At what age should babies start to feed themselves with a spoon?

[Ceebee74]

Just wondering - DS is 11 months and is happy for me to feed him - occasionally he will reach for the spoon but usually just squelches the food with his hand rather than put the spoon in his mouth.

He is fantastic with finger food btw - will pick up and eat anything.

[lorisparkle]

I was just about to ask the same question!!! My lo is 11months too but we did BLW so I've never fed him. I've just started putting the plate / bowl in front of him with a spoon and fork as well. He loves playing with them and occasionally puts them in his mouth but fingers are so much easier. I wondered whether I was expecting too much from him or whether I should be expecting more!

[TranquilaManana]

11m 4d and 12.5 hours.

[Ceebee74]

thanks Tranquil

[Seona1973]

I cant remember what age dd was able to feed herself with cutlery but i'm sure it was over the age of 1. She got on better with a fork at first and loved 'stabbing' bits of food with it.

[hana]

my 2 year old rarely uses a spoon or even fork! hands for everything, can get v v messy with yogurts and sloppy food

but my 5 year old was using spoon on her own def by 1

[Seona1973]

looks like it is normal sometime in the second year:

When will she be able to feed herself with a spoon?

[Ceebee74]

Seona - thanks for that - very helpful and means that I can relax a bit about it (my mum keeps dropping hints about how he should be able to do it which panicked me a bit)

[Sixofone]

There's a book mentioned on there called finger foods for babies and toddlers, just looked at it on Amazon and looks quite good..

[mummynumnum]

My dd (11mths) has just started to show an interest in the spoon and can get the odd mouthfull in. And alot over the floor.

[kittywits]

I've always given my babies a sponn whenever I've fed them. it can be a very very messy business but if you can put up with it then they become very skilled. My 17 month old could eat her chicken soup by herself with her spoon this lunch time. there were spills of course but most of it went in her mouth. She won't eat dinner without cutlery now.

[christywhisty]

both my 2 were about 12 months when they were first feeding themselves with spoons.Ds was always very independent and wouldn't let me near him with a spoon after 10 months, so was finger foods only for a while.

[Greensleeves]

same as kittywits, I always just gave the baby a spoon, whether I was using one or not. The mess is really rather endearing I gave them things to hold and playh with and masticate though, mostly. They so loved being able to mess the food around and squidge it and get all carnally involved with it, I'm sure it helped with the development of their general greediness

[FirstAtForty]

hi Ceebee funny you should post this question today, I bought DD (11 months) her first spoon today and gave it to her loaded up with food... she took it, missed her mouth, screamed and SOBBED!

She's a great eater now, mainly spoon fed (having had weight gain issues) and I'm really nervous of going down the battling with cutlery route in case it all goes wrong! So may wait a bit longer I think.

[divastrop]

mine started to get food onto the spoon and into their mouths from about 12 months,and then managed to get most of it into their mouths from about 18 months.

ds and dd1 stopped getting in a mess from about 2-2.5.ds2 is nearly 4 and still ends up covered in yoghurt etc

i also gave them a spoon to hold when they started trying to grab the spoon when i was feeding them.