Many parents get stuck when it comes to nutritious finger foods for beginning eaters. The usual finger foods include–puffs, cheerios and yogurt melts. Some fruits and veggies, such as tiny pieces of over-cooked broccoli and sweet potato, work well because they are easy for little ones to pick up – they are not too slippery.

My 9 month old loves anything she can eat by herself.  If I let her she would live on yogurt melts and cheerios…but I want her diet to include a significant amount of assorted fruits and vegetables. She loves the taste of fruits and vegetables and used to gobble down the purees…but again, now she is mostly interested in foods she can feed herself.

Luckily, I discovered a great trick when my oldest daughter was a baby. One day after grinding up oatmeal to make hot cereal for her I had an idea –“I wonder if putting this oatmeal powder on her steamed peaches would help her pick them up more easily?” It worked like a charm!  Not only did it allow her to feed herself (while working on eye-hand coordination and independence as a bonus) I also noticed she wasn’t gagging/choking as often because the pieces were less slippery.  I have passed this tip on to many friends and they all rave about it as well. My favorite food items to roll in the oatmeal dust are peaches, avocado, pears, and banana.  B. devours them, which makes both of us happy!