16 months and not interested in self feeding - should I worry?

[may08]

Hi, my little boy is nearly 16 months and although he will feed himself finger food he shows no interest at all in feeding with a spoon. I've tried to encourage him and sometimes he will 'help' by putting his hand on the spoon but this is all. If I put a bowl of food in front of him he just plays with it then chucks it on the floor so when I feed him I have to keep the bowl out of his reach! To be honest its not a problem for me to feed him (less mess!) but I was a bit concerned because it seems other children of a similar age are already doing it themselves.
Any thoughts?

I wouldn't worry. Spoons are quite hard to get the hang of. Stick to giving him finger food on a plate and you spoon in messier stuff inbetween.

neither of my girls have self fed at that age.

dd1 is autistic, and has delayed motor skills, which may have been a factor, but she did not self feed using a spoon until she was nearly 2.6 (finger feeding is still an issue for her, as she has sensory problems)

dd2 is 2 next month, and will, when the mood takes her attempt to spoon in some of her food.

she will pick up finger food well, but will not use her hands for things she thinks should come from a spoon! However, if I start off feeding her to get past the reall hungry stage, then she will usually try a few spoonfuls herself towards the end of a meal.

Unless there are other concerns you have about your ds, and his motor skills, I wouldn't be too worried - he will do it eventually.

My DS is 17months and thinks spoons are wonderful for getting some extra propulsion for his food (across the room) and for violently attacking anything in a bowl in front of him, but it's a rare day that anything gets from the spoon to his mouth.
He's just not that interested in food (eating it anyway) so while I'm confident he can do it if he tries, he has no real motivation.
To encourage him wile limiting the fall-out, I give him a little pot of fromage frais and a spoon each morning. I just leave him to it while I prepare something he's more likely to actually eat. Sometimes there is some around his mouth when I come to hose him off, so maybe we are making progress?

my ds the same age and likes to hold the spoon but not much else. i've been giving him a baby fork and he quite likes to make a stabbing motion into his bowl with that, and very occasionally he manages to spear some food! his face is a picture. try a fork with something like penne pasta and see how you go. as for bowl chucking, i must admit i swear by my magic mat (think it's tommy tippee, the bowl sticks to it lovely and he gives up trying to pull it off after a while) it's about four quid from supermarkets and stuff. hope this helps x

My DD is 18months and has been feeding herself with frok/spoon from about 11/12 months (Im not gloating-honest) the thing that I found helped was from a young age I always gave her a spoon or two to hold whilst I fed her, to begin with she would throw/drop it or just get food everywhere, but I let her do this in order to learn control of the spoon. She gradually used it more and more (with me feeding with a spoon too) untill I didnt need to help her anymore. She still needs a little help with food in the corners etc.. and she still uses her fingers sometimes. I just let her explore and learn and if she wants to use her fingers I let her because I know she will use the spoon next time.

Sorry that was a little long, but I just thought id share with you what I had done as it seems to have worked (Im not trying to be smug) But I dont think it really matters as long as they hit their developmental milestones like the pincer grip and gross motor skills yadda yadda yadda

Oneyummy, I'll be trying that next time! Not sure it would have mde much difference with DS1 as he's not interested in food no matter how it is delivered (skinny little runt that he is ) but maybe DS2 will be my eater?
Fingers crossed!
I think your method sounds very sensible.
DS1 is currently trying to descide whether to eat one of the raisins from his fruit toast - another big breakfast then!