Help - introducing a spoon!

[JBCG]

I originally posted this in Weaning but haven't had any responses so thought I would repost on this board - hope that's okay!

DS is nearly 1 and we started weaning at 5 months on the advice from our HV. She advised that he needed to progress to solids early as he was guzzling so much milk. Because he was only 5 months she advised against baby led weaning and to start him on purées.

He has always been a good eater and is now on 3 good meals a day of weetabix and fruit for breakfast then lunch and dinner are meals I've prepared followed by fruit or yoghurt.

The trouble is that as we started off with purées, he's always been spoon fed. We give him finger food such as chopped veg, toast, crackers etc for his 'snack' at 230 that he eats fine but he shows absolutely no interest in taking the spoon for his meals.

I've tried giving him a preloaded spoon that ends up just being mashed in between his hands and then thrown, it goes no where near his mouth. I've tried giving him an empty spoon just to hold but that just ends up on the floor with again no attempt to put it in his mouth.

Is there anything else I can try to encourage him to start to use a spoon?

Thank you in advance!

Mine liked using a fork to stab food with before they got on with spoons

Just keep practising. It might help to regularly watch you do it as well, do you eat together? Mine was quite a bit older than this before he was trying to use a spoon properly - probably around 18 months, and it was very messy. He’s just turned two and is able to confidently eat independently with very little spillage. I would relax about it. I think sometimes we feel pressured into getting our children to do things they just aren’t ready for - you can spend the next few weeks trying to get him to feed himself or wait a few months and he’ll pick the skill up within a few days because he’s actually ready.

Also agree with pp. Stabbing with a fork worked first. Scooping is actually quite a tricky skill to master.

Thank you very much for your replies.

I think I will wait a while and then try with a fork. Hopefully he'll start showing interest in it - at the moment it's like I'm trying to force something into his hand that he doesn't want.

To be honest we don't really eat together. In normal times I give him breakfast then shoot off to work when our nanny arrives and then he has dinner at about 530 and we have dinner once he's gone to bed. On the weekends we have lunch together sometimes but not often as again we tend to have lunch once he's down for his nap at 1230. Do you think that could be why? That he hasn't really seen us using cutlery?

I think seeing you use it will help, it may not make much of a difference yet but I think it definitely will as time goes by. We’re the same at breakfast, it’s a pretty rushed affair, but we started to always have our evening meals together just before DS turned one. It’s a nice thing to do as a family but also practical as we would give him the same thing to eat as we were having and as his bedtimes got later we didn’t want to wait so long before having our tea.

Just keep giving the spoon and encouraging him to have a go. It does take a while to master it as it's a funny skill plus eating with your hands is far more fun!

Put a spoon and fork on his high chair at every meal time and leave him to feed himself, he will use his hands at first but he will eventually start using them particularly if you are eating your meal at the same time so he sees you using cutlery.

My son didn't really get to grips with a spoon until recently and he's 2! Give him finger food, feed him if you need to but just make sure he's got his spoon. He'll soon want to copy you and do it himself!

Also, initially I would load up the spoon for him, then he'd take it and feed himself - often turning the spoon over and tipping it down his front! Scooping is a hard skill to work out.