6.5mo blw DS whinging at mealtimes. What's going on?

[Alicious]

Hi, I'm BLWing DS2 after encountering a LOT of difficulties in weaning DS1 on purées. Everything was going fine DS2 enjoys being in his high chair and has pretty much the same food as me. He likes chunks of veg, most fruit, chicken, home made meatballs in tomato sauce, loves spinach and adores fish-great, but now about 5 minutes into each meal he begins to grizzle, starts rubbing his eyes with his mucky hands, and making a kind of tired whiney cry. He isn't actually tired as far as I can tell-he doesn't have a nap until about 1 hour after lunchtime and wouldn't go down any sooner.
Bit lost really-I was so pleased that things were going so well, but now I wondr if spoon feeding might make him feel less frustrated? And keep his eyes gunk-free!
BTW the crying does stop if I spoon-feed him a compote 90% of the time

Any ideas??

Do a mixture of spoon feeding and finger food at each meal, that may make the process faster and ease the frustration. No need to puree, just mash or chop up some of the food and feed.

Just what I was about to post mountains...

Control and coordination is tiring for a baby, it may be that some help with a spoon will ease this a little.

sounds like he is feeling a tad overwhelmed! If he is hungry he might just want the food asap!

thanks for your replies-tried doing more with the spoon and had some success-he was definitely struggling with coordination-i'm also going to take him out of his high chair and back into his bumbo to make things more comfortable for him