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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

12 month old and self-feeding

11 replies

baby209 · 11/01/2009 19:00

My DD is now 12 months and has never been a particularly fussy eater except for when she is teething.
She is desperate to feed herself which I try to encourage, however her motor-skills mean that not every spoonful reaches her mouth which means she gets fed-up and then starts hand feeding, which she also finds frustrating and will up-end her food on her head! (i've tried suction bowls but she just rips them off the table!)

I am sure this is all very normal but what's the trick to this? I suppose it is be patient let her keep handling the food and having a go, and perhaps move to food that is less like tonight's tea Paprika Chicken with rice.

Perhaps it should have been meatballs and pasta!!

I think my being 8 weeks away from my next due date is obviously making me feel a little frayed at the edges re: self-feeding, but if you can think of anything I'm not trying, please let me know!!

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Ebb · 11/01/2009 19:34

Oh the joys of self feeding! I have to fight the urge to cover Ds with a bin bag ( head and arms out obviously! ) and then just power hose him and the highchair off outside! Ds is only 7 months so not making too much mess but I want to get those curved spoons which make it easier to get the food in. Will try and find a link as not sure how to describe them. I have a spoon and DS has a spoon so between us we manage to get something in! I guess they are still exploring food at this stage so I try and let babies get on with it.

thornyrose · 11/01/2009 19:39

I put the food in a bowl on dd's plate and let her get on with it. ometimes she allows me to feed her, sometimes she will take a loaded spoon from me. Mainly she feeds herself by hand and I think as long as its going in, its not too important how it gets in there ATM.

I have given up with certain foods and now rack my brains for food which she can handle herself. Meatballs and pasta would be a good idea

Ebb · 11/01/2009 19:46

www.salmonluke.com How about these?

MarlaSinger · 11/01/2009 19:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ebb · 11/01/2009 20:05

Great to hear they do the job Marla. Will get on and order some for DS.

thornyrose · 11/01/2009 20:19

How old is your ds Marla? DD is 14 months and has little success with feeding herself. I'm going to order them now

angel1976 · 11/01/2009 20:24

My DS loves to self-feed with his hands (only 10.5 months so not good at all using cutlery though I give them to him to 'play' with!) and has started to refuse being spoon fed... I just went to the supermarket and bought a whole load of fresh pasta. He had gnocchi tonight and loved it (and allowed me to spoonfeed some of the homemade vegetable soup that I mixed it with). I also bought fresh filled pasta and fresh wheat penne in the hope that he would eat those too. I also made a tuna bake with fusilli and he loved that too... Just look out for the salt content in these fresh pasta. The special range and vegetarian ones are usually better on the sodium/salt level...

LolaLadybird · 11/01/2009 21:33

DS is 13 mths and enjoys self-feeding with his hands. I've only just started letting him use a spoon as when I've tried previously he's just waved it around, distributing food all around the kitchen (which the dog loves). I've never seen the SalmonLuke bowls but will definitely be ordering one now.

Baby - how about also giving DD more finger foods to self-feed with her hands for a bit of variety (and stress-free eating) at mealtimes. I buy mini pasta twirls which are really easy for DS to pick up and can be mixed with a lot of things (bolognese is DS' favourite). Also, fishfingers cut up small and homemade chicken/apple patties and veggie croquettes (make a load & freeze them).

Original poster

baby209 · 13/01/2009 17:53

Thanks everyone! And thanks to Ebb, who should now have shares in SalmonLuke! I have never seen these before and they look much more sturdy than the ones I had previously been using.
I am definitely going to try more finger food, and have ordered lots of yummy meat to come with my veg box tomorrow so that I can have a go at some AK recipes for meatballs and sticky stuff (risotto )
Lola - I love anything that I can freeze as it makes life so much easier. Like the idea of the chicken/apple patties is the recipe posted on the internet somewhere?
Thanks for all the replies, don't often get time to get back on the forums, so thanks again!
At least when I read your replies I can tell everyone is going through the same, although sometimes I feel like the opposite!!

OP posts:

pamelat · 13/01/2009 20:01

I dont know whether you are "meant" to do this but we have some plastic cultery when she is older (rather than her baby spoons) and sometimes I put her food on the end of a fork (plastic) and it least it stays on on the way to her mouth. Its not too sharp and she rally enjoys it, we did it with lasagne today and she ate all of it that way.

lilithxx · 15/01/2009 11:06

I would suggest finger foods for now. (pizza, breadsticks, cucumber, carrot, dips) There's plenty of time for learning to use cutlery.

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