Looking For Gluten-Free Finger Food Ideas (For Baby)

[slee]

Hi-

I've got a seven month old baby who loves to use her fingers to feed herself. We are not aware of any problems related to gluten just yet, however, due to celiac in the family her doctor would like her to wait until 12 months to eat anything containing gluten. We are having trouble coming up with good foods for self-feeding. Many small diced foods such as cooked carrots, bananas etc. are to slippery for her to pick up just yet. She likes "mum-mums" but we're looking for something smaller, so she can keep working on her pincer gasp. Thanks.

On another note- any ideas for foods with iron for her? Infant rice cereal makes her very constipated, and other baby cereals seem to be out due to gluten... infant cereal seems to be the best source of iron, so we'd really like a good source- she is breast feed, so doesn't get iron from formula.

[nicolebeth]

A friend posted this great article on FB a while back: Open Original Shared Link It talks about how to feed one's infant (breastfed infant). I think it might be helpful because most of the foods are whole foods (not grains). FWIW, with #2, he started with avocado, and spit up/threw up pretty much everything else for a long time. He probably wasn't quite ready to eat yet. With #3, we're going to wait until he can pick things up himself (things we're eating). Here's an article from La Leche League re: starting solids: Open Original Shared Link

If you eat meat, it seems like meat is the way to go for iron (that isn't a fortified cereal/grain). Or, you could feed your baby gluten-free oatmeal (not a finger food--or perhaps she'll want to try?)

Good luck!

[T.H.]

Okay, breastfed baby, 7 months old, needs fingerfoods, right?

--Amaranth and quinoa - very high in iron, and they are actually full proteins. If you get the grains and grind them up in a blender, they'll make a good porridge-like base to add hot water to. Might want to cook them a bit. Actually, you could probably just make straight porridge from amaranth, but I don't know how it would digest.

From the flour of either of these, you can mix with a little oil, salt, and water, roll to about 1/8 inch on a cookie pan, cut into squares on the pan, and bake in the oven as a cracker. Usually about 10-15 minutes at a moderate temp. You can do it with Teff flour too, but that's more crumbly than the amaranth flour.

--small pieces of meat, cooked until extremely soft - good iron, good finger food, if not chewy anymore at all.

--avocado pieces can be good, or are good mashed. This is one of the first foods in a few different countries.

--I believe small pieces of fish, like kippers or canned sardines (crown brand is gluten-free) are the first foods in some countries, but I'm not familiar with amounts, or if they might have too much of any vitamins or minerals to be good past certain amounts.

--oh, on feeding straight veggies! Since this is something many of us do with the little one's on gluten-free diets, and you mentioned trying carrots, I figured you might not have heard this. Conventionally grown veggies are often grown in soil with high nitrate concentrations, and certain veggies are very good at absorbing this nitrate, so it can make them have exceptionally high levels.

Here's a quote from an article on it:

"...Foods that tend to accumulate large amount of nitrate include: spinach, beets, cabbage, broccoli, and carrots. Root vegetables such as carrots, beets and broccoli all contain nitrates though at a much lower level than do the leafys. Leafy vegetables include spinach, cabbage or other greens like Kale. Studies done on spinach and nitrates in particular have shown that with improper storage and preparation, the nitrate levels may actually increase. Proper preparation and immediate use or storing via freezer method will help eliminate this risk in leafy vegetables..."

Open Original Shared Link Use This To Link To Spam.com/?Baby-Food-Carrots-Contain-What?-Nitrates-and-Homemade-Baby-Food&id=179838

And lastly, a couple things. Since you mentioned your breast fed baby needing iron in her food - and I'm taking a guess that this is doctor recommended - I'm assuming your doc is not real breastfeeding knowledgeable (sorry, yes, my breastfeeding soapbox appeared out of thin air. I'll try not to stand on it long. )

Babies are born with extra iron stores to last them until they are eating normal food. If they are fed dairy, from formula for example, it typically causes micro-fissures in the gut and as a result, they lose some of their iron stores. That's why so many babies who were fed formula needed the extra iron that first year.

Breastfed babies don't need to worry about that unless there has been something that depleted the little one's iron stores. So unless there's been some anemia showing up, your little one should be all good on the iron front.

And one other note on that front? (Yes, I know, I'm pushy. Sorry! I honestly can't seem to help it!) If your doc is giving you a schedule for feeding solids to your baby, you may want to examine it carefully, and ask him where he/she got the information from. Many pediatricians get their baby food feeding schedules from the companies that will be quite happy to have your baby weaned and eating only solids ASAP (seriously, it's kind of sad.).

One example of a food schedule that may be from the baby food companies are fruits and veggies introduced early, and in large amounts, even though they have bulk but little fat, which is the opposite of what the midget needs. And any feeding schedule that actually recommends juice, at all, is likely from a baby food company source, considering there is no health reason whatsoever to introduce juice.

Okay, sorry, off my soapbox! I just had so many friends burned by this, having their children wean earlier than they wanted because they were given a schedule that wasn't breastfeeding friendly, that it's become one of my pet peeves to think of it happening to anyone else, ya know?

Good luck, and I hope the gluten challenge at 1 year goes well for you!

[nicolebeth]

And lastly, a couple things. Since you mentioned your breast fed baby needing iron in her food - and I'm taking a guess that this is doctor recommended - I'm assuming your doc is not real breastfeeding knowledgeable (sorry, yes, my breastfeeding soapbox appeared out of thin air. I'll try not to stand on it long. )

Babies are born with extra iron stores to last them until they are eating normal food. If they are fed dairy, from formula for example, it typically causes micro-fissures in the gut and as a result, they lose some of their iron stores. That's why so many babies who were fed formula needed the extra iron that first year.

Breastfed babies don't need to worry about that unless there has been something that depleted the little one's iron stores. So unless there's been some anemia showing up, your little one should be all good on the iron front.

And one other note on that front? (Yes, I know, I'm pushy. Sorry! I honestly can't seem to help it!) If your doc is giving you a schedule for feeding solids to your baby, you may want to examine it carefully, and ask him where he/she got the information from. Many pediatricians get their baby food feeding schedules from the companies that will be quite happy to have your baby weaned and eating only solids ASAP (seriously, it's kind of sad.).

One example of a food schedule that may be from the baby food companies are fruits and veggies introduced early, and in large amounts, even though they have bulk but little fat, which is the opposite of what the midget needs. And any feeding schedule that actually recommends juice, at all, is likely from a baby food company source, considering there is no health reason whatsoever to introduce juice.

Okay, sorry, off my soapbox! I just had so many friends burned by this, having their children wean earlier than they wanted because they were given a schedule that wasn't breastfeeding friendly, that it's become one of my pet peeves to think of it happening to anyone else, ya know?

Good luck, and I hope the gluten challenge at 1 year goes well for you!

Great post!

[slee]

Great post!

Wow- Thanks a lot guys!

I had thought that iron stores only lasted about 6 months... is that not true?

I am pretty lucky that my babies doctor is also a lactation consultant, and she's really great about breastfeeding...

Thanks so much to both of you for taking time to post I really appreciate it. I also love the ideas about the grains, and crackers! I'll have to give it a try!

[T.H.]

I had thought that iron stores only lasted about 6 months... is that not true?

I am pretty lucky that my babies doctor is also a lactation consultant, and she's really great about breastfeeding...

The last I read on the subject, the iron stores are usually actually good nearly to 1 year of age. But honestly, it's been a few years, so perhaps new information has been found?

And oh very nice that you have a good, breast feeding friendly doc! That's always a very comforting thing, when the doc knows what's going on, phew! We started out with a good one for our first baby, but then had to move and our second doc didn't have a clue. He was telling us completely incorrect things, like the fact that my baby was born big somehow meant I'd have to stop breastfeeding after a couple months.

Grrrr.

[kareng]

I had a baby that would not eat baby food or anything mushy. He was 4 when his big bro convinced him that pudding was yummy and not baby food. I gave him just about anything chopped up tiny so he couldn't choke. Hamburger, chicken even steak cut into slivers. Chex was great. Still frozen corn he would pick up one piece at a time. If your baby doesn't pick up 1 at a time, you can just put them down one at a time. It becomes a game and they like the attention. They also learn to take one from the bowl you offer like a game. Lots of smile & clapping & yeahs. My oldest, not this no baby food one, loved to challenge himself by picking stuff up. Partially cooked cubes of carrots, potatoes, apples can be good.

[tarnalberry]

I highly recommend "baby led weaning". No purees, no little itty pits of things. You use the baby's developmental changes to change what they eat. So, basically, you feed them real food, and they can eat of it what they manage to eat.

For instance, we started giving Daphne (my six month old) large slices of apple a while ago - something big enough that she can hold on to and is too big to choke on but she can get in her mouth. (It's often suggested to use a "baton" shape.) She happily gums away on those for a while until she gets bored. She's getting the idea of eating, but certainly doesn't have the ability to get of segments that can hurt her. Which is the whole idea - she is in COMPLETE control of what goes in her mouth, so if she doesn't have the ability to get small pieces off, or get them to the back of her mouth (a whole separate skill), she is just fine! (It's hard, sometimes, to convey to people that, in this method, you really NEVER put anything in the baby's mouth for them (well, medicine, but that's not food!). It's the baby's "job" to do that.)

What we have fed: apple slices (baked and raw), carrot halves (roasted), sweet potato fries (baked), half a banana, pear slices, avocado slices, cucumber wedges (which she didn't like!).

Here are the videos we have of our daughter eating so far:

Open Original Shared Link

One this I really like about this approach - it means that we're feeding her what we eat, not something special. I do make some changes to what we're eating for giving it to her (I don't salt the sweet potato fries, for instance), but it's the same food I'm eating. She definitely appreciates that - as you can see in the videos, she wants to eat what mommy and daddy are eating.

I'll try other vegetables next - probably some zucchini, maybe some pumpkin (though she'll have to make a mess to eat something that squishy herself since she's not very coordinated with a spoon yet (no putting the spoon in her mouth for her in this method!), and other things that can be naturally cut into shapes she can hold. I will probably wait until 8 or 9 months to introduce meats, though. And we'll keep working on her spoon self feeding (with a spoon I load with food) so she can have things like soups (eventually lentil soup, chicken soup, etc... but those are a few months off as she still isn't very adept at moving things intentionally to the back of her mouth to swallow).

She gets all the nutrients she needs for the first year in breastmilk (though, since we're in the PacNorthwest, I'm going to be starting her on vitD supplements - many of us, husband and myself included, are deficient).

[slee]

Thanks guys. You've all had great suggestions!

My little one really loves to pick up little pieces of things... it's so cute to watch her do this. She's not crawling yet, and doesn't even make an attempt, but boy, she's figured out the pincer grasp quite well, and is she ever proud of herself!

We are very lucky to have a great doctor for her it does make a huge difference!

I very much appreciate your ideas, experiences and knowledge! Thanks so much!!

[slee]

w

[slee]

And oh very nice that you have a good, breast feeding friendly doc! That's always a very comforting thing, when the doc knows what's going on, phew! We started out with a good one for our first baby, but then had to move and our second doc didn't have a clue. He was telling us completely incorrect things, like the fact that my baby was born big somehow meant I'd have to stop breastfeeding after a couple months.

Grrrr.

[kareng]

I highly recommend "baby led weaning". No purees, no little itty pits of things. You use the baby's developmental changes to change what they eat. So, basically, you feed them real food, and they can eat of it what they manage to eat.

For instance, we started giving Daphne (my six month old) large slices of apple a while ago - something big enough that she can hold on to and is too big to choke on but she can get in her mouth. (It's often suggested to use a "baton" shape.) She happily gums away on those for a while until she gets bored. She's getting the idea of eating, but certainly doesn't have the ability to get of segments that can hurt her. Which is the whole idea - she is in COMPLETE control of what goes in her mouth, so if she doesn't have the ability to get small pieces off, or get them to the back of her mouth (a whole separate skill), she is just fine! (It's hard, sometimes, to convey to people that, in this method, you really NEVER put anything in the baby's mouth for them (well, medicine, but that's not food!). It's the baby's "job" to do that.)

What we have fed: apple slices (baked and raw), carrot halves (roasted), sweet potato fries (baked), half a banana, pear slices, avocado slices, cucumber wedges (which she didn't like!).

Here are the videos we have of our daughter eating so far:

Open Original Shared Link

One this I really like about this approach - it means that we're feeding her what we eat, not something special. I do make some changes to what we're eating for giving it to her (I don't salt the sweet potato fries, for instance), but it's the same food I'm eating. She definitely appreciates that - as you can see in the videos, she wants to eat what mommy and daddy are eating.

I'll try other vegetables next - probably some zucchini, maybe some pumpkin (though she'll have to make a mess to eat something that squishy herself since she's not very coordinated with a spoon yet (no putting the spoon in her mouth for her in this method!), and other things that can be naturally cut into shapes she can hold. I will probably wait until 8 or 9 months to introduce meats, though. And we'll keep working on her spoon self feeding (with a spoon I load with food) so she can have things like soups (eventually lentil soup, chicken soup, etc... but those are a few months off as she still isn't very adept at moving things intentionally to the back of her mouth to swallow).

She gets all the nutrients she needs for the first year in breastmilk (though, since we're in the PacNorthwest, I'm going to be starting her on vitD supplements - many of us, husband and myself included, are deficient).

.Thanks for the videos of Daphne. So cute! I laughed! Its been awhile since mine did that.

[Juliebove]

One of my daughter's favorite first finger foods was green beans straight from the can. Once she learned to talk, if I made a meal without them, she would give me a dirty look and say, "Hey! Where's my BEANS!?"

[kareng]

One of my daughter's favorite first finger foods was green beans straight from the can. Once she learned to talk, if I made a meal without them, she would give me a dirty look and say, "Hey! Where's my BEANS!?"

Does she still like them? I loved them. Used to heat a can up in my hot pot in college for a snack.

[SGWhiskers]

Early on, I read a study that suggested 4-6 months was the ideal age to introduce gluten to reduce the risk of celiac. Others have quoted 6-9 months. You may want to do a little research into this and discuss it with her doctor. I have no advice for baby foods, but I'm watching this thread for ideas when my little one gets here.

[slee]

Early on, I read a study that suggested 4-6 months was the ideal age to introduce gluten to reduce the risk of celiac. Others have quoted 6-9 months. You may want to do a little research into this and discuss it with her doctor. I have no advice for baby foods, but I'm watching this thread for ideas when my little one gets here.

I have never heard that, do you know where you heard it, or why it would reduce the risk?

[T.H.]

That would be SO frustrating! My little one was 10lbs at birth, and if someone had told me this...

Exactly! Mine was a bit smaller, just 9 pounds, but I was flabbergasted. Even worse, I met another mom who had this doctor who absolutely believed him and stopped breastfeeding because she had a big baby.. So sad.