When do toddlers "get" how to use cutlery?

[lovingpickles]

My DS is 16 months and although he will pick up a spoon with one hand he grabs a handful of food with the other and doesn't use the spoon at all. He makes an incredible mess of himself every time he eats and I'm beginning to lose the will to be honest... Is there something I should be doing to teach him how to eat with cutlery??

my 4 1/2 year old still has to be reminded to use cutlery!!

p.s. mine got on better with a fork than a spoon - they liked to 'stab' their food with it

In my current experience, when they're about 12. (hopefully)

my DS started to actually use his spoon at about 17 months (we didn't teach him, we let him hold the spoon and one day he just got the idea). But he still makes a mess of himself even now he can use a spoon. Sorry

My 16 m.o. will feed himself with a loaded spoon or fork but shows no interest in starting to use one for himself. I try to give him cutlery at most meals. I'm hoping he'll just start wanting to copy us at some point.

my 16 mo dd grabs with both hands and shovels. very attractive. ds2 has used a knife and fork for everything (even toast) from pretty much as soon as he could eat.

DS is 18 months, he is just about able to stab food with a fork depending what it is and will feed himself pre loaded forks and spoons.

My son will be 2 in 2 weeks and he is just starting to learn how to use a spoon and fork. He still prefers his hands.

Honestly, they are messy for their whole lives. Better get used to it!

Think my DD was about 16 monthish when she got really reliable and hit her mouth 95% of the time. At 23 months she is very competent with a fork and spoon. Wasn't planning to introduce a knife for years.

Ds was about 10 months but he is fiercely independent and refused to be fed at all from 9 months. I presume you just mean a fork and spoon as he can't use a ( toddler) knife, he uses it as a spoon lol.

Ds2 is pretty good with cutlery and has been for ages -he'll spend ages chasing peas round his plate with a fork - he's 2.6

Ds1 has to be reminded to use cutlery when eating virtually anything - he'd much rather use his hands, though he's quite capable of using cutlery - he's 4.5.

It varies.

DS, 17 months, has been using a spoon for a few months now, but then he's always been independant that way and refused to be fed.
He still 'plays' with his food though, like when he randomly puts spoon down and uses his hands and sucks the food off his fingers or he just can't use spoon to pick it all up.
He also uses a fork, but mainly just as a spoon, not like a stabbing the food. But will teach him soon, when he's more accurate with spoon feeding, some still spills off, but thats just coordination which will come i guess part of development.

similar to you op dd could use spoon from early age 18mnths, maybe, cant remember was very clean eater. now she is 4.2 she struggles with knife and fork and uses her hands.

ha ha sorry op I missed your entire post and read one below...bed time me thinks

18 mo here, who is much keener on a fork now, although will not be fed by any means - you have to kind of trick her into dropping the spoon, load it up, then leave it so she can feed herself. Sigh.

DS is 22 months and can't really do much on his own but likes to participate so we guide the loaded spoon in together. Just recently he has started stabbing with a fork (food, my hand, his face...) and what works really well is to have two on the go. You use one to actually get a decent meal into him and he practises with the other one, occasionally successfully spearing a piece of chicken or something. If he grabs the loaded one off me, we just swap so you don't have battles over the utensil which would always result in him refusing to eat anything else.