A few development questions....

[cjt110]

Forgive me if these questions seem rudimentary but I try and steer clear of reading parenting books as I found myself early on in DS' life thinking Oh my god, he isnt doing X by now and prefer to find out from others who've been there done that. I've also not got much experience with babies so tend to rely on anecdotal advice from friends/colleagues etc.

DS is 1. He has started to get quite fussy at mealtimes. He will take a few mouthfuls then protest, clamp his mouth shut and take no more of his main, I then will try and offer a fruitpot which is will devour.

He has gotten very good at feeding himself with finger foods. Should I be encouraging more with fingerfoods for his meals rather than spoon feeding him, or letting him spoonfed himself - which he hasnt ever done before.

I'd also like to know when he will walk. He has learnt very recently to pull himself to standing, cruise along the furniture and also walk with the aid of a pushalong walker/cart.

Thank you.

Regain the eating, think it's pretty common, DD did this anyway. I found distraction worked pretty well to get a bit more in eg allow a toy or read a story while spoonfeeding - or even the dreaded TV - although not for every mealtime or it becomes a very hard habit to break.

Many MNers will say don't worry, he won't starve but I didn't want DD refusing my hard work meals and then filling up on snacks later.

Walking, sounds like your DS is at a similar stage to DD at that age - she was walking with a walker at her first birthday and started walking without one at 14 months.

At 1 I think you should be letting him feed himself really - finger foods or load the spoon for him and let him do it himself.

Most babies walk between 9-18 months.

minipie I can get away with some distraction but he's very clear when he doesnt want any more. He either clamps his mouth tight shut or if its finger food, throws it off the highchair table. So maybe not too long with the walking - he seems to have got great confidence in just this last week alone. gulp!

DeandraReynolds He does have finger foods himself, its more the spoon/fork use. Do you have any tips?

Ah ok - sounds like more self feeding may be the way to go with yours then - and if he throws it there isn't much you can do!

Minipie Am I grateful we have a plastic table cloth that I can put on the floor - boy oh boy! When did you start hading your LO their spoon/fork to try feeding themselves?

From about 12 months. Ds2 is 17 months now and can feed himself using fork/spoon/fingers.

An great, so we can start now. Would you say to preload or just let him try himself?

I'd load them at first. Sometimes they find a fork easier to stab stuff.

Great, thankyou :)

1 tip I used when my dc were getting fussy and preferring sweet foods was to give 1 mouthful savoury 1 mouthful sweet and so on.

Both my ds were around 16 months before they was walking

ffffffedup Good tip - we tried that when he was younger and it worked!

Another thing to do is to give him his own spoon while you help him with another one.

Babies don't refuse food to be difficult, they are learning about the world. They don't look at it as we do, so when they've eaten enough for them they'll play with it because that's just what they do.

My 9 month old just ate with a spoon though, no messing no fuss she loved food They're all different.

Oh and it's not natural to overeat. Their stomachs are tiny.

They all walk at different ages too. Don't worry. IME The earlier walkers are more worrying though, they love crawling under tables and then standing up and banging their heads!.

We have tried the holding a spoon whilst I feed him thing, and letting him eat his own finger foods.... I think it's time to brave the self spoon feeding