At what age...

[PippaJ]

Is it normal for a toddler to feed itself with either a spoon or a folk?

Evie seems bored with me feeding her from a bowl all the time but does respond better with her own finger food. Tonight I put the bowl on her tray and let her hold a tiny folk, which she held the wrong way round mostly and ended up using her fingers. I'm worried she'll hurt herself as she doesn't have any control when using a spoon / folk but I need to make feeding times more interesting for her as she is starting to get bored and has refused to eat at times.

Any ideas ladies??

 

[Terrie]

i did BLW with both my children..

Rhys moved onto coutlery at 13 months.. before that was just finger food (never fed off a spoon)
Ffion moved onto coutlery at 15 months.. before that was just finger food apart from non dairy yoghurts i fed her with a spoon (Rhys never had yoghurts as hes allergic)

 

[Me, My Girls & I]

i give katie a spoon when she's having her breakfast and today she had an empty bowl too, which she loved! just so she associates the spoon and eating. i give her as much finger food as i can and her tea i put the food on the fork for her and give her the fork, at first it was a bit hit and miss, but now it goes straight in her mouth. she's started trying to put the food on her fork aswell, which can be quite amusing i'd be tempted to give her finger foods where possible and then give her the loaded fork to try and feed herself too

 

[PippaJ]

i did BLW with both my children..

Rhys moved onto coutlery at 13 months.. before that was just finger food (never fed off a spoon)
Ffion moved onto coutlery at 15 months.. before that was just finger food apart from non dairy yoghurts i fed her with a spoon (Rhys never had yoghurts as hes allergic)

How did they cope with cutlery so young? The ones I have are for 1yr plus so should be safe but I worry she'll stick it in her eye or something stupid as she has very little control and tends to hold the sharp end!! I'll keep trying though as she is 13 months now so it must be about the right time then?

 

[PippaJ]

i give katie a spoon when she's having her breakfast and today she had an empty bowl too, which she loved! just so she associates the spoon and eating. i give her as much finger food as i can and her tea i put the food on the fork for her and give her the fork, at first it was a bit hit and miss, but now it goes straight in her mouth. she's started trying to put the food on her fork aswell, which can be quite amusing i'd be tempted to give her finger foods where possible and then give her the loaded fork to try and feed herself too

That's a good idea with the loaded folk - I'll defo give that a try.

 

[Terrie]

i did BLW with both my children..

Rhys moved onto coutlery at 13 months.. before that was just finger food (never fed off a spoon)
Ffion moved onto coutlery at 15 months.. before that was just finger food apart from non dairy yoghurts i fed her with a spoon (Rhys never had yoghurts as hes allergic)

How did they cope with cutlery so young? The ones I have are for 1yr plus so should be safe but I worry she'll stick it in her eye or something stupid as she has very little control and tends to hold the sharp end!! I'll keep trying though as she is 13 months now so it must be about the right time then?

my son is a very 'clean' eater.. he takes his time and hardly drops any.. hes always been that was and because of BLW his hand-eye coordination has always been brilliant.

my daughter is slightly less cautious and sometimes she makes a mess but hey ho thats what its all about

 

[mrsH2009]

I also baby led weaned and jack has started to use a spoon in the last week. I have to load it up and he takes if from me and straight to his mouth then gives me it back it's so great to watch

 

[Mamafy]

My little girl is 2 but has been doing it for I'm sure a year and very competently for at least 6 or more months

 

[PippaJ]

I think I'm going to wish I had done it too. I've always given her food from a bowl / plate myself apart from finger food that she can pick up herself, prob why I'm having some issues now with feeding. I'm going to give her a spoon or folk to hold now each time and load it up as well and give it to her. Hopefully she'll have it sorted soon and I really don't mind any mess, I just don't want her to hurt herself using stuff she's not ready for but I guess she must be more than ready

 

[AnnaBanana]

We give Alyssa lots of finger food, but also spoon-feed her as well. Lately we've been giving her her own spoon to play with, as well as loading up a spoon for her and handing it to her. A bit messier, but that's what it's all about
x

 

[PippaJ]

My little girl is 2 but has been doing it for I'm sure a year and very competently for at least 6 or more months

Thats great. I hope Evie picks it up so quickly.

I gave her a loaded spoon this morning when giving her porridge and she proceeded to grab it with the other hand so she got covered but it was fun watching her trying to put some porridge on it!! I think meal times are going to take much longer from now on

 

[charliebear]

OMG, I was coming to ask this very question!
AJ has just about mastered the spoon and can feed himself cheerios and a yogurt with very little problems apart from getting bored!
I'm going to attempt to try and let him feed himself his 'proper dinner' tomorrow with a spoon and a fork.

We use the TT cutlery and its quite blunt, but nice grips on the handles.

 

[PippaJ]

Ha ha! Glad I'm not alone!!

That's great he has the spoon mastered. We have the same TT knife and folk too!!

I gave Evie a plate of lasagne tonight and the folk and just let her do what she wanted. By the time she had finished it was everywhere but she managed to put the folk in her month and eat (after I had put food on it for her) and she tried to put some food on it herself (although she got bored with doing this and proceeded to squidge her hands in it)!! It ended up in her hair, all over her clothes, on the floor etc but she really got involved and was very excited so I'm really chuffed plus the next thing for her was bathtime so that helped!!


Good luck tomorrow - hope AJ has lots of fun xx

 

[charliebear]

Sounds like it went well

 

[DanDecMum]

I started giving Dec a spoon while I was feeding him at about 10-11 months, he only got it at meal times and was never allow to play with it (didnt want him thinking it was a toy) He was using a fork with no problems from about 14-15 months the spoon took him a little longer he was using it by 15-16 months but didnt use it well until 19-20 months now he is 29 months and he is a pro has been for a few months Boys can take a little longer mastering things like this (not all boys).

 

[PippaJ]

That's great your LO's picked it up so quickly.

Evie is doing ok. The nursery she goes to wrote in her daily diary that she is doing very well at feeding herself .

She does seem much better with the folk rather than the spoon, she tends to put the spoon in her other hand rather than in her mouth, where as the folk goes straight in her mouth and she has tried to put food on it.

I'm going to give her a spoon with her weetabix in the morning and see how she does!

Thanks for the advice everyone xx