Why has my 15 month old started taking food out of her mouth with her finger?

[user11290]

Hi,

My DD has always been a fairly good eater. Prefers to feed herself as opposed to being spoon fed which is fine, but recently (1.5 months) she’s been putting the food in her mouth herself and then spits some out then holds it with her fingers and plays around with it then maybe puts it back in her mouth or throws it on the floor.

I know she needs to explore her food which is fine but previously she was fine with just feeding herself and not spitting anything out - so why has she suddenly regressed with eating? Is it a phase?

Thanks

Toddlers are weird OP.
You will look back when she is shoveling it in and eating you out of house and home aged 15 and think what happened?

Because kids like to mess with your head!

seriously though she might have a tooth coming in, or a bit of a sore throat. One of mine had a do with thrush on his tongue so I’d have a good look with a light and see if you can see anything. I seem to remember this phase comes just before the bit where they learn to throw the entire dish, just for the laugh.

Because she can. Exploring textures, visuals and tastes.

I have three DC, all good eaters, and they all went through a fussy phase at this age. It's not a regression, it's actually a developmental step forward in a way - previously they just ate the food and now they're thinking of other things to do with it!

The best way to deal with this IME is to act completely unbothered. If she gets a reaction from you when she plays with her food she'll keep doing it to see what happens next!

Learning to move food around the mouth although annoying is a skill. It's a skill that can help prevent choking if that makes you feel any better.

Like anything with toddlers when you think you have cracked something they change, just one of those things!

@Superfrog3haha defo felt all cocky that I cracked it and then BAM 😂.

It does make me feel better that it’s a skill that can help with choking 100% I’ll take that!

@Buttonknotthank you. I’ll try to be mindful of that.

I noticed for dinner that when I just put the bowl in front of her and act un bothered she started digging her hands into the bowl and started to stuff her face … usually I don’t put the bowl on the high chair. I usually put a few pieces at a time but I think I need to just let the ‘clean mum’ act go and let her go feral 😂 so she can learn those skills

@Pensionableperilthis could be a contributing factor! She’s cutting through multiple teeth at the same time so perhaps teething has a part to play too!

Kids do weird things! She’s still tiny and exploring, try not to worry about it and let her play around a bit.

I'm pretty sure the answer is that she's doing it because she can and because kids are little weirdos 😂