9 month old not interested in finger food

[SummerBaba]

Heya mommies,

My boy is not at all interested in finger foods, does not put anything to his mouth (including toys) and gets fractious if I try to put it in his mouth or hands, so we are still on purée (homemade and more textured though). Just concerned that he is going to get behind and I want to introduce more variety of foods and flavours/textures. I offer at every sitting or 'meal' but it all ends up in the floor with him pushing it off his tray or he just sits there with his arms out not touching it at all. Has anyone been through a similar situation and their baby came round to it?

 

[MindUtopia]

Have you talked to your GP or health visitor about it? I think it's pretty normal for babies to take awhile to figure out what to do with finger foods. We started BLW (so only finger foods) at 6 months. My daughter didn't really eat much of anything until 7.5 months and wasn't until 9 months that she really started to eat with any gusto. It just takes time for them to work it out. If you've only just started to offer finger foods, I would give it a month or two and see what happens. But if he isn't bringing anything to his mouth, including toys, it might be worth mentioning and getting checked out. I know when we did our 8 month development check being able to bring a toy to the mouth was one of the key developmental milestones they expected to see. If you aren't seeing that happen, they might be able to suggest things you might try to encourage it that would also help with self-feeding too. In general, he just might need more time. My daughter wasn't babbling yet either when we did out check, which they expected she would be. She started a month later and now has caught up just fine.

 

[SummerBaba]

Thanks MindUtopia you have put my mind at rest a bit. Health visitor has been and done some developmental checks which will be reviewed again in 2 months time so hopefully by then will be a bit further along.

Feeding your baby is such an emotive thing for a mother so it is hard not to worry