Can I ask for some advice re. starting to get toddler used to cutlery etc?

[sebsmummy1]

My son is nearly 13 months and I'm starting to get the guilts re feeding him myself with a spoon.

I started off with the heady notion of blw. But when I realised at 6 months that he had a good appetite for solids and knowing we had lost a lot of ground centile wise with ebf (he had gone from the 75th at birth to the 3rd!!) I wasn't going to lost the opportunity to shovel some food in

We are now back up to the 75th and he is (IMO) doing really well. He uses his fingers to eat toast and fruit and other things I might pop on his high chair. But his main meals I am feeding him myself with a spoon and he happily sits there like a baby chick munching it down.

I batch cook for him so am not hugely keen on seeing that food splatted on the floor. However he has porridge in the morning and I wouldn't mind that bring flung about. I also think he could definitely use a fork and spear some food into his mouth.

I have one of those TT bowls with the magic mat that stops them being thrown off the side. I also have baby cutlery. My question is, shall I just start introducing it now, ie let him help himself to his (tepid) porridge knowing that he might end up just putting his hands in it and scooping it up that way or should I wait for him to start getting angsty about me still feeding him myself and introduce at that stage? Also are baby forks ok at this age?

Thanks xx

Just carry on feeding him as you are, but give him a spoon or two to hold as well. And cover every available surface, as it gets messy! Think a fork might be a little too tricky at this age, but you could do the spearing and let him put it in his mouth, or just use a spoon instead.

I'm astounded he hasn't tried to grab the spoon off you already tbh! And yes, you need to give him more control even if it is messy, so put the bowl in front of him (maybe only a little at a time), and you'll soon find that you develop amazing reflexes to catch it before it gets flung off the table.

We had a brief phase where he tried to hold the spoon as I put it to his mouth. So I tried to encourage him by letting him hold the spoon himself with the food on but he then would get really upset and refuse the food totally. This was a few months ago though.

I would just continue as you are and offer the spoon if he seems keen.

My ds is 18 months and is only just learning to feed himself a yoghurt (him holding the pot and spoon).. I just waited until he seemed to want to do it himself.

I didn't really go the whole pure baby led weaning thing, he's always had a mixture of puree and then finger foods as he got older. I still spoon feed him things like jacket potato and beans and spaghetti bolognse.

They do all get it eventually. My eldest child is now 11 and after a while they just seem to want to do it themselves so I have learnt not to worry about any of it with ds and let him take the lead.

My 2 found the fork easiest to use as once the food was stabbed it was less likely to fall off unlike the spoon

I wouldn't worry too much about him using cutlery yet - ds is 2.3yo and has been confidently using spoons and forks since he was just under 2 he is a lazy so and so though and will happily be spoon fed still we BLW him and I think he felt he missed out on being spoon fed (!) so reverted to that for a good few months before doing it himself.

Give him a spoon every now and again if you want - or have one each - and let him get there in his own time. He'll see you eating with cutlery and won't accept spoon feeding when he's ready :)

Show him how to do it, hand over hand we call it. Then once he's got the rough idea, give him a spoon and while you feed him, let him have a go. DD is 13 mo, we have just started (and we id BLW so don't beat yourself up!) she has a shocking catapult action that gets nothing anywhere but up her nose

Rootypig I did exactly that this morning, and it was very successful, he loved it!!

I used the magic mat and bowl. Put his porridge in, mad sure it was more sticky than sloppy and I had a spoon and so did he. Then I gave him a mouthful and then let him of the next with me holding his hand as a guide. He was totally getting the hang of it and I suspect he will catch on pretty quick.

Thank you xx

Also that mat worked really well. I think towards the end he was feeling full so he started trying to throw the bowl off the side. Of course he couldn't make it move at all. Marvellous!

Just to add, we used the 'magic' mat with DS1 and he started to see removal of the bowl as a challenge.. It took him a few attempts, but after a week of the magic mat it was no longer magic as DS1 could remove the bowl at will (was so good while it lasted though - enjoy!)

Oh yes, I can foresee a similar situation, so plan on super gluing the bowl to the mat and the mat to the high chair. That's ok isn't it??

Unbelivabowls are really good. We used ours for ages.

Oh good! At 13 months they are little mimics so it's the perfect time for this sort of thing.