Self-feeding with a spoon, what age?

[ElleOhElle]

DD 13mths is a very good eater [touches wood furiously] and can feed herself finger food and from a loaded spoon. Today at lunch I let her dip her spoon into her fruit pot and feed herself. I was surprised at how able she was and congratulated her.
At dinner time she started off letting me feed her as normal but then started to spit it out. I was pretty sure she was still hungry so I gave her a loaded spoon and she ate it. She refused to give me the spoon back and was adament she was going to feed herself.....this was fine until hurling the food on the spoon became much more fun.
Do I just let her get on with it and hope she eats more than she throws, or do I carry on feeding her until she's a bit older?
Any tips would be gratefully received.

i do dd her dinner and then also do a smaller bowl/plate that i put on her highchair tray with a spoon to self feed so only a small amount can be thrown and i can spoon in the rest.

DS was having a good go at feeding himself by about 12 months, with a bit of help loading the spoon. Self-feeding completely by about 18 months, but I still help him get the last bit. I gave him a fork too at about 14 months I think which made eating stuff like sausages or pasta easier for him.

family fun, that sounds like a good idea,do you use one of those plates that have a suction pad on to hold it to the high chair?
Thanks rubirosa, i'll get her a fork.

I spoon fed my DS until very late - I think he was coming up to 2 - certainly over 18 months. I wanted to know that what I gave him went in rather than on the floor but then I worried I might have hindered his development in terms of being able to feed himself. But the worry was needless as by the time I did start putting a plate and spoon / fork in front of him he as very able and made little mess. He also understood by then that the food was for eating and not for throwing. So it was stress free all round and we've not yet had any dinner time issues (I say yet - he's only 2.5 now!)

So, at 12 months I wouldn't worry at all. There's plenty of time in my opinion. Of course, if you don't mind her throwing it around, then by all means let her get stuck in.

ds is 15months and has been waving a fork about for a few weeks, and now decided he has to feed himself everything any way he can. He did a great job with the yoghurt today so looks like I can pretty much leave him to it now. He does find bashing things lots of fun (egged on by big brother) so I get him out when he starts bashing/banging as he's usually had enough.

I must say I never let ds throw food/cutlery around though! Like naturalbaby if he started chucking stuff about I assumed he'd finished eating.

elle, no i dont have a suction bowl, just give her a small bowl to get on with. she smears some about the tray and eats some.
she eats all her yoghurt herself.
havent given her a fork yet.

We offered cutlery with every meal from weaning (BLW) at 6months and both boys where feeding themselves confidently with a folk/spoon by 12 months.

I did it mainly out of laziness though as I wanted to eat my own food while it was still hot.

We offered cutlery with most meals from about 9 months (BLW). DS used to enjoy using a loaded spoon. Now he can use one but doesn't, except for anything except for yoghurt. He's 2.5 years.

Forks are much easier for children to use than spoons.

The various health professionals we've seen about the eczema on DS's hands say it's usually 4 or 5 years before they're using cutlery more than using their hands.

My 16mo uses a fork for his pasta / meat etc almost exclusively now, he's pretty good, and is great with a spoon for weetabix / mash - stodgy things. Yogurt he's ok but can't get the last bits out and soup and sloppy food I have to feed him.

Not much foes on the floor but an awful lot on his hair!

I just go with it. The mess has to happen some time - just keep the mop handy :)

Oh no! I'm reading all this and starting to panic. Rubirosa, bigkidsdidit, AnxiouslyExcited you're all doing so well! DS1 is 18 months and refuses to feed himself with a spoon. I load it for him and he'll put it in his mouth but refuses to shovel food off the plate - wants me to do it. Mostly he just wants to be spoon-fed full stop. He was quite interested in self feeding a few months ago but then his sister was born in January and he seems to have regressed. Is it attention seeking? DH thinks we shouldn't push it and he'll get there in his own time but surely practice makes perfect? I've also heard that children at nursery learn to self feed much quicker. Why is that? Can we encourage him more?

I think if he's taking a loaded spoon and feeding himself with it then that is a really good start.

Have you tried him with a folk? I think it's easier for them plus they have loads of fun "stabbing" food.

Children at nursery probably do learn quite quickly as they are surrounded by other children doing it but it's nothing they can't learn at home by watching you and his dad.

He probably is looking for a bit of attention if a new sibling has arrived but it'll soon pass once he feels confident that new baby isn't a threat to him.

Just keep going as you are with a little encouragement and he will get there eventually.

(ps: it's anxiously here)

CravingSunshine, my dd2 is the same age and a cutlery refusnik
we have had some limited success with introducing a loaded fork mid-way through meals, as she's taken the edge off of her hunger, and is more amenable to experimenting.

perhaps you could encourage self-feeding for pudding (if you offer it), or for the last few spoons in the bowl.

Definitely agree a fork is easier to start with. DD surprised us too quite early on - about 11.5 months. Now at 15 months I suppose she does both - cutlery and hand-feeding, mainly because the cutlery's on the floor before she's finished so we're trying to teach her that if she throws it away, that's it, she doesn't get it back. In terms of the spoon - I like to give her a pot of fromage frais that's about two thirds gone, so that she gets to experiment with the spoon but it's not a complete mess.