BLW - introducing a spoon

[sheeplikessleep]

DS is now 10 months and eats pretty much everything with gusto, spag bol, casseroles, meats, fish, vegetables, sandwiches, all fruit etc etc.

BUT, I've been a bit slack on introducing a spoon - he's always just used his fingers and hands.

Now, when I try to introduce a spoon, he just takes the food of the spoon with his other hand, to put in his mouth or drops spoon on the floor, which he finds hilarious. Have I left it too late to introduce a spoon? Will he be eating caveman style forever ?

Thanks

I wouldnt worry! Just gently guide him and show him how to use the spoon. He will get the hang of it eventually!

thanks for posting. i've tried guiding and he point blank refuses (not sure where he gets his stubborness ). i guess i'll just keep perservering.

i've always spoon fed him breakfast (he's BLW lunch and dinner). recently he's not wanting to be fed this at all. he puts everything in his mouth though, so hopefully he'll get the gist of it soon.

thanks for posting

If he sees you using a spoon at points, he'll get to the point where he wants to use one too.

My 12 m.o. had a brief spell of wanting everything on forks (since he saw us using them) but realised it was too slow so went back to fingers.

We rarely give him a spoon as it's too much faff to bother with loading it.

I put the food on the spoon and put it in front of dd. at first I did it with quite sticky stuff that is hard to peel off and easy to suck off the spoon (buttery potatoe for example). today we had spagbol and she managed quite well to eat from the spoon without the house looking like a baby has eaten soup :o

Just give him a spoon (and fork) and see how he goes. I think at that age I pronged food onto a fork for DD to feed herself, food slips off a spoon. DD2 is now 15 months and she can spoon feed herself porridge really well, but not ever so well til now. Other meals she uses a combination of fingers spoon and fork.
Don't worry about it, so long as he sees you eating with cutlery, it's there to hand and you occasionally load up the spoon/fork for him he'll get it eventually.

thanks all for posting. i'll started introducing a fork and loading both that and the spoon a bit and see how we get on. i've put sticky food - mash and porridge (not at the same time ) and he literally just starts picking it off.

sure he'll get to grips with it all soon. thanks for posting

the idea of BLW is that you're not meant to be helping your baby to feed unless they really need your help.

I always put a spoon and fork out with every meal i offer my DD. She tries to use them but then realises it's easier just to use her fingers. They usually find it easier to use a fork before they learn to use a spoon.

No need to load up fork or spoon for them. Just by eating your meals at same time they will soon learn by copying you when they're ready

2010babies - the op didn't ask for blw advice, merely advice on using cutlery.
To teach my DDs I found loading food onto a spoon/fork made it one step easier for them. There is no "need" to do this, but it does help.

i've loaded it on for him today (porridge) and for the first time, he has started putting the spoon in his mouth (we did over-exagerrated 'copy me' actions with our own spoons and he did suddenly seem to 'get it'). thanks for posting! it's helped and hopefully now i can start giving him porridge without spending 20 minutes cleaning it off everything in sight!

to be honest, after 4 months of very messy eating, anything that encourages him to start using a spoon / fork sooner (particularly as tomato based food irritates his hands) is very welcome

OP don't expect using a spoon to make things less messy! My DS is 15 months and I took pictures the other day as I couldn't quite beleive how much porridge he was covered in! I can't remember what age we started to do loaded spoons which he took to reasonably well. We're at the stage now though where he's learning to use the cutlery himself and use bowls / plates rather then eat straight from the table. This means we've taken a step backwards mess-wise as he gets annoyed if we don't give him the bowl, but then will put it on his head etc. He can stab food with a fork, but he'll often just take it off with his other hand and finger-feed himself!

2010, BLW isn't an exact science and parents need to do whatever they are confortable with. My opinion re: using the spoon was that if the child was happy to take the spoon and put the food into their mouth, it was no different to me putting finger food in front of them. There are things that need to be on a spoon really. To me the main thing with BLW is the child is in control. If my DS had decided that he didn't want to eat the food on the spoon, he could throw it on the floor! He was still in control. Gill Rapley's book reccommends loaded spoons if the texture of the food dictates it.

icoulddoitbetter - no, i did think re-reading my post that it makes me look a little misguided that suddenly i was expecting a 'table trained' baby, i'm not .