Realistic age for self feeding with spoon/fork and a plate that isn't thrown to the floor?

[sannie]

Hi there,

When can I expect my son to feed himself with a spoon from a plate?? At the moment, it's fingers all the way although he does put the occasional spoonful of yoghurt into his mouth. I can't give him the plate of food yet though as it either gets thrown onto the floor or he just tips the food onto his high chair tray and then puts it back onto the plate over and over again. I tried to use one of those sticking mats to put the plate on but he just gets really cross until he manages to pull the plate free. I guess I'm just worried that I'm still dishing out food to him like he was a baby...OOps forgot to mention he is 18 months...

thanks

[splishsplosh]

I think that sounds quite normal. Although I'm sure some toddlers are spooning away perfectly by now, bet most aren't! My dd is 20 months. She can use a spoon quite well, but often prefers using her fingers, also even if she's eating perfectly well when I've popped out of the room for a second, the minute i return, she says help help, to get me to spoon it in for her. Have visions of this still occurring in 3 years like some episode of supernanny, but I'm sure it'll all work out (it will won't it???!!!)
She also loves to move food from 1 container to another (today caught her moving strawberries from dish i'd left on the sofa) into a lid with some dry paint left over from yesterday's painting!)

Only a couple of months ago was in a restaurant and she was leaning forward and trying to eat pasta directly from plate with her mouth! Had never done this before - saved especially for public display!

I'm sure he'll gradually improve. Wouldn't worry about using his fingers though - it's probably better that he starts feeding himself one way or another than constantly having to be fed.

[splishsplosh]

I think that sounds quite normal. Although I'm sure some toddlers are spooning away perfectly by now, bet most aren't! My dd is 20 months. She can use a spoon quite well, but often prefers using her fingers, also even if she's eating perfectly well when I've popped out of the room for a second, the minute i return, she says help help, to get me to spoon it in for her. Have visions of this still occurring in 3 years like some episode of supernanny, but I'm sure it'll all work out (it will won't it???!!!)
She also loves to move food from 1 container to another (today caught her moving strawberries from dish i'd left on the sofa) into a lid with some dry paint left over from yesterday's painting!)

Only a couple of months ago was in a restaurant and she was leaning forward and trying to eat pasta directly from plate with her mouth! Had never done this before - saved especially for public display!

I'm sure he'll gradually improve. Wouldn't worry about using his fingers though - it's probably better that he starts feeding himself one way or another than constantly having to be fed.

[mumsville]

Doing better than me 0- ds 17 months old can barely be bothered to finger feed as he doesn't like getting his fingers dirty!

A spoon - forget it. How do you encourage self feeding is my question!

[bubblagirl]

my ds used to hold a spoon while i fed him the he started copying and started feeding the odd bit but i think as long as they know the basics fingers are fine my ds 2.5 uses cutlery but does pop them down to pick food up as can be fiddly for them

[CatIsSleepy]

my dd 17m is still mainly using her fingers-she will take a loaded spoon or fork in her hand and get it into her mouth but can't (or possibly won't!) scoop up anything herself.

In fact she gets quite hacked off if we try and persuade her to do it herself so I guess she's not ready. She likes to eat fast- I think doing it herself just wouldn't be quick enough atm.

[BroccoliSpears]

My dd is also 17 mths. She can spoon feed pretty well when she wants to but often reverts to fingers, particularly if she's hungry and the spoon isn't fast enough. She's also sometimes quite happy to sit and be spoon fed like a baby bird.

We definitely haven't sorted the plate hurling to the floor yet. She'll chuck the whole lot down and then wonder why it isn't still there for her to eat. I find the only solution at present is either to give her 100% attention while she's eating, or to only give her a very little at a time. If I'm pottering in the kitchen while she's eating in her high chair, I'll give her eg a slice of banana and two halves of a grape and that's it. Once she's eaten that she gets another couple of bits. I've noticed she often hurls it away when there's too much to cope with.