometimes add a bit of sugar to carmelize them.

There's a product called Baby Mum-Mum that is PERFECT as a first feed-myself food - I get it at my local Price Chopper supermarket. It's basically a melt-in-your-mouth rice cracker/wafer type thing. It does contain dairy though.

I mix leftover cooked white rice with a beaten egg and some sauteed onion to make a scramble that I cut up into little bites for him to eat. I also make french toast with gluten-free bread - he LOVES it - and you can cut it really small to adjust for however many (or not) teeth your baby has.

Straight cheese we have to watch too, but I'll make some gluten-free pasta (Tinkyada rice spirals or the corn-quinoa spirals are great too) and put a bit of sauce & parmesan over it - he loves to feed himself with that.

At this age I give him unpeeled sauteed zucchini, but you may want to peel it first, although I'm not sure he ate it when he was 11 months (I think he'd suck on it & spit out). You can buy Erewon (sp.?) gluten-free rice krispies and someone else mentioned the Perky-Os - they come in an apple cinnamon flavor that's actually really good. And I can buy them at my local Shaw's supermarket. You might also want to try the Van's brand gluten-free waffles - the apple cinnamon flavor and the blueberry flavor are really yummy; Ike loves them with a bit of maple syrup, or applesauce on top.

Also Ike loves lima beans - when he was younger, I'd mush them a bit between my fingers before letting him grab them. White beans or edamame would work this way too. Or steamed green beans, nice & mushy so she won't choke. Good luck!

[shai76]

My son liked cut up peaches and pears. You can buy the Enjoy Life cookies and break them into smaller pieces.

[Guest nini]

my daughter liked steamed broccoli (then cooled in fridge) we called them "little trees", also I made homeade teething biscuits with rice cereal I found the recipe on the internet and could probably find it again... also Midel makes an arrowroot animal cracker that is gluten-free, and I second all the gluten-free Envirokids cereals (they do have some that are not gluten-free so make sure you get the gluten-free ones), Perky O's are the right shape but the taste is not so much! lol... Daughter didn't like those at all... still have an almost full box sitting in my cupboard...

[dahams04]

Actually Gerber wagon wheels all kinds are gluten-free!! Just thought I'd share this bit of info I recently learned.

[FeedIndy]

Gerber wagon wheels were not gluten free when I checked them a few months ago. There was wheat starch in the ones we used to buy. Gerber now has freeze dried fruits-bananas, pineapple, strawberry and apple. A favorite here is Healthy Times Teddy Puffs, but they have oats in them so it depends on how yours does with those.

[jerseyangel]

my daughter liked steamed broccoli (then cooled in fridge) we called them "little trees"

This tickled me! My son (who is now 25) loved broccoli, also, and we called them "little trees" Brings back some nice memories....

[hannahsue01]

Thanks guys! I will have to check the wagon wheels and see. Little Grace had shredded cheese since I always have some on hand and she LOVED it!

[abc]

Thanks guys! I will have to check the wagon wheels and see. Little Grace had shredded cheese since I always have some on hand and she LOVED it!

I have wagon wheels - apple flavor - in the cupboard. Seem to be gluten-free to me! just corn and rice flour...there is a carrot flavor too...don't know if it has the wheat. Jaxen LOVES wagon wheels (but again, not needing to be gluten-free).