how to get ds to spoon feed himself?

[vannah]

hello all,
he is nearly 20 months old now, and Im worried because I still feed him. I do it because a. he's a poor eater and I dont want him to go to bed hungry and b. on the few occasions Ive given him a spoon he just cant turn it towards his mouth and gets v frustrated. Ends up spraying all the walls with food.
Obviously he manages finger food easily, but I often cook things like rice and stew or soft boiled eggs, or yoghurts - so he really needs to use the spoon.

Should I worry about it now? Any suggestions?
thankyou

A spoon each?

He'll get better with practise.
Maybe give him a bigger spoon if the food keeps falling off.

Dd couldn't manage a spoon until she was much older - well over two. I carried on spoon-feeding her, but the HV was a bit twitchy about it and recommended that I give her a fork to try instead, and she managed that much better than the spoon.

She must have been two and a half by the time she was fully feeding herself, though.

Do you think he is ready ?

If yes then give him the spoon and sit at the other end of the table (the mess is inevitable). If he eats well with his fingers then he shouldn't go hungry and he will gradually get the hang of the spoon rather than his fingers.

If you don't think he's ready then that's fine. They are all different after all.

But I def think it's important to let them be independent once they can be - i.e. if he is not ready for the spoon then let him carry on feeding himself with his hands rather than you feeding him with a spoon. He will learn what to do with it by watching you eating your meal.

Are you eating your dinner at the same time as him? Because it helps for him to see you doing it. Also, you can't sit and feed him constantly if you've got your meal to eat. So he has a spoon, you have a spoon. You have some of your dinner, you feed him a mouthful of his with his spoon, etc. While you're eating, he gets to try.

I seem to remember at 20 months thinking that ds would never manage a spoon (although was competent with fingers and fork). At 22 months he'd cracked it.

A baby spoon with a very short handle helps the turning towards mouth issue.

(a pot of chocolate mousse works wonders too)

thankyou for your suggestions. Reassuring to know some have grasped spoon use later. Fork good idea. Also, mouse and short handled spoon v good idea or big spoon,
thankyou