10 month old won't pick up his finger food ....

[tessie31082]

... As soon as he touches anything he drops/let's go as if it's the most horrible thing in the world! I am happy to feed him (finger food snacks and spoon feed his meals, he also doesn't hold his bottle/juice) but people who run the local baby/parent group and some parents say I should leave him to it, he'll soon learn to feed the finger food himself! However, I still think he's still a baby and too young to be doing it himself (am I just being too laid back or are some of these parents being pushy)? My mum says I didn't even eat lumps til I was 13 months old and he does fine with lumps etc!
Any thoughts welcome :-)

Does he take the spoon in his own hand or do you feed it? Maybe you could start by trying to get him to take the spoon from you so he can learn how to put stuff in his mouth for himself. Just start gradually by handing it to him but still guiding it until almost at his mouth, then letting him do the rest for himself. Once he gets used to that, you could put some finger foods into his hand rather than just leaving on the tray, so you are starting him off.
Mine took a while to get it, but I put the spoon into his hand from day 1 so he got used to it, and now he'll happily chase grapes and peas around his tray before eventually catching and eating them!
Still won't hold his own cup of water though - he'll get there at some point so I'm not worried.
Don't feel pressure from anyone else - do what makes you and him happy and don't give into the competitive crap from others.