Any tips for getting LO to self feed?

[wendibird22]

DD (9mos) has recently started to not want spoon-fed purees and is showing big time interest in what's on my plate. And yet when I give her pieces on her tray she plays with them and mushes them and drops them on the floor and NEVER gets a single morsel in her mouth. But here's the kicker...she's an expert at eating puffs and cheerios. Yup, those make it into her mouth no problem. In fact she LOVES them and is quite the addict (seriously...do they put crack in them?). Oh, she'll also try to put any gunk she finds on the floor while crawling around in her mouth too. For the life of me I can't figure out why she's so good with the puffs/cheerios and yet so bad with other foods. We've tried peas, carrot, green beans, baked potato, mashed potato, chicken, banana, etc...all cooked and cut up into pea sized pieces. And if I try to put it in her mouth so that she gets a taste and figures out she's supposed to eat it, she gets mad and pushes my hand away.

Any suggestions on helping her along?

[egoldber]

I would try some larger pieces. The things you mention are kind of squishy and slippery and harder to pick up when they are still practicing fine motor.

Also I gotta say, after our first two containers of puffs, I cut Amy off cold turkey. They were seriously like crack for her and they have pretty much zero nutritional value, even vs something like Cheerios.