21mths and can't use cutlery

[FasterPussyCatGrrrl]

We mainly BLWd DS1, and he seems incapable of using a spoon or fork now. He knows what they are for, and does usually try, but he holds them oddly, rarely gets anything on it, or drops the food if he does. Then he just uses his hands.

Should i just leave it, or 'make' him use a spoon? He seems a bit old to not be doing it himself now.

Sounds very normal for 21 months to me! I wouldn't worry, and wouldn't 'make' him use spoon (if such a thing is even possible) or it might put him off.

He'll get there

if you came here for tea most days, you would think that a 4 year old and a 6 year old can't use cutlery either....

They can - but when they are tired/poorly/a bit grumpy etc, they revert to what is more natural.

21 months is still pretty early to expect perfect table manners IME - I wouldn'#t worry about it [sile]

sounds normal my ds nearly 3 still uses fingers as well as cutlery supposedly they are about 4 when can control properly leave to experiment thats how they learn

dd at 2 and a bit definitely uses cutlery less when she's tired or bored, so she uses it at the beginning and then as the bowl empties the job becomes harder and the fingers more useful. tbh i really wouldn't give it a second thought, i go round to a pal's house and her 7 and 5 year olds use their hands as well. plus, cutlery's a bit over-rated imo i bet you the human race uses it's hands more than cutlery across the globe.
by the way, have a look at the ikea plastic cutlery, 99p for a big bag. it's plastic, so i avoided it for ages because dd needed a sharp fork etc, but it's surprisingly good in fact. all other plastic cutlery should be binned, though.

it's? yikes. its.

I had 11 14 year old boys in the house at the weekend, most of whom have already taken their GCSE maths as they are frighteningly bright. Yet they managed lunch with barely a fork between them

it is eraly. Prompt by all means but the tired , grumpy, hungry factor will always be relevent

My daughter uses the Ikea metal cutlery that comes with its miniature china plates, cups etc. The knife is gorgeously blunt

that's good to hear. i'm sure he won't be 12 at still attacking bolognaise with his fists. hopefully.

Some do some don't. At least now you know that the claim that BLW would make your child the next messiah was somewhat exaggerated .

My second son is a genius with his spoon - could eat yoghurt without (much) spilling before a year or some ridiculous thing. I always enjoyed the admiring looks that gave us before the food throwing part of the meal started. I think the worst of that is now over at 23 months ...

It's never all good .

see i never understand that, really... why would being fed off the end of a spoon put you in a better position to fork something into your mouth by yourself? i don't get the logic of that. the children i was talking aobut, the 5 and 7 year olds, they were spoon fed, it doesn't have any bearing, surely, on their ability or desire to use cutlery?

my 5 yr old ds is perfectly capable of using a knife and fork but prefers being a lazy sod and using his hands

That is normal for a 21month old.

Both of mine went through a phase of ditching to cutlery and eating like dogs with their face in the bowl.
This was especially favourable with cereal. We called it ' bobbing for cheerios'

Agree
perfectly normal

If you were referring to me Aitch, that is precisely what I meant. BLW has no bearing on ability or desire to use cutlery IME. My children taught themselves to use spoons, it wasn't my amazing foresight to start my DS1 on food with handles (the term BLW not having been coined at the time). Some spoon-shovelled children got there quickly - some did not.

DwP - bobbing for cheerios sounds, erm, just a tad messy. Can you promise not to suggest this to my boys .

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i don't think there is a relation to BLW either, really. it's something that often comes up as a concern, though, oddly enough, that they won't be able to use cutlery because they're used to using their hands. it must be horses for courses, some kids just like to be clean, imo.

We started off BLW but I've always had to give DD (22 months) a spoon for things like cereal and yoghurt as she cannot bear her hands to be dirty.

She's pretty handy with a spoon or fork but most of the time hands it to me to load for her - lazy thing!

Oh - and I can't give her two items of cutlery at the same times as they become things for banging together and all thoughts of food go out of the window.

Just reading your thread makes me feel so much better

I have a 23 month old who is (i think) just to lazy to use cutlery My other half is getting a bit stressed about it but it sounds like it's perfectly normal !

but the thing is, to a 23-month-old you and dh are the ones acting like idiots... don't you think? they must look at us and go 'why are they making their lives more difficult with all those metal sticks, can't they just use their hands?'