When do babies start to get independent?

[GirlMumxx]

Hi all,

When did everyone's little ones start to feed themselves with a spoon/fork?

Umm my DS sort of got the hang of it a few months ago at 17 months but even then he can’t fully poke things with the fork and with a spoon he uses the back so maybe 1/4-1/2 stays on if it’s sticky like weetabix. He now self feeds weetabix and porridge that way and it works in a fashion.

He’s now 19 months old and we preload the fork a lot of the time and most of it goes in, some falls into the bib.

Hes been self feeding finger food etc since he was 7 months old though. I made most of his lunches to be finger food (I feed him a yoghurt). And maybe he could have grasped the spoon/fork better if we pushed it more. I guess after him dropping the first half of his meal onto the floor we helped him with the second half so maybe delayed the process a bit more.

When I read your heading @GirlMumxx I couldn't help thinking about 16 years old for a girl, and about 25 for a boy 😉

But regarding babies starting to feed themselves it is so long ago that I can't remember! However, I do know that it was younger than I thought at the time it would be, they would grab at the spoon, and when they managed to get it - if they were lucky - it went on and up their nose, and if I was unlucky it went everywhere, including in their hair 🙈

I soon gave them a clean plastic baby spoon to "feed themselves" with, and used another one to try and actually get some in their mouths. Solid food mealtimes used to involve a lot of laughing 😄

Have fun OP xx

I can't remember the age but I do know both mine were doing it in crèche before I knew 🤦‍♀️.

I know they were confident using it at home at 1. I have pictures of them shovelling in case with a spoon 😂

Weaning age, finger foods, 6 months. It can be a bit back and forth with self feeding. I introduced an open top cup which he drank out of perfectly until he was more mobile and threw water everywhere, so we’ve reverted back to a straw bottle or sippy cup when he’s in the go, and open top for at the table. Water still goes everywhere. He’s 3.